Tag Archives: head

#1345: Queens of the Stone Age – Tension Head

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For the longest I wondered, “What does ‘tension head’ mean?” The phrase is the title of the ninth song on Queens of the Stone Age’s 2000 album, Rated R, and the third and final one where former bass guitarist Nick Oliveri takes the role of lead vocalist. ‘Tension Head’, the words by themselves, just sounded cool. One of those occasions where the song title doesn’t appear in the lyrics and appears to have no association to them, but somehow suits the music like a glove. But I listened to it one day, years after getting to know it initially, and had that “Ohhh” realization feeling when considering the lyric, “I strike a match”. That’s what the title refers to, the part at the end of a match that’s used to make the flame. Apparently, that’s simply called the ‘head’ of the match. It should probably be called ‘tension head’, though. That would stick with the kids for as long as they live.

I guess you get the three sides of Nick Oliveri on Rated R. First up he delivers the melodic, alt-rock, double entendre of ‘Auto Pilot’, another favourite of mine from the record. The second arrives on the sub-two minute, hit-and-quit ‘Quick and to the Pointless’ where you can tell Oliveri may be a little crazy through his vocal delivery and the subject matter. But ‘Tension Head’ is the one that showcases the full-blown maniac in full force. He kind of “sings” the very first lines of the two verses, otherwise he’s about to burst a blood vessel or two due to how powerfully he screams almost every other line. I guess, the ‘tension head’ of the title mainly refers to the match lyric, but the whole track feels very tense itself. The track does have an undeniable groove going on in the verses, which is then swiftly discarded for the pummeling rhythm for the choruses with that quirky guitar line in the right channel. The only moment I can think of where you’re able to breathe a little while is when the guitars ring out at the end of the breakdown two minutes in, before falling right into the hectic ending. Song’s borderline frightening, it’s awesome. Like it a lot.

I think the song is about a character who knows they are currently situated within the pits of their own existence, on a downward spiral of some kind, but insists on trying to maintain that high by going out in the town to ‘get right’ by ‘hustling little girls’ and ‘cheating little boys’. Not the first time Oliveri mentions ‘little girls’ on this album either, must have been something going on in his life he needed to sort out. What the cause is for the narrator ‘feeling so fucking sick on the bathroom floor’ is never stated outright, but with the mentions of ‘cooking it up’ and ‘feeling so sick on the bathroom floor’, I would say, heavily implies the intake of a drug or two. The contradictory nature of the narrator’s behaviour is summed up in the “highlife, lowlife” lyric that’s whispered underneath all the choruses. The last note in the guitar solo is left ringing out on its own, only alleviated by the beginning of the following instrumental song. What happens to the narrator of ‘Tension Head’? We don’t know. It doesn’t look good. But what a way for Oliveri to peace out from the album with only two songs left to go. Also, the song is just a re-recording of a tune Oliveri did with his own band a few years earlier. I feel like I knew this already, but I must have forgotten. So it’s nice to find out again. ‘Tension Head’ owns it.

#1269: They Might Be Giants – Stand on Your Own Head

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Nearing the end of They Might Be Giants’ Lincoln, the band’s second debut album released in the September of 1988, comes the song ‘Stand on Your Own Head’. Now, I’ve always thought it was a good one, and I’m sure there are a lot of Giants fans out there who feel the same way. You wouldn’t find it being regarded as a major highlight, but it’s appreciated all the same. My view, it gets a bit of a raw deal being sandwiched between two of the album’s most well-known tracks in ‘Shoehorn with Teeth’ and ‘Snowball in Hell’. I’d go for this one over the former any day, and maybe you could tell because I’m writing about ‘Stand…’ and haven’t done a post on ‘Shoehorn’.

This one here is another TMBG track mainly written by John Linnell. I’ve come to think of the lyric as some kind of wordplay exercise, taking idioms and everyday phrases and then turning them upside down. Or “on their heads”, you might say. And you can go through it line by line. At least, almost. “I like people, they’re the ones who can’t stand”, I guess is a turn on “I hate people, they’re the ones I can’t stand”. It’s a bit of stretch on my part, seeing as that’s not really an everyday phrase. But what’s more obvious comes in the lyrics for the chorus, “Stand on your own head for a change/Give me some skin to call my own”, which calls to the “Stand on your own two feet” phrase and provides a combination of “give me some skin” and “a home to call my own”. And then there’s the “You’ve made my day, now you have to sleep in it” in the second verse, a reference to making a bed and lying in it. The other parts about smoke signals and suing for custody, I’ve still not been able to pin down. But they sound good nonetheless.

