Fire Island, AK

Fire Island, AK by The Long Winters



I don't know much about these guys, but I really enjoyed their album "Putting the Days to Bed", which my sister gave me. This is a catchy little song with a solid beat and is extremely enjoyable at the same time. If you want to read a review of them live, check this out.

Anyway, this song is fitting considering John McCain's choice as Vice President. I had never heard of Fire Island, AK prior to this song and I had never heard of Sarah Palin from AK prior to Friday. However, I think I'm going to like this song much more than Ms. Palin.

Loser

Loser by Beck



I was reading some where recently that this might actually be a more important song than "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Googling... Googling... googling... okay I'm sort of making this up. I guess Spin once said that Beck was "a generation's consolation prize after the death of Kurt Cobain." That's an over stated statement if there ever was one...

Anyway, Loser... I've never really been a fan. Sure it's catchy and musically it's a hard song to not like. But the lyrics have always bothered me. Ironic? Does that really matter? "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me". It sounds stupid really—a throw away drunk comment at an pseudo-intellectual bar at 1:14a.m. which Beck turned into a song. That's what this song is and thus I can sum it up in one word: Pathetic.

Writing to Reach You

Writing to Reach You by Travis



Whatever happened to these guys? They were pretty good. Really, what's the difference between Travis and Coldplay? Coldplay even ripped off this Travis video... sigh.

Growing up I was a suburban kid—raised in the western 'burbs of Chicago—but I went to high school in the city (and owners of one of the most amazing wikipedia entries ever) just a few miles from the Loop. And my high school brought in kids from all over Chicago and the area—Oak Park, Lincoln Park, Bridgeport, the far Northwest side, and Beverly.

Growing up a die hard Sox fan and my mother being a South Sider herself, Beverly held a place in my heart. The 'hood and the people from there awed me, an Irish Catholic middle to upper-middle class group of kids who had attitude. Not always in a bad way and not always in a good way. Those kids just were, well, Beverly.

For reasons I can't tell you, if I had a few hours to burn and nothing to do, I'd drive to Beverly just to be there. To take it in and see what it would be like to live there. I had heard the stories, knew the parishes... I wanted to be a South Sider. But having one parent and being the biggest Sox fan in school didn't carry a ton of weight to the born and raised Beverly kids. And it's not that I even wanted to be like them or hang out with them—though I did from time to time and a lot my senior year—what I wanted was to experience a life that I never would be able to experience. The life of an Irish Catholic, Sox fan from Beverly who went to Christ the King.

So what does Travis have to do with Beverly? My trips to Beverly almost always ended with me going to the Borders on 95th and Western. And I remember listen to Travis on many of these trips to the Beverly Borders, listening to this song and enjoying it. Hell, I might even have bought the album at the Beverly Borders... I don't remember though.

Finally a few notes from the editor:
- The Greatest American Band search isn't over, but I'm going to take a break from it. It was much more taxing than I thought it would be... but I'll do it from time to time since there are a few bands that should at least make the now longer list.

- I'm going to wake the dogs and fire up Views from Life on a Bench again. It will be a sports only blog this time around and I don't plan on writing every day there, but enough that you should check it out. I'm sure the likes of the Big Lead and Deadspin will find a way to link us once again. And eventually we hope to get a policy-like editorial blog going sooner rather than later. I'll let you know when it happens.

God Only Knows

God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

Editor's Note: Who is the greatest American band? This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.



Pros: A unique sound who truly were different and have had a lasting impact on music. The Beach Boys were California in their sound and songs, surf rock!, and of course this makes them the most unique of American bands--fact is the East Coast is more European than American at times (see City, New York), but California (like the Midwest and South) is purely and uniquly American. The Beach Boys did a very good job an capturing that 1960s, California vibe... According to Billboard Magazine, when you add up the singles and album sales, The Beach Boys are the No. 1 selling American band of all time... "Good Vibrations" is one of those songs that when you sit down and listen to it, it's a bind blowing experience in it's complexity and greatness... They wrote a ton of really good songs over the years, in other words, their greatest hits album is pretty awesome.

Cons: Can a band named the Beach Boys really be the greatest ever?... Kokomo... After Pet Sounds, the band never really ever came close to the creative success they had on that album. There would be a few albums of note after 1966, but for a band that has been around for so long, the band's great creativity period was extremely short... Kokomo... Like Wilco, the Beach Boys seem more like a one man creative driving force more than anything else, and that man is Brian Wilson.... Kokomo.

Best Album: Pet Sounds -- Personally, I think this album is overrated. A very good album? Without a doubt. But one of the ten greatest? I don't think so. But there is no denying the impact of the album on music. Wilson did things in the studio that we all take for granted now. The sounds and effects that he created were, at the time, revolutionary. Listening to Pet Sounds today, it sounds like a standard rock album... and here is where, imo, the album doesn't live up to the hype: the songs aren't always there. Are there some great songs? Hell yes: God Only Knows and Wouldn't it Be Nice probably would crack the top 20 and 50 of greatest songs respectively, and the Sloop John B cover is one of the best covers out there. But there are times when the album lingers and the songs just don't cut it for the GREATEST EVER status. Okay, I sound like a hard ass, and that's not really fair since this really is a great album. Go buy it if you don't own it.

