Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven :: Re: Not Surprising

[quote name="Ray of Light "][quote]You like everything the dopey self-conscious indie slags five years younger than you like.[/quote]It surprises me to hear you say that! First, I'll present the same list, arranged <i>autobiographically</i>. <b>Teen:</b> - They Might Be Giants (K) - The Beautiful South (K) - The Lowest of the Low (K) - Nine Inch Nails (K) - Radiohead (K) <b>20-25:</b> - Dropkick Murphys (K) <b>25-30:</b> - The Blow (L) - Tegan and Sara (L) - Neutral Milk Hotel (S) - Modest Mouse (S) - Jimmy Buffett (knew of him way before that but shared JW's opinion) (F) <b>Later:</b> - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (F) - Townes Van Zandt (F) - Spoon (D) - Dogwood (D) <b>Legend:</b> K - I was a Kid myself, too soon to be copycatting the kids of today D - Don't even like F - Folk singers who will never be popular with the young people S - Smash hit, discovered by me after they were too popular to be worth any cred L - Lesbians So ... you're wrong. More generally, emulating the kids' musical tastes is a strategic dead end. Too elusive! In over a year of daily conversation with Sassy, I got her to admit to liking:<ul><li>west coast rap<li>Simon & Garfunkel<li>Ray Charles<li>Scott Walker</ul>And nothing more. Modest Mouse? "emo." Vitalic? "instrumental." Joe Holmes & Len Graham? "impenetrable." Hayden, "too indecisive." Adam Green, "too manly." Ratatat, "too German." You <a href=http://naknak.net/caltrops/get_the_idea.zip>get the idea</a>. For another thing, if the girl is in the right frame of mind you should be able to play whatever and make her claim to love it. After making beverage come out the nose of a drunken girl with my stock answer to "what animal would you be?" we went for a ride in my truck and Manu Chao's one good song came on. MC is the worldbeat answer to Dexy's Midnight Runners, but that didn't stop her from exclaiming "MANNNNNU CHAOO!!! SOO COOOOL" and barfing on my passenger side airbag. I did my best to hold her hair. You DO raise a fair point about the presentability of the artist list over the tracklist. Here is my top 20 along with some cherry-picked undercards. I'm aware of your anti-cherry-picking stance, but then you aren't the first to try <a href="http://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?action=viewPost&pid=62940">dictating terms</a> to Ray. <font color=darkgray>1.</font> Ben Lee - Gamble Everything for Love <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 55)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Not my favorite Ben Lee track (that would be 'My Guitar'), but some songs have one resonant line that makes me listen ten times in a row. <font color=darkgray>2.</font> Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 43)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Uncomplicated happiness, borne of low expectations, rhymed just a little awkwardly and delivered sloppily. Archetypical Jimmy Buffett. <font color=darkgray>3.</font> The Beautiful South - A Little Time <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 41)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>A rake sings to his exasperated mate. Twist ending! <font color=darkgray>3.</font> Spoon - Take the Fifth <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 41)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>I listened to this a lot, a last-ditch effort to like Spoon. As with their other work, the lustre of catchiness fades when you realize the lyrics are two notches above total nonsense (which, in many ways, is worse than total nonsense). I think it's about a girl who has VD but is attractive anyway. <font color=darkgray>5.</font> Spoon - This Book Is a Movie <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 38)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Reflected glory (comes after 'Take the Fifth' in my playlist). <font color=darkgray>5.</font> The Beautiful South - Old Red Eyes is Back <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 38)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Probably their most famous track. <a href="http://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?action=viewPost&pid=63091">Kenny</a>-esque infusion of dignity to an otherwise pathetic character. <font color=darkgray>7.</font> Red Hot Chili Peppers - Cabron <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 37)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>This is the kind of band that will still be touring when I'm old and I will go to see them. <font color=darkgray>8.</font> Modest Mouse - The Good Times Are Killing Me <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 36)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Unsure why this is ranked so highly. I think it's a subaverage MM effort and comes off as insincere. Elliot Smith's 'Between the Bars' -- sung by a bottle to its captive -- is a better song about the price of excess. <font color=darkgray>9.</font> The Beautiful South - My Book <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 35)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>[quote]This is my life and this is how it reads A documentary that nobody believes Albert Steptoe in 'Gone with the Breeze' Mother played by Peter Beardsley, father by John Cleese [/quote]See, you the listener are entitled to miss a reference here and there and still know wtf is going on. Nerd bands get this wrong. <font color=darkgray>10.</font> The Beautiful South - You Keep It All In <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 34)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Heaton lost his first female singer in a row over the lyrics on <i>Welcome to the Beautiful South</i>. While <a href="http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Woman-In-The-Wall-lyrics-The-Beautiful-South/C09E247BDE9D5647482568C6002BE56D">Woman in the Wall</a> is an obvious and oft-cited example, 'You Keep it All In' deserves an honorable mention for tampon-popping misogyny that fades under close inspection. This is a weak track: it's hard to imagine the South's stock male protagonist as mewling excuse-maker. See 'Just a Few Things That I Ain't' for a better song about all the things that he ain't. <font color=darkgray>11.</font> The Beautiful South - Let Love Speak Up Itself <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 33)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Nothing special. I had to look up the lyrics to remember what it was about. Popular on <a href="http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3458764513820545705">songmeanings.net</a>. <font color=darkgray>11.</font> The Beautiful South - Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 33)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>If you're going to hate everyone, why not start with the Dutch? <font color=darkgray>11.</font> The Beautiful South - Prettiest Eyes <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 33)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Old people's clear eyes serve as metaphor for love surviving the ravages of time. Most girls immediately dislike it. Heaton reuses the metaphor in "Perfect 10" (#118 on the Ray Chart), a song about fat chicks. <font color=darkgray>14.