A trip through my mind and my playlist
Okie dokie, this is an exercise in gonzo journalism or a Lester Bangs-inspired indulgence. iTunes is set on random, and I'll write about whatever comes up for however long as the song lasts. We'll see if anything of interest shows up. A caveat: there may have been a little bit of whiskey involved in the decision to embark on this enterprise, and it's still flowing.
Okay first up... ooh, yay, it's Uncle Tupelo. "Watch Me Fall," one of my favorite tracks because it's the ultimate fusion of Jeff Tweedy's and Jay Farrar's styles. People know Wilco or Sun Volt and they've never even heard of Uncle Tupelo, but the truth is, even though Jeff and Jay came out of the band hating each other's guts, they were so much stronger balancing each other's weaknesses, and this song is the prime example of that.
Next up, Talking Heads, "I'm Not in Love." Love this song too, it's my favorite song as a theme for Dean/Castiel friendship, it's a very Castiel song really, because David Byrne has that other-worldly observer thing about him. One of my Jack/Cas fics will inevitably have a title from the lyrics of this song. "Please respect my opinions, they will be respected one day," the unspoken insistence of hipsters everywhere and if I'm not mistaken this album, More Songs About Buildings and Food was written way back in 1979 when most hipsters were still either listening to Partridge Family records or were unironically wearing bell-bottoms. The bass line is one of those things that really sells this song, like so many Talking Heads songs, Tina Weymouth is one of the great underrated musicians of all time - whoever even mentions her? But how many hooks did she come up with, and all that after having picked up the bass in her twenties on a lark?
Oooh, James, "Laid." One of the great stalker songs of all time, a genre which encompasses more songs than you think it should. James is one of those bands which I love this one song so terribly much but never bothered to catch up on their back catalogue. Another great shipping song, what with its messing about with gender roles, and also one of those songs I remember belting along to with my pals back in college. Real palpable pain and love in these lyrics - it doesn't get any better than that, does it? A perfect pop song.
Huh. White Stripes, "Now Mary." I'm a big fan of the 'strip this shit down' movement that happened in the early 2000s and this was part of it. Grunge, don't get me wrong I loved grunge, but by 1998-2002, there wasn't any humor left in what the mainstream stations called alt-rock and we were all dealing with the return of the bubble!gum pop craze. A great stripped down rock song.
Time WARP! Back to 1994 and Smashing Pumpkins and Siamese Dream, "Rocket" was always my favorite tune on that disc. Billy Corgan always failed to have an edit button, most albums the Smashing Pumpkins produced were full of self-indulgence, but not Siamese Dream. I listen to this song and I'm twelve again, full of youth an optimism. Once again, a great bass hook, but full credit to James Iha for a dreamy guitar line that's just as other-wordly as Corgan's voice and lyrics. You can feel your soul ascending right along with the eponymous Rocket of the song. Yes, I feel free, I shall be free. I always forget about this song when talking about my favorite space exploration songs, because this is about more than that. This song is freedom and youth and optimism and everything that I ever wanted to be. Fuck yeah. I'm head-banging just a little bit now and I'm not ashamed.
Just a little bit further back. REM, "Stand," a song with a sense of humor. I first heard this song as the title credits to that long forgotten Christ Elliot show, "Get a Life," which I was way too young to understand. But this song makes sense at all ages - we all have times when we feel the need to orient ourselves, just stand still for a minute or two, make the world pass you by. Wonderfully psychedelic guitar solo in there to go along with the poetic lyrics. More great hooks - I think iTunes thinks I'm depressed right now, because these are all amp-up songs for me. "Stand in the place where you are," what a wonderful descent to the close.
Hehehe... David Bowie, "Rebel, Rebel." I don't think I need to tell anybody about the hook in this song. Mmm, gender confusion and David Bowie, what a perfect combination. A slightly less personal song for me - all the others were ones I heard when they were new, but David Bowie always belonged to my parents. It's a slightly different feel. That doesn't make the music any less brilliant. I could rock out to this all night, shouting the lyrics with my girl friends at the top of my lungs. That's one of the things I don't know people give enough credit to Bowie for: the man wrote some really timeless songs. Yeah, okay, he wrote some really stupid ones too - All the Young Dudes comes to mind - but David Bowie knew the pop song, he made it subversive and he made it his own. I wonder sometimes if the lyrics are a little sarcastic or a little too knowing - that's sort of the point, but is it pure sarcasm but how much of it is empathy. I've got no clue.