Best Song: God Only Knows -- Really just a near perfect song. Beautiful, honest, and dramatic... a great song. "God only knows what I'd be without you".

You Are A Light

You Are A Light by Pavement

Editor's Note: Who is the greatest American band? This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.

Pros: Much like the Velvet Underground, everyone who bought their albums started a band... they're pretty much the band that every indie/hipster band strives to be at this point. This might not be a good thing, but at this point every indie band tries to sound like Pavement while trying to writer lyrics like Wilco. Should we tell them there's only one Pavement and there is only one Wilco?... You can't go wrong with any of their albums—Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, Brighten the Corners, Terror Twilight—all five are good to great... I would put Shady Lane, You Are A Light, and Spit on a Stranger up against any song written in the 1990s, hell any song ever written... They're is a Michael McDonald/Loggins smoothness to this band; thankfully, from a serious music perspective, they don't bring out congas... the rifts and hooks in some songs are among the best ever written...

Cons: Even if the bands influence is undeniable, no one really listens to Pavement. The band never is and never was on the radio. Can the greatest American band be a band that not only does no one listen to, but they aren't even considered underrated by the mainstream media? Maybe no one listens to the Velvet Underground, but everyone knows who the Velvet Underground is (or Lou Reed). The same can't be said for Pavement... Can sound like a jam band at times. This is not a good thing... The white boys who took the beat out of rock'n'roll. It worked for them, but the lasting impact is quickly becoming a pandemic...

Best Album: Slanted and Enchanted -- I'm going to claim ignorance here. I don't really know this album, the few songs I know I love, but it's the only Pavement album I don't own (not sure why) but both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork LOVE this album. From Rolling Stone: "Pavement were the quintessential American independent rock band, and this is the quintessential indie-rock album. The playing is loose-limbed, the production laid-back and primitive, the lyrics quirky and playful, the melodies sweet and seductive. But the sound is as intense as the white noise of the Velvet Underground. Slanted and Enchanted is one of the most influential rock albums of the 1990s; its fuzzy recording style can be heard in the music of Nirvana, Liz Phair, Beck, the Strokes and the White Stripes."

Best Song: You Are A Light -- It grooves, it's smooth, it's got hooks and a sweet rift... and when Stephen Malkmus sings "Watch out for the gypsy children in electric dresses they're insane./I hear they live in crematoriums/and smoke your remains./You are the liiiight. The calm in the day" you're tapping your foot and movin' to the music. Who knows, or cares, what Malkmus is going for here, but it sounds good. And that's what matters.

Heroin

Heroin by The Velvet Underground

Editor's Note: Who is the greatest American band? This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.



Pros: As Brian Eno once said only a few dozen people bought this record ["The Velvet Underground and Nico"] -- but that all of them were then inspired to start their own band. The Underground has been called the most important band so many times now, that it's hard to not know who they are. Never commercially successful, the band's importance has been and will forever be their foresight. They've always been considered ahead of their time, which warrants the question, has time caught up with them yet?... Are they the hippest band ever?... Where American music would be with out these guys, I haven't a clue. Their influence is undeniable—from Julian of the Strokes trying to sound like Lou Reed to every art rock band that ever play a chord of music—pretty much every cool band of the last 40 years has been influenced by the Velvet Underground at some level. So in that regard, they're the Beatles of American music.

Cons: How many people have actually listened to the Velvet Underground? Are they best know for being on the Royal Tannenbaums soundtrack, the Juno soundtrack, the High Fidelity soundtrack, or because of Andy Warhol?... You almost get the feeling that the album cover of "The Velvet Underground and Nico" is better known that anything the band actually played... Who wakes up and says, I could really go for some Loaded right now (other than people in bad bands of course)?...

Best Album: Loaded -- This comes down to taste. I don't like Nico, and since she had been kicked out of the band by this point, Loaded is my favorite and what I consider to be the best Velvet Underground album. However, I think every single rock critic, hipster, and pretentious son-of-a-bitch will tell me I'm an idiot. That Loaded is just the Underground trying to be radio friendly. Some may even claim that it's a sell out album (these are the same morons who like Beach House because Pitchfork said so). But you know what? Loaded is much more assessable than the band's self titled debut. It might not reach the highs (literally) of "The Velvet Underground and Nico", but the album is consistent and versatile, you can play the album at the beginning or the end of a party.

Best Song: Heroin -- I'll let John Leland take it from there: ""Heroin" begins with single strokes on the guitar, not quite marking time. Reed's voice enters before the full band, starting the problem, which is not drugs but life: "I don't know just where I'm going." As the first verse gathers momentum, the music rises around the words, cranking and stopping on the screech of Cale's viola and Maureen Tucker's no-breaks tom-toms. The sound grows denser as it accelerates, compressing time into ever-shorter measures. The verbs are gerunds, arrested in mid-action... From any point in the song, you sense that things are only going to get worse. Then, rather than build this rush to a crescendo—closing all the way in on death—the musicians abruptly stop, leaving the hangover of feedback and disordered time...