The main musical highlight in this tune is the prominent feature of the banjo, which is rarely used in any other They Might Be Giants song, if it even is at all. The band’s Wiki side credited its playing to John Linnell. I never thought much of it. I listened to a podcast one day that questioned whether this credit was correct. There are TMBG songs that have Linnell playing guitar and he isn’t all that proficient in that, so it did make me wonder whether the credit was true too. But then a few years ago, a TMBG live performance from 1988 was released on YouTube, and right there in the thumbnail was Linnell with banjo in hand alongside John Flansburgh. Though whether he’s playing the intricate part during the choruses is still up for question. If you were somewhat displeased with my own take on the song, luckily I found this track-by-track breakdown of Lincoln while writing this. Linnell’s recollection of the track might just be more useful than mine.

#1078: They Might Be Giants – Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head

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Man, look at those fresh-faced Johns in that music video. I reckon I was about 12 years old when I saw the clip for TMBG’s ‘Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head’ for the first time and thus heard the song too. Would have been 2007, and YouTube was up and running at this point. Not the big deal it is today. Was a lot more humble and much more innocent back then. At 12, the Giants had been around in my life for probably three and a bit years at that point. And it was hard to find music videos by them online without really having to look for some websites. Now all of them were on this “new” site, and ‘Puppet Head’ was a well-liked song according to the band’s wiki. Became an instant hit in my book and another to add to that list of tunes I already knew that really made TMBG stand out compared to any other band/musician/artist I usually listened to.

I distinctly remember stopping and starting the video numerous times, just to keep replaying the image of the two Johns jumping in time to the track’s opening drum pattern. It’s quite hypnotizing in its own way. Plus, it’s quite the visual to start things off with. Once I realised that this was the duo’s first ever music video, it made sense that the first scene had to lure viewers in somehow. In fact there are many dance moves here (which were a signature in those early TMBG videos) that I kept on rewatching. Just made the two guys all the more endearing. But you want to know about the song, that’s why you’re here. Well, John Linnell originally wrote it – lyrics and music – but was unhappy with how his verses turned out. He gave it to bandmate John Flansburgh who “filled in all the blanks”, resulting in one of the best TMBG outcomes, a collaboration between the two band members in comparison to the usual where one or the other will write the entire song.

From what I can gather from the lyrics, I think it’s simply about a person who doesn’t like their job, wants more out of life. Maybe a little loving to help soothe the pain. And all of this could happen if someone would only put their hand inside the titular puppet head. The talk about zombies and this puppet head puts things into a bit of a surreal area, but I think that’s just a way of making the understanding a little harder to achieve. Well, I think they did that quite successfully. But like a lot of other TMBG songs, it’s a bunch of fun to sing along to. The track was released as the second song on the band’s first album from 1986, but with a different mix from that in the music video. The snare hits are drenched in reverb, someone suggested to make the song a little sharper in its key, and the tone overall is a little brighter. It does fit in alongside the other 18 tracks on that record. When I sing it out of the blue, my pitch usually goes to that of the video’s. But honestly, this is one of those rare occasions where I like two separate released mixes of a song at about the same level.

#642: The Who – Is It in My Head?

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The ninth track on The Who’s 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia is just another introspective moment out of many on the album. Its protagonist has…. a lot on his plate – to keep it short and sweet – and is trying to figure out things he can do to try and make himself a better person without coming across as too eager or looking a fool in the process. By the end of the track, he gives up altogether and declares total apathy for anything in the following song ‘I’ve Had Enough’.

For the longest time I thought Pete Townshend sang the chorus. In actual fact, it’s bassist John Entwistle who takes the lead with Roger Daltrey singing the verses. Speaking on Daltrey, this album was definitely his vocal peak. He belts out every howl and bellow from the gut. I can only try and replicate the song’s ‘I feel I’m being followed’ bridge but would never be able to reach those notes with as much gusto.

Daltrey’s voice is really the focal point throughout. As the track is quite mid-tempo, there isn’t as much room for the rapid drum fills or inventive bass lines from the rhythm section. Townshend does add some guitar flourishes here and there, particularly to transition between verses and choruses. Still, it’s another emphatic and cathartic performance by all four members capped off with some warm synthesisers in the mix too.

#624: Queens of the Stone Age – In My Head

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In My Head’ was the second song released as a single from Queens of the Stone Age’s fourth album Lullabies to Paralyze, released in 2005. This was one of, if not the, first songs I ever learned to play on guitar. I was ten, got an acoustic for Christmas 2005 and I think my sister was in her Queens phase then. I believe that’s the only reason I may have heard this track in the first place. The guitar riff during the verses is spicy. Very melodic and very easy to play. It’s a great tune.

The track was originally released as ‘In My Head…or Something’ on Volume 10 of the Desert Sessions series in 2003. Assumedly, Josh Homme saw a lot of potential in it to make it a proper Queens number. There’s not much difference between it and the final album version, just a bit slower in tempo, but it’s all quality. It’s a love song. You know those ones where the narrator’s missing their significant other whilst on tour or something along those lines. That’s this. Quite psychedelic in places though very straight-forward – verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/bridge/chorus repeats/end. Can’t go wrong.