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I start out clean each day/Shoot 'em down shoot 'em down shoot 'em down shoot 'em down
Music like this confirms to me that I'm not the typical older-generation crank to think that pop music became pretty uniformly bad starting in the 1980s. Why? Because along the way I've found a nontrivial amount of bands that have dug deep to innovate on the root forms, whether extending them in terms of form or rethinking how rock and pop should sound. I think that what this relative handful of groups has in common is that you can't point to much that obviously identifies them as eighties, nineties, or tenties music. Another thing is that they do not sound like the product of teen focus groups and coke-sniffing producers. In my view, they say something... whether there are lyrics or not.
Here is one of my favorites: Morphine. No historical or critical essays tonight, except to say I think it's funny that the recurring phrase they use in the framing passages sounds like a mild perversion of the famous Joe Walsh riff from "Rocky Mountain Way" (find it on YouTube if you don't recognize it by name; you should recognize it right away).
Now, you know the routine here at the fish fry: mash those earbuds into your head and turn up the volume to 11.
Test Tube Baby/Shoot 'm Down, Morphine (1993, from "Good," RykoDisc), via YouTube, embedded for noncommercial critical discussion and educational purposes.
Can't help but think this "Fry" was totally subliminal in nature, based on your recent "rants." I find it especially funny in light of Clinton's comments when he took over at the press conference defending Obama's tax deal, "..."I am happier (to be involved) when the bullets are less likely to hit me..."
ReplyDeleteThe "Prez" looks warn. Can't wait to get on vacation...LOL!
One thing that also came over on the Morphine track was that good old RykoDisc production quality. That label was always top shelf on production. Even sounded good through the speakers on my Macbook.
No doubt about it, we have got to get you another Santa.
59er: now, now guy. Sure, I'm a hardcore street fightin' man just like all men of my hallowed generation. But I don't even joke about shooting anyone or anything down, with the exception of filthy squirrels and rabbits that see fit to ratfuck the innocent flora I nurture in my yard. And I agree: Ryko did a great job with their artists, at least once upon a time. Zappa and Elvis Costello were two early clients.
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