"...The stops in "Heroin," on the other hand, show how unmoored time has been all along. Like Twain's river or Kerouac's open road, which restart the action at each bend, "Heroin" interrupts the sequence of cause and effect, building to climaxes that never come. When Lou starts to look backward, wishing he "was born a thousand years ago," sailing "in a great big clipper ship," wearing a "sailor's suit and cap," the lyrics don't register; they're part of the distortion and feedback, like random noise." (from Hip: The History).

Blitzkrieg Bop

Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones

Editor's Note: It was an innocent point that I made on a Wednesday night between rounds of Trivia. R.E.M. was the greatest American band ever. The table looked at me as if I had just called Mao a great human. Thus the debate began: Who is the greatest American band? We eliminated every singer song writer or solo performer. So Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Billy Joel were eliminated. Other than that anything went. This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.



Pros: They're fun. And maybe they aren't what you think of when you hear punk, but they were punk. One of the first punk bands they also defined American punk. Unlike British punk, American punk wasn't about anarchy and over throwing the system. It was about playing songs really really fast and being a bit ironic at the same time... The band is totally unique, it's hard to really find a band that sounds like the Ramones. I'm sure many have tried, but I think they have one of the most unique sounds in all of rock... Who doesn't love three cords played as fast as you can while symbols crash and Joey's sort of mumble over it all... In the many covers that the band preformed, they put their own stamp on each and every song. Sure this usually meant they just took the song and played it as fast as they could, but no one else really had done this. And they did this really really well. Compare the original by Bobby Freeman and the Ramones cover of "Do You Wanna Dance"... they rock out and they're one of the first bands to really 'get' irony.... So let's see, they were loud, fun, fast, and ironic—if that isn't American—then I don't know what is (unless your one of those apple pie, football, and freedom types—if that's case all I can say is move to France).

Cons: Yeah... so every song can sort of sound the same... and since every song sort of sounds the same, it's hard to say the band ever really matured... they're lasting impact on rock'n'roll is sort of hard to figure out at the moment. Since the late 70s no one has really tried to sound like the Ramones. They're short term impact on rock is undeniable, but now 30 years later, their 'legacy' isn't as clear... also don't they have a few too many songs about teenage angst?... Did their songs mean anything?

Best Album: Rocket to Russia -- Teenage Lobotomy, Rockaway Beach, Sheena is a Punk Rocker, We're a Happy Family, and Do You Wanna Dance?, that's a hell of a record right there. The album comes at your hard and fast—like every Ramones record—but this is their most consistent album mainly because the songs don't run together. We're a Happy Family—seemingly over looked by many is a stinging indictment of they typical American family: "Sitting here in Queens/eatting refried beans/We're in all the magazines/Gulpin' down thorazines/We ain't got no friends/Our troubles never end/No Christmas cards to send/Daddy likes men."

Best Song: Blitzkrieg Bop -- Played in every stadium in the world (or so it seems) this seems to be sort of a cliche pick since this is for many THE punk rock anthem. But think about it for a second. In 1976, no one sounded like this. Sure the Sex Pistols were around and playing in London, but "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" wouldn't come out for another 18 months. So when you hear Johny nail those first chords, ripping through the air like a F-18, Dee Dee laying a fast bass line, Tommy subtlety working the drums over like a speed bag, and then Joey chanting "Hey! Oh! Let's go!", well if that doesn't get your blood flowing then nothing will.

Rearviewmirror

Rearviewmirror by Pearl Jam



Editor's Note: It was an innocent point that I made on a Wednesday night between rounds of Trivia. R.E.M. was the greatest American band ever. The table looked at me as if I had just called Mao a great human. Thus the debate began: Who is the greatest American band? We eliminated every singer song writer or solo performer. So Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Billy Joel, for example, were eliminated. Other than that, anything went. This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.

Pros: By default, they became the face of alternative rock after Cobain killed himself. Still today, when you think alternative Pearl Jam might be the first band that pops into you head... in the mid 90s there was no one as big as Pearl Jam... Ten. Vs. Vitalogy. Talk about a murders row of commercial and critical success, that's quite a line up. Yield and even their self titled album from two years ago are good efforts that can be listened to at any time... They didn't sell out (yet), but this means something since of most of the bands on the list, their commercial success either came later or never came (R.E.M. and Wilco respectively). Pearl Jam didn't make music videos just to make them, they fought Ticketmaster, and all their songs and albums seem genuine and honest...Voted number 1 back in 2005 by USAToday readers (this can also be seen as a con)... Yield is probably one of the more important rock records to ever be released. In 1998, for those who enjoyed rock'n'roll and weren't in their 20s, this album was a beacon of light in a sea of rap-rock, boy bands, and Britney. It proved to us teenagers at the time that rock wasn't dead and it would be back eventually sounding much like this. Of all of Pearl Jam's records, this is easily their most thoughtful and forward thinking album... At their best, Pearl Jam rocks out like no other band in the last 20 years.

