Category: Music
Hey, now, I don’t want to alarm anyone and overstate how important this is but, you guys, you might want to check out this video because – and I am being completely serious here, people – THE. BEASTIE. BOYS. ARE. BACK.
Go ahead. Count ON YOUR FINGERS the amount of awesome in that video. I DARE YOU to do so without then taking off your socks to use your toes.
I have select cases of remorse over missing a band while they were on tour. Missing a Snapcase/Quicksand tour in Minneapolis is at the top of that list.
How the hardcore movement ever made it out of New York, I’ll never understand. It’s never been easily classified, is too abrasive for most casual listeners, and is often too testosterone-driven for mass consumption. It bridges the gap between punk and metal, and while fans of both genres rejoiced in it, most blew it off as a bunch of skinheads with brass knuckles.
Nothing could be more wrong.
The energy and dynamics of the great hardcore bands – and, yes, I classify Snapcase as one of the greatest – is rarely captured outside of the genre. While bands like Hot Water Music pulled the energy/dynamic out of the circle-pit and into the punk mainstream, it was bands like Snapcase, Refused and Threadbare that brought the genre to its highest point.
Away from the sludge, they added this brilliant listenability to the genre.
What gets lost in this video is the closeness of everything. These were all kids, and they all knew each other, and they all knew the words, and the energy must have congealed into a teeming mass of awesome. There weren’t any fights, I’m sure. There were just a bunch of friends feeling the highs and lows of the music, collectively experienced.
There’s a part of me that misses these sweat-box shows. They happened in basements and garages and small bars and they highlighted the intimate connection between band and audience.
Now? I’m exhausted just watching it. Exhausted – and grinning ear to ear.
I was going to simply say this was COOL and that everyone should listen to it, which, in a way, I guess I’m doing right now.
But then I tried to open WordPress to create a post and Sierra yelled at me.
Because, apparently, SHE wasn’t done watching the video, and she desperately wanted to finish it, despite not having any idea who P.O.S. is, and despite being negative seventeen years old when Pearl Jam’s Ten was released.
So I let her finish watching it. And then, she wanted to watch it again. So we did. Three more times.
Kid tested, parent approved.
(Hat-tip to Dave at When I Look at the World.)
Issues Considered: Music, Music Video, Videos
There’s this band I like. A band that a small group of people also like. A band that certain radio stations like. A band that I know for sure you DON’T like. So I like it and others like it but you don’t like it and this is agreed and this is normal, because we all have something called “personal taste” and we all have the ability to develop this taste on our own.
Instead of “band,” substitute “film” or “television show” or “actor” or “professional sports team” and you won’t get much of a change. Same rules apply. You like one thing. I like another. We are free to like or not like the things that other people like or don’t like.
That’s just how it works.
And yet, here we are.
Because, let’s face it – we’ve all been on the Internet. We all understand what, under the guise of digital avatars, where our voice is not agile enough to be heard, and our face is not close enough to be punched, we are free to voice our opinions in any tenor we chose. We can respectfully disagree with our peers. We can call each other names. We can mock and judge and cast out those who do not like the things we like.
We can defend our personal taste to an army of people who don’t really care about our personal taste, all in the name of downgrading another person’s personal taste, until your message boards and chat rooms and Twitter feeds become an echo of a mangled Orwell quote.
“All taste is equal. But some taste is more equal than others.”
While none of us is really safe from this – and while I understand a half hour of research of my writing could dig up several hypocritical attacks on personal taste, both on this blog and my Twitter feed – I can’t help but want to hide from it.
From the black and white decisions on what music is CORRECT. Which movies are WORTHY. Which issues of personal taste are CRUCIAL. Last night, a stream of #goldenglobes and #nfl suggested that certain things were WRONG and other things were AWFUL and, what, you liked The Social Network, OMG are you RETARDED or something because this film was better and you’re STUPID to think otherwise.
Don’t get me wrong. I love public discourse. I love those “why do you like this?” discussions.
We could always sit around and argue which Radiohead album is better, or whether or not Radiohead is even that good. And we would do it honorably, understanding that while we can be passionate about what we love, that doesn’t mean others have to be as passionate.
It’s when we begin dictating whether my thoughts on Radiohead are RIGHT or WRONG or LAUGHABLE or WHATEVER that we begin veering into the macabre.
It’s art. It’s sport. It’s subjective.
