Category Archives: Music

#1073: Supergrass – Pumping on Your Stereo

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Back in the old days, I’d find myself flicking through the music video channels as per usual. Some of those times, I’d come across the ending of the video for Supergrass’s 1999 tune ‘Pumping on Your Stereo’. I can’t remember ever seeing its video from front to back in one sitting. It’d always be on its way to finishing, and I’d change the channel to find it at the point where the band hit that huge ending chord followed by the studio chatter that comes afterwards. Then YouTube came around and that was quickly rectified. Supergrass videos were something of a regular occurrence on the TV. And after seeing them for myself and coming to the conclusion that this band were actually really great, their albums were a usual request in any Christmas/birthday list whenever those times came around.

‘Pumping…’ is found on the band’s self-titled album. It’s a bit of a party, good times rollin’, sing-along get together of a song. The band repeatedly ask the listener if we can hear them pumping on our stereos. They also don’t hide the fact that they’re clearly singing ‘humping on your stereo’ throughout the entire thing. Even in the music video, the word ‘humping’ is visibly mimed by the band members. Not that I’m complaining though. I don’t mean to be if it sounds like I am. The whole thing reminds me of how the Beatles got away with singing ‘tit’ in ‘Girl’. Someone probably questioned the band whether the band were singing ‘humping’, to which they said no and said they were singing ‘pumping’ instead. At least that’s the story I’ve come to in my head.

Really though, the song’s not really about anything of any great importance. There’s a bit of an allusion about feeling lost while touring and being on the road in the second verse. But everything sounds so groovy and cheery that it very much slips by. I don’t think it’s any secret that the lyrics are something of an afterthought in a lot of Supergrass songs. But what matters is that they all sound good in the context, and the main chorus does its job of getting stuck in your head in the melodic mantra-like way it’s delivered. The track I think is also the first in Supergrass’s discography in which they really wore their glam-rock, Bowie/Bolan, T-Rex influences on their sleeves. They would dive even deeper into them on the album that followed Supergrass. But the seeds were sewn right here.

#1072: Green Day – Pulling Teeth

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Green Day’s ‘Pulling Teeth’ gets a bit of an unfair deal. The sixth track on the band’s massive breakthrough major-label debut Dookie from 1994, it’s sandwiched by two of the trio’s most well-known and well-beloved songs (singles, too) in ‘Welcome to Paradise’ and ‘Basket Case’. Kinda sticks out like a sore thumb in its placement too, marking a sudden change in pace compared to the other songs that surround it on the album’s first half. But with all that being said, I’d still much rather listen to ‘Pulling Teeth’ rather than those other two. Would explain why there isn’t a ‘Basket Case’ post on here, nor will there be one for ‘Paradise’ either. I’ve just heard both too many times, you know? Sort of lost their power after a while.

The lyrics don’t leave much to the imagination. What you see/hear is what you get. And what that is is the account of a narrator who’s been physically abused by their girlfriend and is having a bit of an internal crisis about the whole situation. Inspired by a real-life incident where bassist Mike Dirnt broke both his elbows during a playful pillow-fight with an ex-girlfriend, the track takes things to the next level where this injury is caused on purpose leaving the narrator to deal with something of a bit of an existential crisis as they ponder on whether this relationship is really worth continuing with all the pain that’s bound to happen.

And despite the somewhat heavy subject matter, the track’s general tone is one of a relaxed kind that’s established from the very start with those dream-like, hazy guitar chords. They only alternate between two chords, but just the sound of them have this entrancing quality which I can’t pin down a cause to. Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt pretty much harmonize throughout the whole track on lead vocals, and I can’t think of another Green Day song where this occurs. From what I know, it’s usually Mike Dirnt coming up with harmonies here and there. But for an entire track? Surely, this must be the only one. I’ve seen comments that commend it for its Beatles-like quality, which I guess I can see. Not sure about similarities to the Beatles myself. I hear an almost surf-rock influence in there, but I don’t know of any bands to base this opinion on. Whatever’s going on here, I’m all for it. Everyone will go for the big hits from Dookie, but from the majority of other posts I’ve done for the album on here, you can see I’m for the deeper cuts. And with that, you’ll never see Dookie here again. More Green Day though, for sure.

#1071: Talking Heads – Pulled Up

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A lot of Talking Heads songs I’ve written about on here tend to come from Fear of Music. There’s one other one post on here for a track from Remain in Light. There would be so many more songs on here, had the timing been different. Like in the case of tracks from the band’s debut album Talking Heads:77, I’ll only be able to cover ‘Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town’ and the closer ‘Pulled Up’. I’m a huge advocate for ‘The Book I Read’, ‘Don’t Worry About the Government’ and ‘First Week/Last Week… Carefree’. Alas, there time wasn’t ever to come on here. That might leave you asking, “Well, where’s the post for ‘Psycho Killer’, eh?” And the answer is, I rather prefer this live version to the one that you can listen to all the time on say, Spotify, for example.

But speaking of ‘Psycho Killer’, it comes before ‘Pulled Up’ on the record and, as a result, provides probably the most notable mood whiplash in the band’s discography. After a creepy-creep song with French lyrics and hectic breakdown ending about comes this great mood boosting, uplifting track about a person who’s been feeling low and down but has now gained a new lease of life via the help of an undisclosed presence. David Byrne sings from the perspective of a man, could even be himself – I don’t see why not, who’s now living a life of success and basically wants everyone to know how good he’s feeling. With a little help from friends/family/unrevealed sources, he’s found the strength to overcome his adversities and come out the other side with a brighter outlook on life. Seems too good to be true if we’re discussing a Talking Heads song here, but I think the track’s as genuine as it gets.

