Monthly Archives: May 2021

#845: Green Day – Minority

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‘Minority’ by Green Day. This is a track I’ve known and really liked for a long time now. Was one of the videos I watched on repeat on the band’s website when I was really into them in ’05. So much so that I remember my aunt making fun of the way Billie Joe Armstrong sang the track’s first line. But I liked it then, and still do today. It’s the penultimate track on Warning, but was released as the first single from it, and is one of those “fuck the Man, I’m doing me” type of songs.

I’m in that group who say Warning is an underrated album. It might not have the grandiosity of an American Idiot or a 21st Century Breakdown, but the simplicity of all its songs really highlight the band’s chemistry and Billie Joe’s melodic talents. And ‘Minority’ has one of the most memorable singalong moments on there. The whole track is like one long chorus, and I appreciate this. The one part of the track that I really like is the “Stepped out of the line” section, and that only appears once before changing back to the pre-chorus again. Kinda leaves me wanting more. But as it stands, the track’s still one of the best from the album.

I think it’s fair to say the band like it too. It’s a staple in their live performances. Sometimes the band stretch the track out for about eight to ten minutes to allow a lot of instrumental breaks, crowd banter and “hey-heys” and “hey-ohs” and “ay ay ays”. While those are all probably very nice when in the moment, I’ll take the studio recording any day.

#844: Talking Heads – Mind

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The album sleeve will tell you that ‘I Zimbra’ is the first song on Talking Heads’ Fear of Music. But for me, the record doesn’t truly start until the following number. With ‘Mind’, the whole ‘concept’ of being frightened/obsessed with the thing listed in the song titles properly begins. Here, David Byrne wants to know what’s going on in the listener’s head. Or at least to whoever/whatever he was thinking about at the time of writing the lyric.

After the party-conga-like tone of ‘I Zimbra’, ‘Mind’ brings things back down to earth with a hefty crash of a cymbal and a great reduction in tempo. There are these pleasant keyboards that fade in and out of the mix, but the guitars and bass play these odd notes that keep things sounding unusual. Then Byrne comes in. If you weren’t intrigued by the band elements, then it’s Byrne’s voice that will gain your attention. He sounds resigned at the beginning. Like he’s been examining us for a while and has started singing the song to pass the time. With every iteration of the “I need something…” chorus, Byrne seems to become progressively unhinged in his delivery, culminated in a huge scream on the very last word of the song.

I think ‘Mind’ gives a great taste of things to come throughout the album. Moreso than ‘I Zimbra’ which amps you up more than anything. Crazy vocals, far out synthesizer work and production, awkward sounding notes here and there. Classic Talking Heads stuff.

#843: Kelis ft. André 3000 – Millionaire

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You might hear this and think, “Wow, for a song that’s labelled Kelis ft. André 3000, there’s for sure a lot more of the latter on here than the former.” Well, ‘Millionaire’ was supposedly intended to be included on the ‘Love Below’ half of OutKast’s double album in 2003. So that would provide your answer. For some reason, that didn’t happen. As a result, it was included on Kelis’s Tasty album instead. Now, I thought this song was a worldwide hit. But it turns out that it wasn’t even released as a single in the US, so there’s a possibility that a lot of people don’t even know this track exists. This needs to change.

This song was out when I was a dumb nine-year-old. And like a dumb nine-year-old, I wasn’t listening to these song’s lyrics and what was really going on in them. I just knew that the beat was bangin’, André 3000 sounded as smooth as he did on ‘Hey Ya!’ and ‘Roses’ – which had been out as singles for only a year at the time of the release of ‘Millionaire’ – and Kelis sounded just as great too. She was doing her thing too with the success of ‘Milkshake’ and ‘Trick Me’ around this time. And yeah, the song sounded good. But it’s actually very sad. Basically does the same trick as ‘Hey Ya!’, detailing these sad events in the lyrics which you would hardly think about ’cause you want to dance so much. You can’t really dance to ‘Millionaire’ though, which is probably why the lyrics stick out a bit more.

