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My iPod #474: Weezer – The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)

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“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” is one of the most confusing Weezer tracks to exist. It can also be considered to be their most epic, depending on your taste. Lyrically, the song finds Rivers Cuomo at the height of hubris. In every line he is adamant on telling you he’s the best, no one can tell him he’s not the best, he will show that he is the best if you don’t believe him, he’ll mess with you if you get in his way leading into the final verse in which he defiantly declares that he is the song’s title, and it is his destiny to give to the world.

The other thing about this song is, for every verse that is delivered the band sing in a different style ranging from rap, to Slipknot, to Beethoven and Bach. Quite the mindfuck. Though it does make for an adventurous and unpredictable six minutes of your life. On listening to it years ago, I still have the thought that what happens in this just shouldn’t work. I shouldn’t like this at all. But it does. And I do. It is weird.

So either Rivers had just cracked during the writing of this, or it is the sign that the man is some sort of crazy genius.

My iPod #473: Happyness – Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste the Same

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No post yesterday. Got back home from university. Was very tired as a result. Nice to be back though. Let’s carry on.

Happyness are an indie rock trio from South London who I first heard about through NME. Basically what you see upon clicking on that link is a very nice description of the band and the page where I listened to “Great Minds” for the first time. For some reason, I remember immediately dismissing it. Reading what bands NME considered Happyness to sound like made me think the band was trying too hard. Thought the title was a bit much too. What the fuck. That was shallow of me. Very poor.

Instead, I actually listened to the track and found out that it is actually a very enjoyable listen. It is a perfect blend of deadpan but relatable lyrics with sweet, sweet melodies and chill vibes that make for some easy listening. All executed under two minutes too. Somewhere I read the track ties with the album’s apparent concept of a person born on the same day as Jesus Christ….. You can look that up of you want, I’m just okay with listening to the music if that’s alright.

Happyness are still under the radar a bit; if you like what you hear here, check out their album released last year.*

*This link is dead. 😐

My iPod #457: Weezer – The Good Life

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“The Good Life” was released as the second single from Weezer’s second album, one that is considered to be their best too, Pinkerton in 1996. Though reception towards the album was not too great when it first came out. You can read about that for yourselves. The song was somehow meant to save the album’s commercial status but by the point of its rush-release the damage had been done.

The song is written from Rivers Cuomo’s frustration after painful surgery in which one of his legs literally had to be stretched in order to match the length of the other. Times were obviously not too great for the guy, and the experience inspired him to write the track.

In it, he still sees himself as a ‘funky dude’ when he looks at the mirror but things aren’t really funky when you’re broken, beaten down, and can’t go around anywhere without a cane to support you. The man is in clear desperation. Now I wouldn’t say this is the most cathartic track on Pinkerton, because that album is catharsis defined. But it is definitely one in which every element from the lead vocals, the improvisational backing vocals, the whole band performance, the fast breakdown which leads into the slow comedown with the slide guitar……. Everything owns. One of Weezer’s best songs, in my opinion.

I wonder if this had been released as the first single whether that would have done anything for Pinkerton back in its day. Oh well.

My iPod #443: Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen

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“God Save the Queen”, the anti-anthem performed by Sex Pistols, was released as a track on the classic Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. ‘Accidentally’ released as a single during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, the song inevitably caused controversy. The BBC refused to play it, a lot of radio stations were banned from airing it. It reached number two in the charts, but there has always been accusations that it was actually the highest selling single at the time and should have been one spot higher.

The track mostly makes fun out of the power that the Queen seems to have over the country. The lyrics note her to be some sort of robot fabricated by her ancestors, and in another instance as some sort of money laundering figure. Though the overall conclusion is that if we all get too hyped up for this monarchy malarkey that towers over the nation, listen to every word they say and take it face value… then there is no hope for us. Though with the lyrics delivered in the trademark snarly, snotty, and sarcastic tone by Johnny Rotten, it’s nothing to take very seriously.

I do really rate Rotten’s vocals on here though. Delivering lines occasionally ending with offhand sniggers and emphatic pronunciation on certain syllables, Rotten from casually speaking the lines at the beginning increases in vocal intensity with every chorus particularly on the “We mean it, maaaaaan” line climaxing with his restrained scream which leads into the “No future” coda. Makes you wanna thrash your arms about and shout at a wall.

So that’s my take on a great song. Very British. Very punk.

My iPod #441: Louis XIV – God Killed the Queen

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“God Killed the Queen” is a song by the band Louis XIV on the album The Best Little Secrets Are Kept from 2005. A lot of people know the track due to its inclusion on the soundtrack for the sports game “SSX on Tour”; I saw it because, from what I remember, the new video for  the track was constantly being advertised on a music channel (which I think was Kerrang!). But it was only played at night, which was the one and only time I saw the full thing.

For its sub-two minute duration it is a very busy track to listen to. Based around 4 chords more or less, the track contains vocals and guitars which pan from one channel to the other within split seconds. Some vocal sections are buried underneath the mix, some of them fade into it a few measures late, and some overlap each other completely. Whoever mixed the song did a very weird job of it. Though I don’t mind it even if it may be a bit perplexing for some. And at least the steady rhythm section and various hand-claps and additional percussion provide a firm backbone for all of the production meddling to work around. It is a very catchy song to listen to. I’m still into it though all these years later.

Not much of a Louis XIV person; I only like this song. It’s about a one night stand by the way, in spite of the ‘shocking’ title.