Tracks filled with those usual Talking Heads quirks. Byrne is as eccentric as ever in his vocal delivery, covering a range from restrained yelping melodies to wild, barbaric howls. He’s anything but inhibited when it comes to recording vocal takes. He even chuckles a little on the “There’s really no hurry, I’ll eat in a while” lyric, something which I always thought was because it doesn’t even attempt to rhyme with the line that comes before it. Only he’ll know what’s so funny about it, I guess. But in general, the whole track from its music to the tempo to all the ascending scales (a typical characteristic of songs about going up) make for such a relieving burst of energy, something that builds and builds until it finally releases with the strike of the song’s final chord and thus the album’s. Talking Heads album endings never disappointed, and they set the bar high on the first go.

#1070: The Raconteurs – Pull This Blanket Off

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Feels like it’s been ages since I last wrote about a Raconteurs song. Actually, it was only a few months ago. But I was thinking that it was even before they had released their most recent album, which is already almost four years old. I listened through Help Us Stranger once. I think once was all I needed, it didn’t leave much of an impression. Nah, Consolers of the Lonely is still the greatest album Brendan Benson, Jack White and co ever did. I’d go ahead even further and say that I think it’s one of the last and best big guitar-centric rock albums to come from the 00s before the whole indie explosion that seemed to erupt from about 2009 onwards. That’s right, this nobody has made this exaggerated statement that anyone will take with a pinch of salt.

I do thoroughly enjoy this album though. A lot of things Jack White’s involved in, I’m not too much a fan of. I like White Stripes songs here and there. Never bothered with his solo stuff. Too much of him is too much for me. But when he’s combined with Benson, I don’t know, something just changes. ‘Pull This Blanket Off’ is yet another example from Consolers… where the dynamic between the two brings the musical touches up a notch. It’s the album’s shortest track, clocking in at just under two minutes. You could consider it to be nothing more than a bit of an interlude moment. But there’s such a dramatic, yearning quality within that I think makes it deserve as much attention as the more “substantive” songs that are alongside it.

White sings the first verse, Benson sings the second, and after an ‘ah-ah’ refrain and short instrumental break, the two harmonise in the next two verses accompanied by the introduction of a warm, thick bass guitar, a patient kick drum and a steady tambourine. What the track is about, I don’t think anyone’s really cared to fully get into. Not from what I can see on the Internet anyway. But I feel like there’s something that’s meant to be very American/patriotic about it. Like the narrator’s trying to believe in this American Dream ideal and trying to stick by their morals, but is disillusioned by their community or things they’ve experienced in their lifetime. It doesn’t get too deep into the message because before you know it, the track comes to an early albeit resolving conclusion with Benson seeing the listener off with a comic “All right, good night.” ‘Rich Kid Blues’, the track that follows, is a bit of a continuation of the theme here though, at least I’d say it is, and that’s 4 and a half minutes in length. I’d suggest you listen to them both in quick succession.

#1069: Test Icicles – Pull the Lever

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Rory Attwell, or ‘Raary Decichells’ as he went by as a member of Test Icicles, would usually change his voice entirely whenever it came to delivering vocals for tracks he had written for the band. You’ll hear his normal speaking voice and probably think what he’s trying to achieve when listening to ‘Pull the Lever’ or ‘Dancing on Pegs’ for example. Think it’s fair that any first time listener would be thrown off. It’s only properly dawned on me how strange it may sound. But funnily enough, the three songs he contributed to Test Icicles’ For Screening Purposes Only album, and a B-side that was left off, are among my favourites to listen to generally. They’ll get their posts someday. I’ve covered one already, which has been linked. And today’s is ‘Pull the Lever’ the second track from that record.

There’s not much of a long-winded, melodramatic story about how much this song means to me that I can give you. I listened to that Test Icicles album in 2010 after sort of forgetting about them for a while after the band split in 2006. ‘Pull the Lever’ came on, and when that harmonised vocal came in on the first chorus I recall it becoming a favourite almost instantly. It sounded so nice in contrast to the busier verses. Those are led by this busy, quirky punk guitar riff (played by Sam Mehran) and blaring keyboard stabs (courtesy of Dev Hynes) while Attwell exclaims about nothing much in particular, but then suddenly transition into the more melodic choruses where Attwell calmly sings the refrain. The post-chorus occurs with Attwell returning to that barking-like vocal before an instrumental breaks takes us back to the second verse to repeat the rounds again.

When I talk about Attwell ranting about ‘nothing in particular’, I don’t mean to give the idea that you shouldn’t pay any attention to the words in the song. But even the band admit that they were an afterthought, and were very much so for the majority of the album. They do sound good alongside the music though. Sometimes it’s those kinds of lyrics (where not much thought has been put into them, but not so much that it doesn’t look like they’re not trying at all) that somehow work out the best in songs. I tend to be attracted to those types, anyway. I don’t think I have anything of value to add anymore, so below’s a video of the band performing the track live for the BBC. If you like what you hear, it’s good to see the band in action.