Back to my teen years, sort of. Sublime's cover of the Grateful Dead's "Scarlet Begonias". Who knew that you could blend jam-band with hip hop? Bradley Nowell, that's who fucking knew it, dead and gone with a needle in his arm all too fucking young. One of those artists I've never forgiven for checking out so early. But anyway, I own four versions of the Dead doing this song and none of them as good as this cover. Sublime really made this song their own - the rap just works better at the end. One day I want to walk around with scarlet begonias tucked in my hair. Slow and smooth, like being a teenager again, that's what Sublime is to me...
Slight tone change: the Police, "Synchronicity." "Synchronicity II" has long been acknowledged as a brilliant piece of work (and it is, don't get me wrong) but the original often gets shortchanged. Yes, in comparison it's a pretty basic pop song, no mutterings about beasts coming out of dark Scottish Lochs, but it's also perfectly constructed. It's a sustained vamp that never gives up for all of the three-odd minutes that it keeps up. The harmonies are all Sting looped over himself over and over, and I would love to see it performed live one day, just to see how they pull it off. Sadly the Police disbanded pretty much at the moment I was born, so it's not to be, but this is a sweet little song. So lucky so far - nothing's come up that I dislike.
Something a little more obscure now, unless you're Canadian - The Weakerthans, "Relative Surplus Value." Again the principle of the sustained vamp to keep the energy up. The lyrics here are so clever, so telling, there's heartbreak just beneath the surface. I've been in this position and am in it again. "Touch my nametag, it should say 'Hello, I'm too tired to smile today." Those moments when the world has told you you're worthless and weak and all you've got to fall back on are your sense of humor and your friends. Sure you sound jaded, but your friends know how weak you are. "So what I'm trying to say, I mean what I'm asking is, I know we haven't talked in awhile, but could you come get me?"
And I think that lyric might have been it for me. Wow, that's a thousand words of self-indulgence. Fuck it, post it, be done with it - that's the joy of music, it's the catharsis.
Okay first up... ooh, yay, it's Uncle Tupelo. "Watch Me Fall," one of my favorite tracks because it's the ultimate fusion of Jeff Tweedy's and Jay Farrar's styles. People know Wilco or Sun Volt and they've never even heard of Uncle Tupelo, but the truth is, even though Jeff and Jay came out of the band hating each other's guts, they were so much stronger balancing each other's weaknesses, and this song is the prime example of that.
Next up, Talking Heads, "I'm Not in Love." Love this song too, it's my favorite song as a theme for Dean/Castiel friendship, it's a very Castiel song really, because David Byrne has that other-worldly observer thing about him. One of my Jack/Cas fics will inevitably have a title from the lyrics of this song. "Please respect my opinions, they will be respected one day," the unspoken insistence of hipsters everywhere and if I'm not mistaken this album, More Songs About Buildings and Food was written way back in 1979 when most hipsters were still either listening to Partridge Family records or were unironically wearing bell-bottoms. The bass line is one of those things that really sells this song, like so many Talking Heads songs, Tina Weymouth is one of the great underrated musicians of all time - whoever even mentions her? But how many hooks did she come up with, and all that after having picked up the bass in her twenties on a lark?
Oooh, James, "Laid." One of the great stalker songs of all time, a genre which encompasses more songs than you think it should. James is one of those bands which I love this one song so terribly much but never bothered to catch up on their back catalogue. Another great shipping song, what with its messing about with gender roles, and also one of those songs I remember belting along to with my pals back in college. Real palpable pain and love in these lyrics - it doesn't get any better than that, does it? A perfect pop song.
Huh. White Stripes, "Now Mary." I'm a big fan of the 'strip this shit down' movement that happened in the early 2000s and this was part of it. Grunge, don't get me wrong I loved grunge, but by 1998-2002, there wasn't any humor left in what the mainstream stations called alt-rock and we were all dealing with the return of the bubble!gum pop craze. A great stripped down rock song.
