So, being back in Seattle has many benefits, and though being in Chicago would be rad, home has been great to us. We have a cool apartment (I'll have pictures up soon, I promise), we are close to friends and family (those of you who will be visiting home this summer and winter, well...we'll be here), we have good food, grocercy, etc, etc--the list goes on and on. But what is really great is the music. I have KEXP when I want it, and I have the End. Growing up here, the End got old. I mean, how many fucking times can we hear a Red Hot Chili peppers song, or Sublime song, before we start loading our revolvers? They have a bad habit of shitty DJs (minus Harms, who is pretty legit) and playing shitty-ass songs over and over, or overplaying fantastic songs so that they become old. Let's face it, I'm fucking sick of Kings of Leon, I'm fucking sick of MGMT, I'm fucking sick of whoever else is overplayed. And in our young-days I would be sick of all the Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. But before you say, "Hey Josh, they still overplay those bands," I will say, "They play those old songs, and there are so many of them that they are sick amongst the modern shit going on, or the overplayed stuff." Nothing's better than hearing Linkin Park end, and then "I fell on Black Days," by Soundgarden start. And don't fucking get me started on Mumford and Sons!!! WHO THE FUCK LIKES THIS BAND?! WHOOO! AND WHY IS THE END JOCKING THEM SO HARD. It's like the Djs have started dry-humping this band's leg. Why? They suck! They're horrible, they're not even good, and their bridges sound like the stuff Death Cab for Cutie throws away for sounding bland or easy (and considering their recent work, that's hard to do). So, what the F guys? Lyrics: "It was not your fault but mine, it was your heart on the line, I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear, didn't I my dear." Seriously? The rhymes are even lame and easy. The lyrics are weak and cliche, oh and just because you say "fuck" in a song doesn't make it cool or better. In fact, in this case, it sounds like they forced it in there jsut so their weak-ass song could have a bleep in it. These guys derserve to be in the realm of who-gives-a-fuck, but The End seems to love them. Please someone explain how anyone could love this band? Please. I don't understand.Anyway, where was I? Oh, grunge.
Soundgarden is a band I barely enjoyed, but as of late, I've been stoked to hear them on the radio, and I even got myself Superunknown (is that the name of the record?)...the one with "Blackhole Sun" and all the other hits. I've also been getting really in Pearl Jam again. Like really in, like I want to go back, start at the beginning, and work my way through their stuff. I've seen them live three times, but never owned a record. I'm kind of regrettting that now. Nirvana. enough said. You can't overplay this band (at least you couldn't now, so many years after the fact). This band is brilliant. The list goes on, but those are the bands that have stuck with me as I started writing this blog here.
But this final band gets its own paragraph. TEMPLE OF THE DOG. You rememeber this supergroup. A tribue to Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. The song most of you Seattlites may know is "Hunger Strike."
I don't mind stealing bread
from the mouths of decadence
but I can't feed on the powerless
with my cup already overfilled
But it's on the table
The fire's cooking
And they're farming babies
While the slaves are working
The blood is on the table
And they mouths are choking
But I'm growing Hungry...
BOOM!
Em's been known to wake me up by playing this song in the morning. It's a great tune to wake up to. If you haven't tried it. Try it.
Oh, and I think Alice in Chains still suck. I don't care what you say. Here comes the rooster? Here comes another singer ending every phrase with "Er"
*
OK. That's it for today. I feel good about what I said about the End and some of the bands.
Later,
Joshua
PS no baby yet. Keep your fingers crossed and your eyes peeled for news.
7 comments:
I like Mumford and Sons. Although if I had to listen to Little Lion Man (which isn't that great) on The End every twenty minutes, I would probably hate them. It's funny that they're flogging that band--M&S is from like the hardcore folky London scene. They're all half-retarded Irish guys. Huh.
The End has good cycles and shitty cycles. It's always exciting to come home and find out if they're in one of their four-six-month good periods or if they suck again. This summer if they played that fucking insipid Uncage the Elephant song one more time I would have put a gun to my face and pulled the trigger.
Glad you're blogging again. Gottago!
For some reason blogger didn't publish my "(timidly raises hand)" before the sentence "I like Mumford and Sons," and I feel that's important. So now you know.
Okay, okay, one last comment. I promise next time I'll organize my thoughts before I start fucking typing.
KEXP was playing the shit out of Mumford and Sons a year ago, then they stopped and The End started. The End has a habit of picking up KEXP's mainstreamable leftovers. They did the same thing with the Killers back in 2004, and with Arcade Fire, and another band now that I can't remember. Have they started playing Sleigh Bells yet, because that'll be next.
Aw, leave Rooster alone. That's actually one of the few war songs I like. And you would end lines with "er" too if your voice sounded like Kermit the Frog on heroin.
Regarding Soundgarden, I recommend picking up Down on the Upside. It's their last album (to date, but they just reunited), and probably the most diverse musically. Plus, "Ty Cobb."
Pearl Jam, I've gone back and forth with them over the years, but thankfully I've stuck with them overall. Binaural is kind of iffy, and Riot Act overstays its welcome even if its heart is in the right place. Their two most recent are solid overall. Somewhere at my folks home I have a series of cassettes from this time Pearl Jam took over the End for an entire night. It included a lot of live performances by them, Soundgarden, and some other groups (Mudhoney, perhaps?), a lot of Eddie DJ-ing, and also a lot of him rambling about political shit, if I remember correctly. Although I stayed up very late to record as much of it as I could, I've actually never listened to it since.
Ian. I'm sorry, it's hard to believe that M&F is good, though I can believe that they have better songs...that lion man song is just awful. Oh, and ditto on Cage the Elephant. They sound like kid rock, but stupider. The End is also jocking Florence and the Machine (which Kexp was playing a lot of earlier this year), among other bands...like Fences. They've started playing Fences, which if I'm not mistaken was a big KEXP band, from Seattle.
And you need to blog some more. I know you're busy, but I miss your blog.
Chas. I will not give the Rooster a break. I haven't heard the new Pearl Jam stuff, except for a few fragments from their latest single. I DO need to check out more Soundgarden and will heed your advice. Oh, and that cassette sounds glorious!
BTW, how's your book coming. I still think about those towers.
I hope you've been submitting. That stuff is gold.
Later guys,
Oh KEXP. I've started streaming it here in NH, but the time difference fucks me up.
Yeah, upon listening through that Mumford and Sons album a couple more times... opinion officially revised. I still don't think they're awful--they're totally listenable folk rock--they're just nothing special, not that musically talented, and their lyrics are insipid. It probably didn't help that I discovered Beirut at the same time, which is like a whole different, much more awesome kind of European folk.
And yeah, I know I need to blog again. I'm busy with real writing, dangit. Submitting too, finally.
And Chas, you never sent me your damn thesis. Do it. I want to read it.
Ian - I didn't? Shit, I'll get right on that. Also, since we're ragging on bands here, I'm sorry but I have to rag on Beruit. They make me so angry I don't know what to do.
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