Do Not Go Jenny Into That Good Night

Do Not Go Jenny Into That Good Night

1. Pavement, "Gold Soundz"
2. My Bloody Valentine, "Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)"
3. The Church, "Under the Milky Way"
4. The B-52's, "Roam"
5. Morrissey, "Suedehead"
6. New Order, "Age of Consent"
7. David Bowie, "Life on Mars?"
8. Nico, "These Days"
9. The Wrens, "This Boy is Exhausted"
10. Nick Drake, "Pink Moon"
11. Queen, "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
12. Nina Simone, "Pirate Jenny"
13. Patti Smith, "Dancing Barefoot"
14. The Velvet Underground, "Rock and Roll"
15. Têtes Noires, "True Love"
16. The Pretenders, "Back on the Chain Gang"
17. The Grateful Dead, "Ripple"
18. Soul Asylum, "Just Like Anyone"
19. Local H, "For Lovers"
20. The Replacements, "Nowhere is My Home"

Happy birthday, JA.

Why I'm Glad That Kim Deal Left the Pixies

The release of "Bagboy," the Pixies' first new song in nine years and their first startlingly good one in 22, will probably kick off a new set of gripes and sighs from fans still recovering from Kim Deal's announcement that she had left the band last month. It's always sad to see an excellent team split up, but in the curious case of the Pixies, it's also a relief.



It's hard to remember how mind-blowing it was when the Pixies reunited in 2004. Their influence and popularity had grown exponentially since their break-up, and most of us thought we'd never get a chance to see them. No former indie rock band sparked more of a will-they-or-won't-they debate--it seemed obvious that Pavement and Guided by Voices were coming back, while Hüsker Dü and the Smiths were always a lost cause. And as anyone who caught that first comeback tour can tell you, it was glorious. All the songs and insanity that a superfan could hope for.

But if the Pixies' legacy had grown in their absence, it seemed to diminish with every year that they spent touring without a new album. Here they are again, the Pixies, on another summer tour playing the old hits. A lot of people were fine with this, judging how how lucrative those tours have been. But I want to know that my favorite bands are pushing themselves artistically, and not just resting on their classics. Anything to show that they were an actual band again, not just a nostalgia act like the Eagles.

It's quite possible that a new Pixies album would not have been good. But it would have been better than nothing, which is what they were doing. The fact that they've finally released a new song now that Kim's left, and have promised to play new songs on their upcoming tour, makes me wonder if Kim was holding them back. Of course she was a crucial part of the band, but as "Bagboy" proves, Black Francis, David Lovering and Joey Santiago can be exciting without her. They even sound good enough to fool Rolling Stone and Pitchfork into mistakenly reporting that Deal appeared on "Bagboy" in their initial news stories. The Pixies are going to be fine.

Greg Kot once wrote of My Bloody Valentine (I can't find the exact quote) that when a band reunites, they get one comeback tour, a victory lap before they need to start releasing new material. The new stuff doesn't have to be great. The mediocre new Stooges album does nothing to diminish Raw Power or Fun House, much less their always-phenomenal live shows. If you're going to tour once and then stop, like At the Gates, then we're lucky that we got to see you again. If you're going to come back for good and release new albums, like Black Sabbath, then we're lucky that you're still a band. But don't just tour year after year without anything to show for it.

I hope that Kim's departure is the kick in the ass that the Pixies need right now, and "Bagboy" indicates that it is. Maybe Frank Black will release a great solo album, or maybe he'll record something new with his bandmates. He's made great records without Deal before, and anything that he writes is still worth a listen. Maybe Kim will do something cool with the Breeders. Maybe Kim Shattuck from the Muffs, Deal's replacement, will bring out something new in the Pixies. Maybe they'll all get back together again in ten years, and it'll be amazing again. But whatever they do, it has to be better than the past nine years of studio silence.

G N' R Lies: "Nice Boys"

Great songs can happen to mediocre bands. We hear it all the time in music, less so often in metal, where "hits" are scarce and most metal bands with one actual high-charting single (Faith No More, Living Colour, Queensrÿche) support their place in history with a few great albums. But near the top of the mediocre band/great song heaps sits Rose Tattoo, barely remembered today as the Australian metal band that isn't AC/DC.

Most of Rose Tattoo's songs are routine hard rock fare without the leery charm of Bon Scott and the Young brothers. However, on "Nice Boys," they hit it out of the park, with the band's usual slide guitar riffs and badder-than-thou lyrics coming together for one solid jukebox anthem.



Rose Tattoo's version isn't all too different from Guns N' Roses' more famous cover on G N' R Lies. But why is it inferior?



To these ears, Rose Tattoo are trying too hard. The guitar playing feels labored next to Slash's, the vocals sound strained vs. Axl's feral interpretation. Both versions are great, and both bands have chemistry, but only one of them is iconic.

Chuck Klosterman, the literary world's most vocal GNR fan, might agree. "Because rock is so tied to the abstract concept of 'cool,' it seems distasteful when anyone tries too much," he once wrote in Spin. "Bands that are unpolished and lazy (the Replacements, Pavement, Motörhead) are always more likeable than groups that do 'whatever it takes' to achieve a modicum of success (Bon Jovi, Jimmy Eat World, Flickerstick)."

Now that we know that Axl can spend decades working on a song, it's clear that Guns N' Roses are neither unpolished nor lazy. But on "Nice Boys," they played the part with the finesse of a Scorsese cast.