Cons: No Code—it was such a stinker at the time when the band shouldn't have been producing stinkers. Vitalogy teeters on being a great album, and Yield showed that the band still had plenty of great song writing left in them so what happened with No Code? The album almost sunk the band, it took Yield to get them back in the good graces of the rock world. And that should never have happened. Athletes in their primes have bad days, not bad years. And if we look at Pearl Jam in the athlete metaphor, then No Code was a really, really bad year. And really, really bad years aren't easily forgotten in the long run... Then the first five years of the 21st century (Riot Act and Binaural a real stinkers)... The band really hasn't picked up new fans as much as the old fans continue to hang on... Did they ever really develop and mature as a band in a positive way?... And it seems like nearly every Pearl Jam album over the last ten years has been one where the band has a lot to prove... not a good thing.

Best Album: Vs. -- While Ten gets props from everyone and their mother, Vs. is a more consistent and interesting album. Ten deserves all the praise it receives because it was so raw and fresh at the time and the album still holds up today, but personally, I think the album gets lost at times. Vs. on the other hand is a tight, well made, solid album with some spectacular songs: Daughter, Glorified G, Rearviewmirror, Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town, Dissident... as far as impact, Yield of all albums may have had the longest lasting impact, but Vs. is Pearl Jam's best. One you can put on at a party, chillin' around the house, or driving in the car. Records like that don't come all that often.

Best Song: Jeremy -- The song is slowly becoming timeless (for more read here).

Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)

Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again) by Wilco

Editor's Note: Who is the greatest American band? We eliminated every singer song writer or solo performer—Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Billy Joel for example—were eliminated. Other than that, anything goes. This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.



Pros: Sometime around the suicide of Kurt Cobain, Jeff Tweedy decided that he was going to be the greatest GenX song writer. Some of his lyrics are amazing: "You love her but you don't know why"..."The ashtray says/You were up all night"..."I'm the boy that looks excited/I'm the boy thats gonna fall apart…/I'm the boy with the poetry power/I'm the boy, smells like flowers"... Wilco sounds American, which is a major requirement if you want to be the greatest American band. This is in part because there is always that country influence in the back of every Wilco song, this makes sense seeing that they started off as an alt-century band and all...some of their songs can only be described as beautiful...as Sasha Freer-Jones wrote about a year ago Tweedy has "a knack for writing clipped, vernacular descriptions of relationships and emotional states." In other words, we've all felt like a Wilco song at some point in our lives; assuming, of course, you have a soul and have been in love...The band has tried new things over the years, changing their sound and doing it well, much like Radiohead has and the Beatles did....Being There, Summer Teeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are three good to great albums and they all sound different (and on the right day Sky Blue Sky is good)...Bonus point for being from and based out of Chicago, and considering that Norman Mailer called Chicago the most American of cities, Wilco gets extra credit, even if Chicago isn't always on their mind in their song.

Cons: This band starts and ends with Jeff Tweedy. Not that the other band mates aren't good musicians, but Tweedy is Wilco. Rarely do you hear anything remarkable in an Wilco song that doesn't have Tweedy's finger prints all over it. This might be why the band has seen a decent amount of turnover during their history...A Ghost is Born anyone? And for that matter, Sky Blue Sky didn't necessarily deliver... If you're not expecting it, A.M. seems like it was a mistake, but that's being harsh...They've sprawled countless indie bands that flat out suck but for some reason hipsters consider good. Tweedy and Wilco made the wining singer/song writer cool, and now we have to suffer though thousands of hipsters attempting to be like that, only they aren't good at it. NOTE: Let Jeff Tweedy being Jeff Tweedy, don't try to be him because you can't...I can't blame Wilco for this indie/hipster problem, but it's there and should be pointed out...Are they too recent to be considering the greatest? Do we need more time to evaluate and see how their albums age and also how they age as a band?

Best Album: Summer Teeth. Most people would say Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (and reading this is nearly comical six years later), but that's easily Wilco's most overrated album. I hate to compare it to the White Album, but honestly, there is too much noise and not enough music on each album, which always kocks each album down a little bit. Summer Teeth on the other hand, is a pop album. Wilco trying to be the Beatles. And they do a great job at this. It's easily the easiest Wilco album to listen to since it's accessible, good, and non-pretentious, yet it also features some of the greatest Wilco songs: I'm Always In Love, A Shot in the Arm, We're Just Friends, Candy Floss, etc.

Best Song: Misunderstood -- I don't think we can ever fully understand this song because it seems so personal. Tweedy is writing for himself. But the build up during the intro, the simple guitar and piano, and then Tweedy's lyrics. A masterful song and one of the greatest of all time.

These Days

These Days by R.E.M.



Editor's Note: It was an innocent point that I made on a Wednesday night between rounds of Trivia. R.E.M. was the greatest American band ever. The table looked at me as if I had just called Mao a great human. Thus the debate began: Who is the greatest American band? We eliminated every singer song writer or solo performer. So Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, etc. were eliminated. Other than that, anything went. This week I present the arguments for who I think should be in the running.

