Archives from The End

The End is an "alternative" radio station in Seattle (not to be confused with The End of All That Is and Ever Was). Like most semi-corporate rock stations, they have in-studio performances from bands large and small, which they call EndSessions.

Recently, I was listening to the station and heard a dj say that every EndSession was now available for streaming online. Now, this is a station with a lot of history, including most of the rise of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and the grunge scene. So their archives would figure to hold lots of interesting tidbits. I was excited.
Unfortunately, their EndSessions didn't begin until 1997, so they effectively missed the grunge era. Still they've got some goodies in their files. For exclusives, you can't really beat "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding" by Chris Cornell, currently of Audioslave and legendarily (note: not a real word) of Soundgarden. (If you're into Cornell, he also does two solo songs in another session.) They are fairly Seattle-heavy, as you would expect, so you can find things like Death Cab for Cutie doing "Sound of Settling" and "The New Year,"and the volcanic Blood Brothers racing through "Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck." There's also smaller local acts like Schoolyard Heroes and the Lashes.

And of course, they've got their share of big national acts: Coldplay, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, the Killers.

Then, of course, there's the hilarious version of "Chop Suey!" performed by Tenacious D.

The hacks at The End would probably direct your attention to the improvised "Endsession 100" song by the Presidents of the United States of America. Of course, if you listen to the lyrics, you'll hear them talk about all the songs they did that aren't streaming off The End's website.

Overall, it's a fun resource to have. I wish there were more songs available, but then again, I wish the End played more bands like Spoon and the Arcade Fire. Wish in one hand...