In  the meantime, this was on my personal playlist…

 Foo Fighters release “The Pretender”.

I haven’t done one of these separate posts in a while, but this song meant a lot to me back then. It still does, and it’s a song I’d put in my top ten favorite Foo Fighters songs. This was the song that made me sit up and pay attention to this band when I really hadn’t before. If I didn’t have it as my entry point to their discog, I think I would stay thinking they were some “generic” modern rock band that I’ve seen people here and elsewhere say about them. But, even if Wasting Light remains the last album of theirs I truly loved, I would never go that far in making a comment like that. The good stuff is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. “The Pretender” is a case in point.

I actually saw the music video when MTV2 first premiered it, or at the very least, not much longer after that. I love the soft, quiet intro before it builds in intensity, all culminating in the briefest of pauses before an all-out attack. Literally portrayed in the video, with all that red water gushing out near the end! I just thought that looked so cool. I did have those moments in middle school, especially this virtual year, where I wanted to scream at people who I felt misunderstood me. So Dave Grohl screaming at a bunch of SWAT-looking guards? Pretty cathartic!

I don’t think I could tell you what “The Pretender” is about other than it feels and sounds confrontational as hell. I think that struck a deep chord within me at the time, one that’s only resonated more over the years. It’s an unabashed declaration of defiance and personal identity—that’s my interpretation anyway. It’s one of those songs I believe can be about all sorts of different things and situations, and that’s a large part of its power. Great track and the band at their absolute best.

https://youtu.be/SBjQ9tuuTJQ

I spent a chunk of my life feeling contrary and put upon by people praising hyped records to the heavens. It even became a sort of calling card. Looking back, the folks exuberantly enjoying their 10/10s were leading a much richer life than me.

May be true for you, but with people trying to get QOTSA tour dates canceled and them removed from festival spots (I’msupposed to be seeing them at Boston Calling next month), I’m sure Josh felt the need to get out ahead of this. I hate hearing about it, but it makes me feel a little better knowing I’m seeing someone who, although obviously flawed, also likely isn’t the monster he’s being made out to be by some people.

Meanwhile, at the perfect albums side of town . . .

In Rainbows is released.

For a younger generation of fans of Radiohead, this is THE album. Above everything  the band has recorded, above OK Computer, above Kid A and honestly i don’t blame them, In Rainbows, is in 10 songs, the most realized and perfect synthesis of all the sounds Radiohead had explored up until  that point in their career. 

 It wasn’t easy. After Hail to the Thief, their contract with EMi was over, so after the tour finished, the band took a deserved rest, but when regrouped to begin recording and found that lacking a deadline had them not really committing to anything. A choice for a different producer (Spike Stent) went nowhere, and it wasn’t until they returned to Nigel Godrich and did a brief tour in 2006 that new songs began to appear. Still, was one rescued from almost 10 years ago, a fan favorite that once was known as Big Ideas on the album became Nude. 

All the songs are beautiful in their own ways, melancholic, with a longing for something lost. The rich, pristine production lets you focus on every detail and once it’s over, you really want to put it on again. But before one note of the music was even  heard, the album became famous for another reason: it was the first to let fans pay whatever they wanted for it. An announcement was made and 10 days later it was made available for all the world at the same time. One of the last record launches that became an avent before monoculture started to die. Except for Jigsaw and Faust Arp,(that are 9s)  all the songs are 10s. 

The album will hit number 1 on Billboard and appear in every best of list of the year, decade and many others. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF83_PR2EsA

You wake up every morning in this stupid place and it feels more and more like some dystopian sci-fi movie from the 80s. Guns are the number 1 cause of death for kids and teens but nah, those damn drag shows and being trans!!!!!!! TRUE DANGER!!!!! Dude, Jesus hung out with whores and shit, right? He probably loved gay people and drag queens! Jesus wanted to hang with those people, not these fuckin sadistic assholes using religion to cover up their own fear of shit that’s different from them. I realize I sound cliche but it is just beyond the pale to me and it gets further and further beyond the pale every. single. day.

Same thing happened to me, only it was baseball statisticians that I hated, but then I saw Jonah Hill in Moneyball.

Massive downvotes if there was still a thing. One good song?!? Cmon, Talking Heads have like four to five near perfect albums.

My username has achieved sentience.

UPDATES:

Met Chris and Scott at SXSW, they are even more delightful than you’d think. Thanks for the drink tickets Scott! Also got coffee and interviewed Nuria Graham. Also, also HIRED BY NPR YALL. I’ll be the Morning Edition Producer at KUT in Austin!

Phoebe hmu: It’s an indispensable, bespoke media hub – Substack meets MasterClass meets The Economist meets The New Yorker.

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