Pros: It's natural, for me, to start with R.E.M. since they are the band I called the greatest American band, and I've stood by this stance in this nearly year long debate. The case for R.E.M. is easy—if they stopped making albums in 1992 (or even in 1994), they'd probably win this debate hands down. They're first six albums were good to great, and if you're a big fan of "Out of Time" then their first eight albums are all good to great. That's an impressive feat and something most American bands can't claim. R.E.M. was incredibly flexible and fresh over this time, they never appear to try too hard (save, again, for Out of Time)... They are truly American, R.E.M. couldn't have come from any other country... well maybe Canada... they aren't the fathers of either indie or alternative rock, but you know what? Both genres wouldn't be what they are without R.E.M. the band's impact is huge. Who else can you say that about? The Velvet Underground—maybe... they're music from the 80s still holds up as fresh and new today...they sound like they're having fun, something pretty much every indie band out there should take notes and attempt to pull off.

Cons: Some people don't mind "Monster" but the album hasn't aged well. After an amazing 10 year run, they really haven't done anything that great since the early-'90s (though some people love "New Adventures in High-Fi")...They have a few too many cheesy songs that are a little too popular ("Shiny Happy People" and "It's the End of the World")... at some point they became a little too, well, generic...they're underrated? I'm not sure what that means, but I think too many GenYers have missed the boat on R.E.M. which says something right there.

Best Album: R.E.M. lacks that definitive album, which might not be a bad thing, but the home run out of the park album isn't on R.E.M.'s CV. They do have at least six albums that music fans and critics would consider classic (depending on who you ask). But if you just met someone who had never heard of R.E.M. what album do you tell them to buy? I mean, what is a must own R.E.M. album? "Automatic for the People"? "Murmur"? "Life's Rich Pageant"? I'll go with "Murmur" it might not be their best, though I'm sure many will say it is, but it's their most important album since, well, no one else sounded like this in 1983.

Best Song: These Days -- really this combines all the great things about R.E.M. It rocks, it's urgent, but not over the top, Stripe's sings the song well—maybe his most over looked ability is that he sounds so confused when he sings, yet are confusing yet awesome, But the best part of the song is the instrumental work—the guitar is great and the drum work is one of the better jobs in a rock song.

Right Here Right Now

Right Here Right Now by Jesus Jones



One of the worst band names ever. Fact.

One of the more interesting songs about liberal democracy's victory over communism. Fact.

Okay, so this song doesn't have a ton going for it. It's dated: victory over communism is so passe, the opening bars of the song are cheesy, and there is an utterly pathetic bridge somewhere in there too. But hey, it's not every day that someone writes a song about the fall of communism, throws in a Bob Dylan reference, and then has such a catchy chorus that for the rest of time during any major event this song will be played during a montage. (Irony alert! Check this out about Soviet montage theory... who would have guessed?)

How much you wanta bet that NBC uses this during some Michael Phelps montage in the next week?

Listening to the song again, I now think it's underrated. Then again, I could see Pepsi using this in a commercial during the early 90s. So really... who knows... this song is too confusing. I'm going to move on before my head explodes...

Hotel Yorba

Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes



The White Stripes were the first band I discovered in college... wait that isn't true. But either way, I discovered them in college while in the cafeteria. A video of "Hotel Yorba" came on and it caught my ear. I saw who it was by, went back to the dorm, fired up Napster and suddenly I had half of the songs that were ever written by the White Stripes.

I had been waiting for a band like this for years. I had been tipped about the Strokes around the same time as I found the White Stripes and in both cases it was nearly revolutionary. Where had these bands been all my life?

It was refreshing to listen to something that was a few chords, a hook, and just rock'n'roll. It was stripped down, it was simple, it was nearly perfect. "And it's 1, 2, 3, 4, take the elevator..." so simple, so perfect.

I know the Stripes still get much love from the critics, but they lost their fastball at this point. Today, they're a band that relies on junk pitches too often, that energy and the unpredictability from song to song seems to have been lost. They're a blues band at this point (and they always were at heart), which isn't a bad thing, but whenever I put on one of their new discs I'm disappointed. The in your face, fun rock'n'roll that Jack and Meg used to play is gone.

Maybe because we're all finally in on the joke. And the White Stripes aren't as much fun now that we all know the punch line.

If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Then Surely I Can Win Your Heart

If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Then Surely I Can Win Your Heart by Beulah



I love the title to this song. It's so obvious yet so brilliant. The song itself is more fun than anything else, but the title. It really makes you think if we can put a man on the moon, then why can't she love me? After all, all you need is a pretty song. Shouldn't love be that easy? Or at least, easier than putting men on rocket ships to the moon?

I'm not often amazed about the fact that we landed many men on the moon. I don't sit around thinking about it and it doesn't blow my mind, but when I hear this song I do start to think... and it's pretty crazy. We launched men off of Earth and then some how got them to land on the moon. Putting a man on the moon has to be a much tougher feat than falling in love. So if we can as a country or society or as the human race do such a thing... then why can't I win her heart?

I think I'm repeating myself... which means it's time to go... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... yeah. I'll fight, if you want me to fight.

Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel



Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson.
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away,
Hey hey hey.

About two weeks ago I said that "Born to Run" was the most American song of all time. I'm not changing my mind, but those lines above are the most iconic lyrics in American pop culture.