Liking something can’t be wrong, regardless of how popular or unpopular or just-popular-enough-to-be-cool it is. I fear we’re sort of missing the point, in that regard.
Issues Considered: Annoyances, Music
Some lists. About music. Numbers do not denote rank – they are simply the order in which I typed them.
1. Girl Talk – All Day
2. Sleigh Bells – Treats
3. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
4. Spoon – Transference
5. The New Pornographers – Together
6. Ben Folds/Nick Hornby – Lonely Avenue
7. LCD Soundsystem – London Sessions
8. Various Artists – Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine
9. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
10. The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
1. Various Artists – I’m Not There (Soundtrack)
2. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
3. Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
4. Jim Ward – In the Valley, On the Shores
5. Fanfarlo – Reservoir
1. Neil Young – Harvest
2. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
3. Various Artists – The Concert for Bangla Desh
4. The Beatles – The Beatles
5. The Beatles – Let it Be
1. Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
2. Pink Floyd – Animals
3. Neil Young – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. John Prine – The Best of John Prine
5. Neil Young – Live Rust
1. “And Your Bird Can Sing”
2. “Dig a Pony”
3. “Something”
4. “Here Comes the Sun”
5. “Sexy Sadie”
1. “Here Comes the Sun” – The Beatles
2. “Particle Man” – They Might Be Giants
3. “Help!” – The Beatles
4. “My Sweet Lord” – George Harrison
5. “Yellow Submarine” – The Beatles
1. Mike Watt – Ball Hog or Tugboat?
2. The Promise Ring – Nothing Feels Good
3. R.E.M. – Automatically Live (bootleg)
4. P.E.E. – Now! More Charm & More Tender
5. Braid – Frame and Canvas
1. “The Ghost of Tom Joad” – Junip (2006)
2. “No One’s Gonna Love You” – Cee Lo Green (2010)
3. “Spanish Pipedream” – The Avett Brothers (2010)
4. “The Times They Are a Changin’” – Mason Jennings (2008)
5. “Take Me To the River” (live) – Talking Heads (1999 reissue)
1. Favorite Old Vinyl From My Parents’ and Grandparents’ Collections
2. Sierra’s Favorite Songs of 2010
3. Favorite Beatles Songs of 2010
4. Favorite Albums From A Long Time Ago That I Had Completely Forgotten About
5. Favorite Lists From This List of Music Lists
Issues Considered: Music, The Top...
This is what dorky sounds like.
Oh, god, I mean, seriously, it’s also what college emo angst sounds like, all lispy and emotional and barely able to sing as well as you did in that one good take – the only one people remember because it’s the only one that’s on the record – and let’s all just go get a cup of coffee and compare our rare vinyl collections, already.
All of those bobbing heads in the audience? They were all fighting to stay still, staring at their shoes like they were taught to at those old Fugazi concerts, but shit – they couldn’t, could they?
They couldn’t stand still. They couldn’t help but to move to this barely-in-tune and OMG SO DORKY band.
That’s why The Promise Ring was fantastic. Because they brought happiness back to a legion of ex-Sunny Day Real Estate fans.
They brought dorky back, too. And there was much rejoicing.
Issues Considered: Music, Music Video, Videos
Think about that one band you listened to when you were beginning to mature as a person. The one you adored. The one you followed to the point of fanaticism. The one that changed your outlook on music so much that it bled into every facet of your blossoming musical taste until, looking back, it managed to influence everything you listen to even today.
It was The Beatles. It was The Replacements. It was Radiohead. It was Modest Mouse. It doesn’t matter who it was – it was someone.
You still listen to that band, I bet. You still love them. At least, you appreciate them – what they meant, how they changed your outlook.
But what about the band that ultimately came in second?
It was the band that you loved ALMOST as much as your favorite. It was the Built to Spill to your Modest Mouse. The Rolling Stones to your Beatles.
Chances are, you often forget about how good that band was.
We tend to forget our second favorites, not because they’re forgettable, but because their awesomeness is so closely tied to that which we are completely devoted to. They are dwarfed by our insistence upon choosing one clear winner: one clear band that is The Most Important and, from there, tracking our progress as sentient beings.
But the feeling – that feeling, you guys – when you remember exactly why they vaulted to “second favorite” and, at times, let’s be honest, were the frontrunner for a week or so – oh, man. That feeling. Is. Awesome.
You play the album. You remember the finer points of your youth. And you realize that “second best” had just as much to do with shaping your taste as anything else.