Time WARP! Back to 1994 and Smashing Pumpkins and Siamese Dream, "Rocket" was always my favorite tune on that disc. Billy Corgan always failed to have an edit button, most albums the Smashing Pumpkins produced were full of self-indulgence, but not Siamese Dream. I listen to this song and I'm twelve again, full of youth an optimism. Once again, a great bass hook, but full credit to James Iha for a dreamy guitar line that's just as other-wordly as Corgan's voice and lyrics. You can feel your soul ascending right along with the eponymous Rocket of the song. Yes, I feel free, I shall be free. I always forget about this song when talking about my favorite space exploration songs, because this is about more than that. This song is freedom and youth and optimism and everything that I ever wanted to be. Fuck yeah. I'm head-banging just a little bit now and I'm not ashamed.
Just a little bit further back. REM, "Stand," a song with a sense of humor. I first heard this song as the title credits to that long forgotten Christ Elliot show, "Get a Life," which I was way too young to understand. But this song makes sense at all ages - we all have times when we feel the need to orient ourselves, just stand still for a minute or two, make the world pass you by. Wonderfully psychedelic guitar solo in there to go along with the poetic lyrics. More great hooks - I think iTunes thinks I'm depressed right now, because these are all amp-up songs for me. "Stand in the place where you are," what a wonderful descent to the close.
Hehehe... David Bowie, "Rebel, Rebel." I don't think I need to tell anybody about the hook in this song. Mmm, gender confusion and David Bowie, what a perfect combination. A slightly less personal song for me - all the others were ones I heard when they were new, but David Bowie always belonged to my parents. It's a slightly different feel. That doesn't make the music any less brilliant. I could rock out to this all night, shouting the lyrics with my girl friends at the top of my lungs. That's one of the things I don't know people give enough credit to Bowie for: the man wrote some really timeless songs. Yeah, okay, he wrote some really stupid ones too - All the Young Dudes comes to mind - but David Bowie knew the pop song, he made it subversive and he made it his own. I wonder sometimes if the lyrics are a little sarcastic or a little too knowing - that's sort of the point, but is it pure sarcasm but how much of it is empathy. I've got no clue.
Back to my teen years, sort of. Sublime's cover of the Grateful Dead's "Scarlet Begonias". Who knew that you could blend jam-band with hip hop? Bradley Nowell, that's who fucking knew it, dead and gone with a needle in his arm all too fucking young. One of those artists I've never forgiven for checking out so early. But anyway, I own four versions of the Dead doing this song and none of them as good as this cover. Sublime really made this song their own - the rap just works better at the end. One day I want to walk around with scarlet begonias tucked in my hair. Slow and smooth, like being a teenager again, that's what Sublime is to me...
Slight tone change: the Police, "Synchronicity." "Synchronicity II" has long been acknowledged as a brilliant piece of work (and it is, don't get me wrong) but the original often gets shortchanged. Yes, in comparison it's a pretty basic pop song, no mutterings about beasts coming out of dark Scottish Lochs, but it's also perfectly constructed. It's a sustained vamp that never gives up for all of the three-odd minutes that it keeps up. The harmonies are all Sting looped over himself over and over, and I would love to see it performed live one day, just to see how they pull it off. Sadly the Police disbanded pretty much at the moment I was born, so it's not to be, but this is a sweet little song. So lucky so far - nothing's come up that I dislike.
Something a little more obscure now, unless you're Canadian - The Weakerthans, "Relative Surplus Value." Again the principle of the sustained vamp to keep the energy up. The lyrics here are so clever, so telling, there's heartbreak just beneath the surface. I've been in this position and am in it again. "Touch my nametag, it should say 'Hello, I'm too tired to smile today." Those moments when the world has told you you're worthless and weak and all you've got to fall back on are your sense of humor and your friends. Sure you sound jaded, but your friends know how weak you are. "So what I'm trying to say, I mean what I'm asking is, I know we haven't talked in awhile, but could you come get me?"
And I think that lyric might have been it for me. Wow, that's a thousand words of self-indulgence. Fuck it, post it, be done with it - that's the joy of music, it's the catharsis.