Florida Playlist: Gainesville, Rock City!

Welcome back to the lowest ranking article on this website. I hold that badge with honor. Last week was not a very good time. Silver lining? If we play like shit, we do not get the juicy time slots, which means I don’t have to stay up to the wee hours over here in Deutschland. Give me to like week 5 and I will stop talking about living abroad.

This week we start where it all began in the SEC, really show the country what we are all about and live like it’s 2012 all over again.

No? OK, let’s look at Gainesville and try to understand the most Florida of Florida music scenes.

I kind of shot myself in the foot this week by memorializing Tom Petty last week on the remembrance of his passing. He by far is the most famous musician to ever come out of Gainesville and probably Florida. OK, ok maybe Mr. Worldwide.

But beyond Tom Petty Gainesville had a massive punk/ska scene in the late nineties into the early 2000s. A lot of the music I listened to in high school came out of Gainesville. Including Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music and Against Me! Shit, was I supposed to be from Florida?

Now all of this is great, but the kings of Gainesville are the alt-rock/country superstars, Sister Hazel. Never has the strum of a G chord in reverse made so many mid-nineties panties drop. I am not above this group. I 100% owned their album in 1997 and learned how to play “All for You” on guitar. It did not have the same effect for me with ladies.

I would have assumed that Sister Hazel rode off into the sunset with their millions from their hit album, but no, Sister Hazel gave the finger to the man after their less than stellar follow up album and “left” their major label deal. They were definitely not kicked off the label.

Now with the freedom to do their own thing, in the past 20 years Sister Hazel has released FOURTEEN FUCKING ALBUMS! One! Four! Given there are a few live albums, and a super weird Christmas album, but that is a lot of production for a band that made the word “tryin” into 4 syllables. So, with all that taken into the equation, Sister Hazel is the greatest American band in history. Fight me.

I hope everyone has a great gameday. Take your vitamins, say your prayers, have fun, be safe and BTHO florida!

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New music is plentiful every week, but actual good music has been a little thin lately. Let’s go back to the Run the Jewels well with a ridiculous sample of Gang of Four and a banger to start off the list. Some early aughts punk and pop-punk and right in the middle is a quintessential live version of the classic ‘All for You.’ Be careful what you write because you will have to sing it forever.