What is interesting about pop culture is that rarely looks to the past in a romantic way. Pop culture isn't nostalgic or longing for "way back when", instead it's about the here and now... you don't hear songs or watch movies about how great the 1970s or 1980s were. Instead we poke fun at the past and try to gain some sort of understanding of the culture then as how we got to where we are today. Sure, eventually what was popular becomes retro, but retroism isn't nostalgic. It's recycling--retroism is just trying to modernize what was cool into the present, in other words it's attempting to be cool in the present by using something that might have been somewhat forgotten.

But Simon hit on something with those lines. Simon turned DiMaggio into a nostalgic hero AND a pop culture icon. DiMaggio was no longer just a great baseball player who was married to Marlyn Monroe at one point; now he was an iconic figure and a nod to the past, a Christ like figure of late 60s popular culture (and still today). When you hear the song, you don't wonder where Joe DiMaggio went, because we all know that isn't important. We are looking for the Joe DiMaggio hero.

So how does this tie in to 1968? Simon wasn't writing the song for the times and the year itself, it was written well before everything that was to happen happened in 1968. But that's probably what fueled the song's success. In a time where everything in American society was being turned on it's head, Joe DiMaggio became the Father of pop culture. We're all searching for Joe DiMaggio, still today, in our culture. The figure that unites us and brings us closer to our past... or as Terence Mann said:
"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."

And THAT is what Paul Simon turned Joe DiMaggio into--a reminder of all that once was good and could be again. That's what Joe DiMaggio is... the Father of Pop Culture.

Revolution

Editor's Note: This week we're looking at the some of the best songs from 1968. Why? Because everyone and their mother is talking about 1968 this year. Sure it's the 40th anniversary of the most important year since 1945, but it seems like the media and old Baby Boomers want some sort of revolution this year. So to please them, we'll look at some of the better songs from 1968 and see what sort of impact they have on some Gen-Yer who was apparently named after Bobby Kennedy (even though both his grandfather and father went by Robert before RFK became a house hold name...)

Revolution by The Beatles



It's funny to think of it this way, but the Beatles weren't all that political. Seeing that Lennon would stage sit-ins or sleep-ins or whatever they were and pen "Give Peace a Chance" just a year later, but alone, not as the Beatles, it's sort of funny to think of the Beatles as a neutral band. But they were. In fact "Revolution", shockingly, was the Beatles first really political song.

Lennon, apparently changed by a trip to India in the early part of the year, wrote the song as a sort of reflection on the events of the first half of '68. Of course, Paul thought it was too political... but the song was released and the opening guitar rifts is pretty chaotic and cool at the same time... and thankfully, this is the better known of the two "Revolutions" released by the Beatles. "Revolution 1" off the White Album, while good, just doesn't carry the same punch that this plugged in 'second take' does.

This might be Lennon's finest moment as a protest or political song writer. He's basically saying, hey, you want change? You want a revolution? That's cool, we all want to change the world, but you know what? Let's take a step back and look at what we're doing. If you're going out there and cause destruction... I'll pass. You're a fan of Mao? Forget it. (Of course this maybe because Lennon was a Trotskyist, so that might be why he was telling Maoists to get lost).

But over all, this song sort lacks that finishing, almost knock out punch, that leaves you on the ground saying, wow. It's good, but it's not great.

Love Child

Love Child by Diana Ross & the Supremes



This is not the first song about a bastard child, but I'm going to guess it's the first song about a illegitimate child that went to #1 and knocking the vastly overrated "Hey Jude" out of the #1 spot in the process.

The sound sounds edgy from the start, that quick guitar rift and then a ominous beat kicks in. I enjoy the bells (or triangle) in the background... Ms. Ross' voice is stellar as always. But it's the lyrics that really hit home.

If this song were to come out today, it'd be controversial. The first line "Tenement slum" seems revolutionary, and eventually we get to the chorus "Love child/Never meant to be/Love Child/Born in poverty" and then "Love Child/Never meant to be/Love Child/(Scorned by) Society/Love Child/Always second best." Those are some damning words, not to the child or even the parents... but to society.

I'm not sure that 1968 shaped the second half of the 20th century more so than any other year, it was a year of tragedy with Martin Luther THE King and Bobby Kennedy both being assassinated. We saw the protests of Vietnam, the disgrace of the Chicago Police Department, LBJ bow out of the race before it really even started, riots in many black neighborhoods in cities, the tragedy that was Vietnam really began to hit fever pitch... it was one of those years where so many truly sad and tragic events took place that when we look back we're drawn to it. But to say it was the year that shaped American society? That seems like a bit of a stretch. Events prior to and after 1968 all had a huge impact upon American: from JFK's assassination to Watergate. And neither of these events took place in 1968.

But "Love Child" highlights something else. The social ills that we see and face today; they were social ills 40 years ago. In '68, we were attempting to understand these issues and put a face on them; and we are still today. These social issues that we face today aren't new, they aren't a recent phenomon and they weren't new and recent in 1968. I'm not sure where society has gotten the idea that childbirth out of wedlock is a late 20th century and early 21st century trend... it isn't. It's been happening since humans started forming societies, if not before. In 19th century England, historians figure that up to 25% of all births were out of wedlock.

