'Disappearer' helped build Sonic Youth's commercial profile

"Disappearer," the song delivered to me Tuesday by my Pandora blogging challenge, was released in 1990 as a single from Sonic Youth's sixth album, Goo. But I'm going to go with it as a deep cut in the band's catalog, as I have found no evidence that the single ever charted anywhere.

I can't even find a clue that Sonic Youth performed the song live very often, at least not enough that anyone has been able to dig up a video. All I could find on YouTube was an MTV-style music video.

Doing the Pandora Shuffle, 9th edition

"OK, Google. Shuffle my Pandora."

"I'd Love to Change the World," Ten Years After (A Space in Time, 1971): Alvin Lee picked up an acoustic guitar, the band slowed down the pace and Ten Years After finally had a hit. "I'd Love to Change the World," from the band's sixth album, hit No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- the only time Ten Years After has cracked the Top 40. The band probably is most famous for their scorching performance of "I'm Going Home" at Woodstock in 1969. They were on a pretty good run on the album charts leading up to A Space in Time. Ssssh hit No. 20 on the Billboard 200 in 1969, Cricklewood Green No. 14 and Watt No. 21 in 1970. A Space in Time hit No. 17. But that was pretty much it for Ten Years After as a marketable recording outfit. They're still around. Lee died in 2013, but keyboard player Chick Churchill and drummer Ric Lee have kept the band working, primarily as a live attraction, through the decades. I listened to Ssssh and Watt as well as the 1968 live album Undead a lot as a kid. But I lost interest when A Space in Time came around and have paid scant attention since.

Doing the Pandora shuffle, 2nd edition

It's 11:20 a.m. Let's see what Pandora has in store for us. "OK, Google, shuffle my Pandora."

"Big Time," Peter Gabriel (So, 1986): Gabriel's second big hit single, after "Sledgehammer." "Big Time" reached No. 8 on the Billboard Top 100. The video employed the same stop-motion claymation that we saw in the "Sledgehammer" video. Subsequently, many folks see this as a followup to "Sledgehammer," but "Big Time" actually was written and recorded earlier. "Big Time" is where bassist Tony Levin's "funk fingers" style originated. Drummer Jerry Marotta used a drumstick to pound Levin's strings with his sticks in time with Levin's playing, creating that heavy bottom in the song. Levin loved the sound and began taping pieces of drumsticks to his fingers to play bass in concert.