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.

Spit on a Strager

Spit on a Stranger by Pavement

The greatness that is or was Pavement came to me later in life, well later in life for a 26 year old who liked the Beatles at 8, the Who at 14, and the Strokes at 20. I’m not sure exactly how or why Pavement escaped me until I was 24, but they did. I blame my parents who decided to have me first, thus I never had an older brother (or younger brother for that matter). I shall forgive them.

No matter, this song cracks the top 20 of "All Time Greatest Songs That If You Were to Ask Me". The song comes in at just over three minutes, and all three minutes are pure indie perfection. I remember one day, it was during the long spring of 2006 in DC (aka the greatest spring of all time). I think it was April. I was pretty single and going to do something with my life - where I wasn't sure - but I was going to grad school. I was happy. Life felt good.

(To clarify, life feeling good and life is good are very different concepts. When life is/was good is basically saying, ‘I like life at this moment. It’s cool, I am enjoying myself’. Life is good moment often times occur when one is at a bar with friends or in bed with a lover. However, when life feels good, you’re actually at total peace and you randomly smile when you’re doing things like taking public transportation or eating lunch. This occurs when you feel like you have a purpose or if you are fully aware of your freedom. Life feeling good is a much better moment/feeling than life being good).

(ANYWAY) After work, I decided to walk up Connecticut Avenue. I did this from time to time back in the long spring. It was a nice way to take in life. Take in the unreality that is DC. I was going to some record store in DuPont to buy some album that I was hoping that was going to be pretty good. I think it was the Tapes'n'tapes album which Pitchfork said was good (it isn't), but I'm not totally sure. Anyway, I bought a few CDs from the record store and as I was walking to the metro, I decided to stop in DuPont Circle, the actual park which the city had slowly cleaned up over the six or so years I was in DC. I took a seat on the park bench listening to "Spit on a Stranger" and "You are a Light" a few times... probably read the Economist... and eventually left back for Old Town. That felt good.