So "Love Child" wasn't ground breaking in that sense, the bastard child has always been down the block... but "Love Child" did introduce the issue to a conservative country and pop culture. Did it make people think? Probably not everyone, but I'm sure it made a few people think about the issue. And for that, it is one of the more important songs to be released.

(Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay

Editor's Note: This week we're looking at the some of the best songs from 1968. Why? Because everyone and their mother is talking about 1968 this year. Sure it's the 40th anniversary of the most important year since 1945, but it seems like the media and old Baby Boomers want some sort of revolution this year. So to please them, we'll look at some of the better songs from 1968 and see what sort of impact they have on some Gen-Yer who was apparently named after Bobby Kennedy (even though both his grandfather and father went by Robert before RFK became a house hold name...)



Otis Redding never planed for this to be his swan song, but it's a hell of a good-bye. On December 8th, Mr. Redding finished recording the song. Two days later Redding died in a plane crash outside Madison, Wisconsin.

The song would be released a month later at the onset of the 1968, though in many ways it feels like a song that should have been released at the end of the year. It's a tired song, with waves softly in the background, a relaxing bass line, and then Redding's tired voice.

It's a beautiful song. And I think it sums up how most people probably felt by the end of 1968.

All Along the Watchtower

All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix



In many ways this is the most appropriate song for this year. A song, with apocalyptic references, released actually just five days before the start of 1968 by Dylan, and then covered and released by
Hendrix in the fall of 1968. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Dylan's original sounds completely different than Hendrix's cover.

Dylan plays and sings the song pretty straight forward. A harmonica sets the tone and then a steady guitar and drums plow forward. The lyrics are the most import part of the song, the story that Dylan sings to us is a conversation between a joker and a thief. The song closes, referencing the Book of Isaiah, as two riders approach. The end is near. Dylan's version is some what haunting, but also rushed. It's almost as if Dylan could foresee the political upheaval that the upcoming year would see.



Hendrix's cover, on the other hand, is chilling. It feels like an attempt to catch the craziness of 1968. The opening guitar work and riff might be one of the five most famous openings in all of Rock'n'Roll. It has the feeling of guns and bombs going off, and then Hendrix almost speaks, "There must be some way out of here..." I'm not sure if any of the lines of the song hit home quite like that one.

The song, when viewed from the prism that Dylan wrote it, is a classic case of life imitating art. When Dylan wrote the song, American public opinion was still in favor of the war. It was the Tet Offensive, beginning at the end of Jan. 1968 that would swing American public opinion against the war. Suddenly, by September 1968 when Hendrix sings "There must be some way out of here", it takes on a whole new meaning.

The amazing thing about this song is how two versions, released only 9 months apart, could be so different and feel so different. Dylan's feels almost like a story told by and for citizens of the Middle Ages. I always imagine the people on horses, wearing their Adam of the Road cloths, discussing the story of the Joker and the Thief. On the flip side the Hendrix version is, thanks to so many movies and TV specials, linked to Vietnam. The song sounds like a hopeless cause, no we aren't losing, but we sure as hell aren't winning. Hendrix's version meanders with guitar solos, Dylan's is direct (and naturally 90 seconds shorter).

Now, the question is, why would anyone else cover this song? Dylan's original is pretty great. Hendrix's, according to so many, is even better. So why bother? How can anyone put a new twist on this song? And yes, Mr. Dave Matthew's I'm looking at you and your craptastic cover.

Street Fighting Man

Editor's Note: This week we're looking at the some of the best songs from 1968. Why? Because everyone and their mother is talking about 1968 this year. Sure it's the 40th anniversary of the most important year since 1945, but it seems like the media and old Baby Boomers want some sort of revolution this year. So to please them, we'll look at some of the better songs from 1968 and see what sort of impact they have on some Gen-Yer who was apparently named after Bobby Kennedy (even though both his grandfather and father went by Robert before RFK became a house hold name...)

Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones



In a way, it's sort of unfair to look at the music of 1968... art is nearly always a reaction to current events. So I should probably be looking at the songs of 1969 and even 1970, where the impact of 1968 was felt by everyone... but at the same time, what were people listening to in 1968? That might be more important.

Either way, this song, was probably the most blatant attempt by any band or group or song writer to really capture what the hell was going on out there. Leave it to the Stones...

Western history if filled with a few years where a lot of shit happened and it changed everything... 1815, 1848, and 1968. This are years that people take to the streets and demand change. And that's the lasting impression of 1968—people fighting with police on the street. You saw it everywhere: Paris, West Berlin, Prague, Mexico City, in the U.S., the most infamous is Chicago (but really throughout urban America and many college campuses) just to name a few places.

The real question is, do the Stones succeed? On the face of it, yes. Richards' guitar rips and cuts throughout the song with a tentative urgency. The drum work isn't half bad and drives the song along. Mick's voice is distant, horse, and filled with a little rage.

