Line Out - Comments on Crooked Brain, Crooked Brain

Comment by Brian

Brian — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:44:17 -0800

your friend is a dick

Comment by zfdbz

zfdbz — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:39:23 -0800

yeah, i was never into those bands either. i probably hear them all the time on kexp but they don't stand out for me.

Comment by douglas martin

douglas martin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:13:15 -0800

"meh?" really? "MEH?" granted, wowee zowee is my favorite pavement album, but come on. slanted and enchanted invented the term "indie-rock," then crooked rain totally defined it. i mean, even if you didn't like "cut your hair" [inarguably the greatest shoulda-been-a-hit-single of the 1990's], you can't deny the beauty of "heaven is a truck" or the smarts of "stop breathing."

meh. wow, dude.

Comment by Nick

Nick — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:24:02 -0800

You need new friends.

Comment by Agreed

Agreed — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:58:49 -0800

The Pixies work about the same way for me as Pavement does with your friend.

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:13:16 -0800

What 1 & 4 said.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:42:27 -0800

I don't know - somehow I've never really sat down with a Pavement album (I'm not sure how I made it to the ripe old age of 31 without that happening, but there you have it), but whenever I hear them in passing it doesn't really grab me.

Comment by jerry falls well

jerry falls well — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:51:57 -0800

I like cut your hair and heaven is a truck, but I agree w/ comment 5. I would lump modest mouse in there, too. I still dont get MM, though.

Comment by rk

rk — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:52:08 -0800

Your friend doesn't get Pavement or Modest Mouse?

Ditto 1, 4 and 6.

Comment by cosby

cosby — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:56:16 -0800

playing an entire album on a jukebox is a dick move, even if it is the best album ever made.

Comment by Tiktok

Tiktok — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:48:14 -0800

For me, Pavement had a few good tracks on each album and the rest was forgettable generic indie rock. Really overrated, yet without completely sucking. See also: Smashing Pumpkins.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:48:58 -0800

No, Cosby, this is a dick move: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/magazine/04funny_humor.html

Comment by thelyamhound

thelyamhound — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:58:03 -0800

I have to concur with "meh," though I've come to understand what makes Pavement and Modest Mouse "important," if not (for me) enjoyable or striking.

Well, let me qualify that a little. There's some striking songwriting on both bands' parts. To me, though, they illustrate why so much indie rock feels so lightweight: great lyrics and solid melodies aside, if you drop the self-conscious sloppiness--if they actually tuned their guitars, practiced, sang in their actual ranges (and stopped acting like singing on pitch makes you some kind of bourgeois sellout)--what you're left with is just, well, rock & roll, and not all that different from the rock & roll our parents listened to. Which is fine, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing.

Comment by Abby

Abby — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:07:27 -0800

I can't say I listen to them as much as Erasure.

Comment by highfives

highfives — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:10:13 -0800

i'm going to start doing that. that entire album is brilliant.

Comment by brian cook

brian cook — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:10:19 -0800

great band, though i occasionally get grief for the opinion that their finest work came at the end of their career. i'd rate my personal enjoyment of their albums in parallel to their reverse chronological order with Terror Twilight being my favorite and Slanted and Enchanted rarely getting any play on my stereo.

Comment by Captain Underpants

Captain Underpants — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:45:20 -0800

It took me a while to fully come around to Pavement, but yeah, they're a pretty brilliant band.

Although I would probably say that CR, CR is my least favorite Pavement album, even though it's still chock full of solid to great moments.

Comment by donte

donte — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:54:38 -0800

a friend of mine can't get into pavement because he demands higher production values. i say he's missing out.

Comment by cosby

cosby — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:14:47 -0800

@12:
hilarious article. i'm guilty of jukebox terrorism ('sister ray', 'cop shoot cop', 'washing machine'), but 2 hours of brian eno is the next level.

the WORST jukebox dick move that i'm aware of was someone playing 'the end' by the doors over and over again. bartender tip: those new mp3 jukeboxes typically have a skip button, always keep your thumb hovering just in case the new radicals come one.

Comment by flamingbanjo

flamingbanjo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:34:44 -0800

It seems a bit dated when I listen to it now. Like a time-capsule message from the exact moment that indie-rock became College Rock.

Oddly, I like the Jicks better.

Comment by Cog Sinister

Cog Sinister — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:49:21 -0800

The Fall kills Pavement dead.

Comment by Dade Murphy

Dade Murphy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:12:10 -0800

Pavement is a total snore-fest. If you want good music from the 90's, go listen to Weezer.

Comment by nipper

nipper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:17:43 -0800

sweet sad pavement...boring boring boring...never understood their greatness either, they were a crappy/safe "college" group, must be a generational thing.

@3 pavement did NOT invent the term 'indie rock'

Comment by Agreed

Agreed — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:08:26 -0800

We should also add Dinosaur Jr to this bonfire, as I believe Dinosaur Jr, the Pixies and Pavement can all be credited with helping to create today's misnomered genre of "indie rock"....and I never got it.

Comment by MattyDread

MattyDread — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:37:24 -0800

Weezer is actually one of the worst bands of the 90s. Annoying as shit. It must be a generational thing--I always thought they existed for our siblings in junior high to piss us oldsters off.

Pavement is a mixed bag, but Crooked Rain is a great album. I mean, top 100 great, not top 10.

Comment by kid icarus

kid icarus — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:59:19 -0800

Pavement pretty much defined the soundtrack of my youth.

Comment by nipper

nipper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:48:57 -0800

hmmm, I dunno if I've even ever heard Weezer. seriously.

Comment by Morgan

Morgan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:54:36 -0800

I hate how much this place is a music snob haven.

Comment by Grant Cogswell

Grant Cogswell — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:04:13 -0800

When irony went sour right before the turn of the century the date was on the carton for this band, but they sounded SO fresh at the beginning of the 90s, it was impossible not to get swept up - even if, as Malkmus said, they just thought there should be a version of The Fall from "Sacto, Northern Cal". Crooked Rain is kind of their perfect flowering for me. The non-sequiturs line up gorgeously and swirl into an undertow of unassignable emotion. They're still a little fey, which is just a problem they have as a band - I remember the Jicks played an instore on Capitol Hill on the day the Iraq war started and you could have thought it was any other day for them (maybe they were feeling the hurt, but they were sure keeping it to themselves, I mean, the country doesn't start bombing people EVERY day). But no shame on Crooked Rain, that shit is immaculate in my opinion.

Comment by Joe R

Joe R — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:09:43 -0800

Excellent Band. Excellent Album. Best album of the 90s? Perhaps....though B2M was doing some pretty incredible harmonizing in the largest city in Pennsylvania round the same time. Back again.