"Cannonball"

Breeders
(Elektra, 1993)

Alterna-rock's own "Takin' Care of Business," overthrowing sense for total glee: an opening incantation borrowed from The Wizard of Oz, a riff you can play after your first guitar lesson (or, rather, that Kelley Deal could), a genius beat, Josephine Wiggs defining one-finger bass playing for the decade, Kim Deal purring sexy but nonsensical words, and a structure that beelines for the bit where you get to jump up and down. It screams, "Summer of '93."

-- Douglas Wolk