</font> Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 32)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>The best part of <i>Stranger than Fiction</i>. Will Ferrell sings it better than Eric. <font color=darkgray>14.</font> The Beautiful South - Song For Whoever <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 32)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>I wish they'd had the cheek to name it "Song for Whomever". <font color=darkgray>14.</font> Carla Bruni - Quelqu'un m'a dit <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 32)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>French, from a foreign telecom commercial that I saw at a screening of "Best Ads of 2006". It's emotionally unsophisticated and relies on the inherent beauty of the language to carry it (a failing shared by many romantic-language songs). <font color=darkgray>14.</font> Spoon - Everything Hits at Once <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 32)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Probably the catchiest song on <i>Girls Can Tell</i>. <font color=darkgray>18.</font> Spoon - Believing Is Art (<i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 31)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>[quote]Things Everybody Would Say Believing Is Hard Believing Is Art Things Everybody Should Know The End Will Come Slow And Love Breaks Your Heart[/quote]This looks promising on paper. Song somehow fails to grab me. <font color=darkgray>18.</font> Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is to Fly <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 31)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>A man with frontiersman's spirit and grit makes a sincere but inexpert romantic proposition, like Clint in Unforgiven but (I imagine) without the woman being all scarred up. <font color=darkgray>18.</font> Tegan and Sara - Living Room <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 31)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>People who question the function of lesbian duos, here is a song to answer you. What would sound obsessive and creepy sung by a man to a woman, becomes upbeat-charming when you know the protagonist is a <i>harmless woman</i>. Tegan and Sara have a solid record--upheld here--of avoiding the gender of their songs' subjects, so you can pretend it's not gay if you want. <font color=darkgray>21.</font> Tom Waits - Cold Cold Ground <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 30)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>One of my favorite songs of all time. I can't even say what it's about. <font color=darkgray>21.</font> Townes Van Zandt - Lungs <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 30)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Many similarities to 'Cold Cold Ground,' namely that I think it's great and can't make head or tail of the lyrics. <font color=darkgray>24.</font> José González - Heartbeats <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 29)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Sony commercial. <font color=darkgray>31.</font> Blues Traveler - Canadian Rose <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 27)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>I am a total sucka for foreign artists singing about Canada. The song probably isn't even very good. <font color=darkgray>38.</font> Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 26)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Pretty Hate Machine is famous for 'Head Like a Hole' but I've always been partial to track ten. It starts with these fucktempo drums, repeats until you're desensitized, and then (at "You just leave me nailed here") transitions to <i>fucktempo with afterburner</i>. <font color=darkgray>38.</font> Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 26)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Got stuck in my head the last time I rented a car and listened to its radio. <font color=darkgray>38.</font> Brian Eno - Golden Hours <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 26)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>A good song for people suspicious of Eno's ambient affiliations. For the EXTRA-suspicious, Ida covered it on <i>Ten Small Paces</i>. <font color=darkgray>41.</font> The Beautiful South - Get Here <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 25)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>How do you maintain a faraway love while respecting the value of money? You can start, Heaton shows us, by being a good talker. <font color=darkgray>41.</font> Adam Green - Novotel <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 25)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>In 'Novotel', Adam turns the English language into a saucy instrument. When Caltrops poster "Tony" bought <a href="http://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?action=viewPost&pid=50629">my portrait</a>, he got more than he bargained for (a download of this song and a request to comment on it). <b><font color="orange">Tony</font>:</b> Even given that he meant his song to make no sense, it bothers me that he's chosen his imagery to fit his rhyming needs. I know it shouldn't. <font color=darkgray>41.</font> Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Another Day Full of Dread <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 25)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>Despair meets babytalk in a song about pretending to not hate the world. <font color=darkgray>45.</font> Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Little Boy Blue II <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 24)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>I think the genius of Will Oldham is his ability to sing the part of a whiny, wet-blanket pussy and make it sound familiar and affecting. Most singers would not make this song sound good. <font color=darkgray>45.</font> Kimya Dawson - Being Cool (slow) <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 24)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>It's debatable whether we are better off with Kimya Dawson not working with Adam Green anymore: certainly many of their individual efforts are hurting for the artistic tension they showcased as the Moldy Peaches. But sometimes it's just nice to hear a song that has no mentions of taking a shit. <font color=darkgray>45.</font> They Might Be Giants - Kiss Me, Son of God <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 24)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>A freaky, geniusy jewish kid who was crazy about TMBG once told me this is his favorite song of theirs. <font color=darkgray>51.</font> The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself <i><small><font color=darkgray> (plays: 23)</font></small></i> <img src=http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/nut/pictures/images/indent.GIF>I sure can't. [/quote]