Versions: Sickles and Hammers

Most people have it all wrong. The line on Sebadoh is: personal, singer-songwriter, lo-fi, proto-emo. Wrooooong. Sebadoh were (and still are when they reune), a fearsome rock band. Most people just know Brand New Love and Skulls and On Fire and songs like that. Here, I present exhibit A of Sebadoh as rock gods. They outdo the Minutemen on their own song. Sickles and Hammers is an early Minutemen song that's a 48 second blast of anger and energy. It's wild and unhinged and over before you've even really realized it started. It's dizzying in its attack and fulfills last post's requirement for instant playback. It's one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. Sebadoh's cover is every bit as wild and unhinged, but it's heavier. It hits harder. It does what the original does, only better. I dare you to take the challenge and play these side by side. Minutemen, one of the all time great punk bands and Sebadoh, the wussy, lo-fi whiners. See who wins.

Sebadoh's Sickles and Hammers

Minutemen's Sickles and Hammers

Heroin Sucks!!!

The best songs are the ones that, as soon as they end, you quickly reach over to move the needle, click back, or rewind to hear again. Short ones are the best, like a minute and a half long perfect pop song by Guided By Voices or The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want. The songs are only long enough to whet your appetite, but have a pop hook good enough to make you want (nay, need) more.

The best punk and hardcore songs function this same way: short, fast blasts of energy with a simple hook. Today's example is the Charm City Suicides' song Heroin Sucks. Its heavy stomp hits you right out of the gate, barely giving you time to register the way its making you feel before the broken, chanted/screamed vocals come in. The song is pure anger and excitement, and the source of that hatred? Heroin! Who can't get behind hating heroin? (Aside from junkies, of course.) The chorus is an epic, screamed sing-along during breaks after heavy double drum and bass/guitar hits. Boom boom, HEROIN, boom boom, SUCKS, boom boom, HEROIN, boom boom, SUCKS, boom boom HEROIN SUUUCKS!! It's the feel-good scream-along of the decade, it's incredibly addictive, and it'll make you hit rewind.

(On a side note, the guitarist, Brian Dubin, is a 6'2 or 3" redhead with thick-rim, black glasses that he's constantly shoving back up with his palm while playing, and the lead singer is a very earnest straight edge guy who goes nuts on stage. Quite a live show. They broke up and they are missed.)

Charm City Suicides' Heroin Sucks

More Songs NOT For Girls You Want To Date

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Sooo Bitter, Sooo Good

What's the most bitter, vengeful song you can think of? I know what mine is, Hats Off To Larry by Del Shannon. Odd to think it comes in a happy sounding early 1960s pop song, but the fact that it sounds so happy is what makes the song so fucked up.

The reason Del's so happy is that Larry broke up with a girl. The girl Larry broke up with is Del's ex, who broke his heart. When she left him for Larry. You'd think he'd hate Larry, but no. He hates the girl who left him. Normally people write sad or angry songs about the girl who broke their heart and the asshole who stole her away from them. Not Del. He bitterly bides his time, waiting for her life to take a down turn and then applauds the source, even though it happens to be the guy who caused his own misery. Now that's an impressive grudge.

"Once I had a pretty girl/Her name it doesn't matter/She went away with another guy/Now he won't even look at her.

Hats off to Larry/He broke your heart/Just like you broke mine when you/Said we must part.

He told you lies/Now it's/Your turn to cry, cry, cry/Now that Larry said goodbye to you."

The craziest thing? "I know this may sound strange/I want you back/I think you'll change/But there's one more thing I gotta say/ Hats off to Larry..." He still loves her. Even while writing a song that so publicly, bitterly, and joyously celebrates her dumping, he still wants her back.

So twisted. So good.

Del Shannon's Hats Off To Larry

Birthday songs!

Guess who's 30 today?! I'm not ashamed to say that I've been waking up on this day and playing Atom & His Package's Happy Birthday General every year since I was 16 or 17. Today, I don't just get to play it for myself, I get to sing it from the mountaintops! Assuming I can call this little blog a metaphoric mountaintop. In addition to Happy Birthday General, I'm also sharing a bunch of other birthday related songs.

Songs included in the package:
Atom & His Package- Happy Birthday General
The Beatles- Birthday
Groovie Ghoulies- Happy Birthday Song
Happy Birthday- Subliminal Message
Mirah- Birthday Present
Ween- Birthday Boy
J Church- Birthday
Stevie Wonder- Happy Birthday
The Birthday Party- Big-Jesus-Trash-Can

Happy Birthday!

Older

I turn 30 in two days. I'm completely fine with it, but this song still seemed appropriate.

They Might Be Giants' Older

*Image Credit: Kathryn Maxwell, Famous Facial Hair Series, graphite screenprint, 42x30"

Screams of Delight

There are some people out there who don't like female singers. This is something I've never been able to understand. To say nothing of the ignorance of blunt, nuanceless blanket statements, those people are missing out on some of the best screams in music. I don't mean high pitched horror movie screams, I mean rock n' roll screams. We're talking the opening of Immigrant Song and Welcome To The Jungle here. Screams of rebellion. Kim Shattuck of the Muffs can scream along with the best of the them and my personal favorite has always been Oh Nina, a song that I'm sure was built solely for the purpose of allowing Kim to scream as often as possible.

Still, as much as I love Kim and Oh Nina, and even Immigrant Song, my all time favorite screams are June Carter's during Jackson, live at Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash. He brings her up on stage, she says the single most embarrassing thing I've ever heard on record (more on that in a second), then takes the first verse himself. Which is fine. Johnny Cash is one of the greats. But the song hits another level when June starts her first verse. She attacks it, growling into the first line, turning her gravelly voice into a weapon. By the time she gets her second verse, she just lets loose, letting each new line grow in the back of her throat. The effect is visceral as the words are more felt than heard.

The fact that this performance comes immediately on the heels of her initial comments makes it even more striking. A transcription of the exchange: Johnny: "I like to watch you talk." June: "I'm talkin' with mah mouth!" and she starts to say something else, but Johnny (seemingly out of embarrassment) quickly cuts her off saying to the band: "Alright, let's do a song." She went from "I'm talking with my mouth!" to one of the most cutting vocal performances I've ever heard. Wow.

The Muffs' Oh Nina

Johnny Cash and June Carter's Jackson