Sunday , June 13, 2010
Heavy Rotation: R.E.M., Junip feat. Jose Gonzalez, The Doors, INXS, More Gems from the Wu-Tang/Beatles Mash-up
R.E.M., "Fall on Me"
My recent nostalgia riff on the Columbia Record House Club has oddly kicked off a spate of concentrated listening to more bands that I remember being under the "college rock" flag at that time. (It's amazing what you remember as an eight-year old; I think whatever you cram into your brain at that age will stick in your head forever, which explains my fluent command of early Madonna lore, Choose Your Own Adventure plotlines and selected quotations from episodes of "Golden Girls.") The Replacements, of course, are in there, as is the Church, Midnight Oil, 10,000 Maniacs, Robyn Hitchcock, XTC, the Housemartins...so much good stuff! But I'd remiss in my sonic travels through time if I didn't include the king of college rock bands, R.E.M., who of course became so big they transcended the category. In a weird way, I'm a bigger fan now of records like Lifes Rich Pageant and Document and Murmur than I was back then. It's easy to take R.E.M.'s output for granted, but sometimes you just have to listen to the early records and be kind of amazed at how timelessly rich and beautiful a lot of those songs are. Cryptic, elusive lyrics a la Stipe always help, of course, but for me it is really about Peter Buck's amazing guitar playing. "Fall on Me" has my favorite little guitar intro by Buck; I could listen to the first 5 seconds over and over again, that's how pristine and lovely it is to me. (Kat)
Junip feat. Jose Gonzalez, "Azaleaden"
Spiritual Scandinavia, you haven't been neglected for 80s college rock! What makes all these Swedish experimental/folk guitar bands have this dark, crystalline sense of beauty? Whatever it is, I like it a lot. This song is also Reason #103 of "Why Kat Must Go Visit Gothenburg, Stockholm and Malmo One Day And/Or Marry a Swedish Dude After Graduation So She'll Have Decent Health Care and Won't Die And Be Homeless and Have Her Face Eaten By Raccoons." Persistent fear, people. (Kat)
The Doors, "Twentieth Century Fox"
I very nearly included this song in last week's whopper of a post on our most beloved odes to female independence. I was all, "Hell's yeah I'm a twentieth century fox! No tears, no fears, no ruined years - no clocks!"* To quote Michael Hutchence, 21st century's yesterday; it's so played out already and it's hardly even begun; it'll never ever compete with the badassness of the 1900s. In the end, though, I decided to axe this track from the girl-power extravaganza, mostly on account of the fact that the first line's about being "fashionably lean." I am not fashionably lean, and I can't get behind the notion of one body type being trendier than another. So fuck you, Jim. I love you, Jim. (Liz)
* Actually, I like clocks. "Clock" was my first word. Yesterday while writing my sexy Led Zeppelin post I typo-ed "unlocking" as "unclocking," and it was really exciting for me.
INXS, "Mediate"
In my dream world, in the most perfect world possible, radio DJs never ever cut off the aforereferenced "Need You Tonight" without letting it segue into "Mediate" as it's intended to. They just let it play, and we all watch the Don't Look Back-referencing video in our minds and wistfully reflect upon what a goddamn dreamboat Michael Hutchence was. Once in sixth grade I went to a lip-sync party and some girl did "Need You Tonight"/"Mediate," and my friends and I misheard that lyric as "Like pretty Kate has sex all day" and boy were we scandalized. (Liz)
Wu-Tang vs. the Beatles, "Run"
I'm so sick of living this lie, pretending I listen to music other than the Wu-Tang/Beatles mash-up. "Run" is my favourite because it's so scrappy. It makes you feel like you are a toughie and life is pointless but amazing. My favourite lyric is when he says that he's dirty like the corner of the bathroom floor- what a wonderful kind of dirty to be! My second-favourite is when he says "I can't go to jail, my mother's cooking chicken for dinner!" It reminds me of how maybe if I were arrested, I'd say "I can't go to jail, I have to write my Heavy Rotation tomorrow!" DAMN. (LJ)
Wu-Tang vs. the Beatles, "R.E.C Room"
This song sounds like Christmas, only heavier. A Christmas when somebody DIED. Here are three things that happened to me yesterday while listening to it:
1) It was snowing in the morning, and I ducked under an awning to light my cigarette. The sample is "Girl", but with violins. Violins make everything more meaningful. I spun out of the awning on one heel and looked tragically beautiful doing it. A businessman who looked like the character "Jacob" from LOST saw me, and together we experienced the enigmatic phenomenon called "love at first sight." The "tragic beauty" levels of my eyes were off the charts. "Here is a woman who has known pain," thought Jacob/businessman. I was the long-lost Glass sibling. Zooey's girl twin, I hope.
2) I was sitting in a bus shelter and a man wearing a Remembrance Day poppy pin three months after the fact asked me if he could kiss my feet for good luck. All things considered, he wasn't too creepy. He looked a lot like Paul Simon. I said "No" and laughed. My boots were so nasty and salt-stained.
3) I was walking home and a man tapped me on the shoulder and I watched his lips move. I couldn't hear what he was saying so I turned this song off. "Hi! There's some really slippery ice coming up, and I just wanted to let you know, so you don't trip, in your [high-heeled] shoes." THAT IS SUCH GENTLEMANLY BEHAVIOR AND I WISH ALL DUDES WOULD ACT LIKE IT ALWAYS AND FOREVER. THANKS. (LJ)
Tags: clocks, college rock, Columbia Record Club, face being eaten off by raccoons, fear, gentlemanism, INXS, JD Salinger, Laura Loves the Beatles, lip-sync parties, Paul Simon, R.E.M., radio, spiritually Scandinavian, the 20th century, The Doors, tragic beauty
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dude! i so wanted to post 'sheep' by the housemartins but i couldn't find an mp3 anywhere.
i had a jem 'choose your own adventure' book and one of the plotlines ended after like two pages and the last sentence was 'you go back to the hotel and order nachos, your favorite snack.' lame!
By Liz
on February 18, 2010 4:40 PM
i can't really find many housemartins mp3s either! i only have CASSETTES!
with me and 'choose yr own adventure,' after going through it naturally and seeing where i ended up, i would then try to figure out all the possible ways i could meet an unfortunate end. i don't think i read a Jem one, though. i did have a Jem CASSETTE!
By Kat
on February 22, 2010 2:09 PM