It’s a big ol’ case of being lonely at the top. It’s all in there in the first line of Dré’s verse, to be honest, and the depression is piled on from there. He feels like a lowlife despite having all this money. He wakes up early in the morning, but still can’t find happiness in the sun’s rays. Kelis is losing her friends and feeling like she’s losing her direction in life. Being rich isn’t all it’s hyped to be. And all of this misery is backed by this stomping beat, soothing synthesizers, and that ringing alarm clock-like melody that plays throughout. It’s conflicting. I could listen to this one anytime though. It’s a big nostalgia wave, but one that still gets to me in the present time too.

#842: OK Go – A Million Ways

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You didn’t know OK Go had another dancing video, did you? No, it’s always been the one with the treadmills that got all the attention. Well, here in the UK at least, ‘A Million Ways’ came before ‘Here It Goes Again’ by at least a year or something. Though the latter was the video that skyrocketed OK Go’s name in the business, and got them doing the treadmill act at the MTV VMAs in 2006, ‘A Million Ways’ was probably the track that really started it all.

This was the first track I ever heard/saw by OK Go. Didn’t know that they had something of a hit with ‘Get Over It’ in 2002. The video showed up on the Amp music channel. All I know was that there were these four men dancing this somewhat elaborate routine. To a ten-year-old me, I thought it was truly captivating stuff. I probably didn’t catch the music as much, but I certainly couldn’t forget the video. The band held a contest on YouTube allowing people to do the ‘Million Ways’ routine. If I had been older and had friends who were into the same music as me, I could have done it. I do remember doing the dance at primary school, just at playtime or whatever. People thought it was funny. It’s not that great doing it solo though.

For a while there in 2006, OK Go was one of my favourite bands. YouTube was now a thing and you could watch music videos on there, it was pretty revolutionary at the time. During that time, I found the video for ‘Invincible’, ‘Do What You Want’ was a single and appeared on the soundtrack for Burnout Revenge. All these songs I liked. ‘Here It Goes Again’ and its success capped off that good year for the band.

#841: Deerhoof – Milk Man

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I was really into the NME back around 2007. I was well into my first year of secondary school, and my musical tastes were being shaped by whatever what was on FIFA games and MTV2. NME appeared to be the magazine that gave a lot of coverage to what was playing on that channel. So, if I wanted to know more about that music and those bands, the NME was the way to go. In those years, the publication had its own web/internet radio station on their website which anyone could click on and start listening to. The only reason I know today’s song, ‘Milk Man’ by Deerhoof, is because it played on this station. From what I remember, it was played twice. The second time, I made sure I made note of what the song was called and who it was by. Lucky for me, because after that second time I don’t think the song was played on there ever again.

So, yeah, this is the only Deerhoof song I know. I tried to get through the Milk Man album years ago, but don’t think I could make it past the second song. I remember it being quite noisy. I should give it another go someday. But the ‘Milk Man’ song I could listen to all the time. When I was 12 in 2007 and heard the guitars opening the track with their little stop/starting riffs, I knew even then that it would be a song to remember. Quite cliché to say, but I mean it sincerely. The noise kicks in for those driving breaks before transitioning into the quieter verses where bassist and lead vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki comes into the frame. Her voice is perfect for the track. And her Japanese accent makes the lines so much more fun to sing. The drums are something to look out for too. Drum rolls and erratic hits on the snare are abound. Drummer Greg Saunier goes even wilder during live performances.

The track isn’t about anything deeper than what it describes in the lyrics. It’s about the Milk Man, who you can see on the album cover, who has bananas embedded in his arms, wears a mask, and wants to play happy music with the boys and girls. It’s an introduction to the character, and the album is meant to be a story about what he gets up to. I can’t get more into it than that because I haven’t heard the whole record. This is something that needs to be personally rectified.