Five for Friday, Clunker edition
This week's topic was suggested by loveinabasement. Now that I think about, she was centrally responsible for the inverse topic when we used it months ago. Is she angling for some sort of Five for Friday co-executive producer gig or something? Hmmm.
As always, please play along...
Five Songs You Dislike From Artists You Generally Like
1. The Clash, "Rock the Casbah." "Shareef don't like it." Me neither. I will testify to the greatness of London Calling with tedious tenacity, but few songs set me on edge like this lunkheaded rocker. Naturally, it was their biggest U.S. hit by far, their only song to crack the top ten. As Too Much Joy once sang, "Every great band should be shot before they make their Combat Rock."
2. Too Much Joy, "The Kids Don't Understand." Of course, those wisenheimers are just lucky they never gained enough notoriety to inspire someone else to sing "Every greatish band should be shot before they make their Finally." It's not as snappy of a phrase anyway. I remember getting my hands on this advance single at the commercial radio station (where it had about as much chance of getting on the air as the newest Debbie Gibson) and feeling my enthusiasm slowly deflate as I listened to this gloppy mess.
3. R.E.M., "Bad Day." A hollow, bland song that sounds like the discarded rough draft of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" before they figured out that infusing it with frenetic energy was the answer. It was disappointing enough that the band was pulling the lame trick of adding a new song to a "best of" compilation, but then this was the best they could do? I'll stick with all the original albums, thanks.
4. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, "The Yip Song." Courtesy of the invaluable online resource for Robyn Hitchcock fanatics, The Asking Tree, these are the opening lyrics to "The Yip Song": "Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip." There's redundant and then there's redundant. This song is redundant.
5. The Replacements, "Gary's Got a Boner." Yes, Let It Be is an amazing step forward for the Minneapolis foursome and for Paul Westerberg as a songwriter. And yes, one of the things I love most about The Mats is the willful messiness of their records, the cackling self-sabotage of placing the screeching joke of "Mr. Whirly" right next to the tender longing of "Within Your Reach". Still, couldn't this juvenile business have been relegated to a b-side?
As always, please play along...
Five Songs You Dislike From Artists You Generally Like
1. The Clash, "Rock the Casbah." "Shareef don't like it." Me neither. I will testify to the greatness of London Calling with tedious tenacity, but few songs set me on edge like this lunkheaded rocker. Naturally, it was their biggest U.S. hit by far, their only song to crack the top ten. As Too Much Joy once sang, "Every great band should be shot before they make their Combat Rock."
2. Too Much Joy, "The Kids Don't Understand." Of course, those wisenheimers are just lucky they never gained enough notoriety to inspire someone else to sing "Every greatish band should be shot before they make their Finally." It's not as snappy of a phrase anyway. I remember getting my hands on this advance single at the commercial radio station (where it had about as much chance of getting on the air as the newest Debbie Gibson) and feeling my enthusiasm slowly deflate as I listened to this gloppy mess.
3. R.E.M., "Bad Day." A hollow, bland song that sounds like the discarded rough draft of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" before they figured out that infusing it with frenetic energy was the answer. It was disappointing enough that the band was pulling the lame trick of adding a new song to a "best of" compilation, but then this was the best they could do? I'll stick with all the original albums, thanks.
4. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, "The Yip Song." Courtesy of the invaluable online resource for Robyn Hitchcock fanatics, The Asking Tree, these are the opening lyrics to "The Yip Song": "Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip/Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip." There's redundant and then there's redundant. This song is redundant.
5. The Replacements, "Gary's Got a Boner." Yes, Let It Be is an amazing step forward for the Minneapolis foursome and for Paul Westerberg as a songwriter. And yes, one of the things I love most about The Mats is the willful messiness of their records, the cackling self-sabotage of placing the screeching joke of "Mr. Whirly" right next to the tender longing of "Within Your Reach". Still, couldn't this juvenile business have been relegated to a b-side?