Blog You Should Read: Miss Piggy Lunchbox

Miss Piggy Lunchbox is a well-written blog consisting mostly of music reviews, with a little bit of Northwest-via-Midwest humor, sports, and politics thrown in. It's obvious that the writer is way smart, but he doesn't go out of his way to make his audience feel way dumb, despite the occasional inside joke and computer code gag. He also does a great job of not over-explaining himself, a sin that I am guilty of from time-to-time.

The thing that makes this blog excel, besides the well-crafted, meaty posts, are the reviews of older albums. It's not often you run across a recently written review of 15 year old album. It makes you think about older music in a new light, and gives you an itch to go back and listen to albums you may have forgotten about. His reviews run the spectrum from grunge to country; new releases to 20 year old gems.

In a recent post, he reviews Dolly Parton's 16 Biggest Hits. He gives it 4.5 out of 5 lunchboxes. Here is a small taste:

“Jolene” and “Two Doors Down” are amazing and the fact that they’re head and shoulders above most everything else here probably pushes some songs that would be mixers on lesser albums down to keeper status. But “9 To 5” is the Best Song Ever. Oh, you think you know it, I can hear the chorus playing in your head right now, but let me tell you that what is playing in your head is nowhere near what the song sounds like. Just go listen to it and tell me I’m wrong. As the bass pumps with heat that only funk and disco bands were hitting it with in 1980 and the typewriter clicks and dings as a percussive instrument, your head will start to bob. As Parton sings “Tumble out of bed, and I stumble to the kitchen/Pour myself a cup of ambition,” you will involuntarily audibly agree because, oh, you know it, Dolly. By the time her “blood starts pumping” and “out on the street the traffic starts jumping,” you will think that going to work in an office in 1980 as a woman was the best thing of all time because never has the glass ceiling sounded so f**king good.

It was a pleasure to read, and it inspired me do two things; write this review & look for my copy of Dolly's 16 Biggest Hits.

Here is a link for those who like links at the bottom of the post. Enjoy.

Miss Piggy Lunchbox