New York City’s Black Train Jack holds a unique distinction with me as a music fan. They are the only band that I have ever written a fan letter to. I am not talking about an email or a myspace comment; I am saying an actual pen to paper and drop it in a mailbox fan letter.

After hearing their second album You’re Not Alone, which was released by Roadrunner Records in 1994, I wanted to tell the band how much I enjoyed the record and their punk version of Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker”.

What stood out to me with You’re Not Alone and their previous release No Reward (released on Roadrunner as well, in 1993) was how they could skillfully mix the catchiness of pop punk with the aggression and heaviness of hardcore. From You’re Not Alone, the song “What’s the Deal” highlights their talent of creating poppy songs that you bob your head to as you hear pounding bass beats.

The band also had a more positive message of a drug-free, violence-free lifestyle as evidenced by the track “Not Alone”. With lyrics like I don’t hurt myself internally/I’m poison free intentionally/A choice I made a long time ago/Because doing it up Friday nights/Going out and starting fights/These are things I don’t need to know and Because this is life and you’re in it/You’re the one who’s got to live/Take your time and choose your own way, Black Train Jack told the listener to forge their own path and to tread down the ones that are chosen for them.

The album’s only single, “Handouts” is still one of my favorite jams to this day. Black Train Jack also put out a video for the song about the struggles of friendship, featuring singer RoBorn wearing a work shirt, black sunglasses and a hat turned backwards: the complete 90’s punk uniform.

A few weeks after sending my letter I received a zine-style newsletter from the band with a note on the front thanking me for my letter and for listening to them. Unfortunately I never received another piece of mail from them or heard another new tune from them, as they broke up shortly thereafter. While these diehard New York Yankees fans parted ways, their simple, yet distinctive punk rock sound continues to thump through my speakers.

For fans of Black Train Jack and guitarist Ernie Parada, check out his new band, Higher Giant.

We are resurrecting an old feature here at SAL but Jeff Takacs, the man behind Rocket Fuel podcasts (which are awesome by the way!), will be taking the lead. I might chime in here or there but the feature will be more in depth than before with Jeff now at the helm. And while I understand that 120 Minutes showed music videos not all the posts on “120 Minutes on SAL” will have videos accompanying them…but of course some of them will…grainy video or not! The title and the feature have more to do with the spirit of the show than anything else. Of course old guys like Jeff and myself grew up on 120 minutes in the 90’s and I’m excited about this feature! Thanks Jeff! – Will

As someone who spent his entire high school and college years in the 90’s, I spent way too much time watching 120 minutes, listening to WDRE in my hometown of Philadelphia, and playing Sega and eventually, Playstation.

While the decade was dominated by the emergence of Alternative Rock, Grunge and Gangsta Rap, it was also a great decade for independent music. There were many, many talented bands in the 90’s that didn’t get their due or the attention they deserved. The goal of this feature is to shine a little light on some of those bands and music that still stands up to what’s being released today.

Although they technically formed in 1989 and split up in sometime between 2002 and 2003, Shades Apart released two stellar albums for Revelation Records. 1995’s Save It and 1997’s Seeing Things, featured the band‚Äôs crunchy and fast-paced, yet melodic sound. Both records were produced by the dynamic duo of Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton, both members of seminal punk rock bands Descendents and All. This production team has their fingerprints on many of your favorite punk rock records.

The Bridgewater, NJ band did gain some exposure for the video of their Soft Cell cover of “Tainted Love”. The video featured a Cyrano de Bergerac-themed performance of a punk god playing along to the song with the band behind him jamming out live. What stood out to me visually was the upside-down hockey stick used as a mic stand by Mark V., Shades Apart’s guitarist/singer.

The band was later signed to Universal Records, releasing two decent albums, 1999’s Eyewitness and 2001’s Sonic Boom. While these records are very good, the band turned to a more polished sound that might have been more acceptable to a wider audience, even earning a track on the American Pie soundtrack.

While I still listen to their latter two records on occasion, it is the Revelation-era Shades Apart that I continue to remember and continue to turn to when I want to give them a listen.