But you know what? As far as protest and militant songs go... Sunday, Bloody Sunday is so much more militant (and really the gold standard, if you ask me). And as far as a protest song... this isn't up to the standards set by, say, Country Joe & the Fish, Dylan, Sam Cooke, and eventually Marvin Gaye. The lyrics the Stones provide us leaves much to be desire: "Well, then what can a poor boy do/Except to sing for a rock n roll band/cause in sleepy London town/Theres no place for a street fighting man"

But in a way, these are honest lyrics; most people could identify with these words because most people didn't take to the streets. They sat around and watched it on TV, talked to their friends about everything, and lived life. 1968 was a crazy year that saw protests of some form in nearly every Western city... but most people didn't participate.

But what's really annoying about this song is that it... is... a... pop... song. It's got a great lick and a pretty good hook. For some reason there is a piano solo. The song isn't all that chaotic, which is what you'd expect if you were trying to write a song about people in the street fighting authority. And the worst part... the song fades out. Why? I don't know... maybe because it's the Rolling Stones, and they're too smart to actually write a protest song that would really piss people off. Basically the Stones are saying, "we're going to tap into what's going on without actually saying anything about it or taking a stance. We're going to be neutral, and you're going to listen and love this because we know how to write hooks and riffs."

Which raises the question, is Coldplay trying to be the Stones and U2 at once?

S.O.S.

S.O.S. by ABBA



Okay about six things to say about this on... let's do it one at a time:
1) I was driving today when I found this song on the radio... and I thought, you know what, there should be a radio station with good bad songs. Like ABBA. And Mellencamp. And Bon Jovi. And all those other cheesy acts that are some how really good.

2) I don't know who wrote ABBA's songs, and I don't feel like JFGI it, but that person was a genius. I would put the odds that ABBA's song writer was either Barry Gordie, Smokey Robinson, Phil Spector, Carole King, or Neil Diamond at 40%.

3) When it comes to songs about loves that are gone and the singer can live without that person... well this song is literally calling out for help. That's quite an accomplishment. "When you're gone, how can I even try to go on?" and then she sends out an S.O.S. This dude must have been pretty amazing. It's not every day when the girl is singing about how she can't live without the guy. This is a nice twist because I think we're all sick of the guy who's going to kill himself after right after he finishes this song about how he's going to kill himself because he can't live without this girl.

4) My favorite musical of all time is Momma Mia. Seeing that every musical I've ever seen is over the top and the plot is more improbable than the Cubs going 100 years without winning a World Series, I can actually sort of see Momma Mia being realistic.

5) Back to #3... I'll give girls/women credit here--they realize that guys aren't worth it very very early on in their love lives. And they're right. Every guy I know is an asshole, yours truly included*. So really, he's probably doing you a favor by screwing you over. But the flip side of that is that EVERY guy is going to screw you over, Ladies. And you know when you should worry? When he doesn't do anything assholeish or hasn't over a few months. Because that means he is and you haven't found out yet. In other words, when he isn't being a dick, he's doing something so dickish that he won't admit it or show that side of himself. Trust me on this one.

So, Ladies if you've got an Asshole and he does his asshole things and you can live with it, be thankful.

6) Get a load of this video... everyone in the band keeps smiling! They're happy! You have to look pained during a song like this! You can't smile during a song like this! ABBA IS NOT SELLING THIS SONG! I can't take serious. So forget everything I wrote here. Effing Sweden.

*I am not trying to get bonus points for saying this... I just know I fail. I try not to be, honestly, but then I do something really assholeish and I then I get disappointed. And no, I don't use this as an excuse.

There is A Light That Never Goes Out

There is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths




One of my five favorite novels is Irving Welsh's "Trainspotting" (the movie also cracks the top five). The book is a bit of a bitch* to read... but once in a while Welsh breaks away from the Scottish dialect and writes in what is totally normal English. And one of those times, Welsh is writing in the third person and discussing Spud, who has met a girl that he likes, and all he can think while walking with this girl are the lines to this song. I forget if it's the chorus or one of the verses (and I don't have the book in front of me to check) but anyway:
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Yep, the normally dark lyrics of the Smiths are on display here. But it's actually not that dark. Really what Morrissey is saying is "hey, if we die, I wouldn't mind because I'm with you." That's a nice thought. I've never really had a thought like that, but I sort of understand where he's coming from.

Last spring, as I was having my first real conversation with The Girl, I looked above and there was this huge window AC unit looking as if it could fall at any moment... and these lines came to my mind.

"You know the song "There is A Light That Never Goes Out?"

"No," she smiled.

"Oh, well this AC unit has me thinking about it... there's this line about dying and I just sort of thought about it," and I sort of sang, "and if a double decker bus, crashes into us, to die by yourside..." and I let the words trail off. The Girl just sort of nodded. "I kind of want to move," I thought out loud and then changed the subject.

The rest of the night I'd look above and see that AC unit and sort of half pray that it wouldn't fall on us.

Later that night after I left the bar, The Girl called me. To this day I'm not sure why and she never gave me a good reason as to why she called me. But that's how it all began.



*Not to sound like a feminist, but why is it that when something is a pain in the ass, we call it a bitch? Obviously, what we're saying when we say that is that women are pains. This is true... of everyone. Men and women. So why limit pain's in the asses to only women? Why not say "Trainspotting is a bastard to read"? Women have it tough.