He Prefers Rock and Roll

He Prefers Rock and Roll

1. Pavement, "Gold Soundz"
2. Stiff Little Fingers, "Suspect Device"
3. Blur, "There's No Other Way"
4. Sly & the Family Stone, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
5. ZZ Top, "Just Got Paid"
6. The Impressions, "It's All Right"
7. Thom Yorke, "Black Swan"
8. Spoon, "The Way We Get By"
9. The Jacksons, "Blame it on the Boogie"
10. The Coasters, "Along Came Jones"
11. The Jam, "That's Entertainment"
12. The Pharcyde, "Passing Me By"
13. Danny Brown, "Dip"
14. Anthrax, "Got the Time"
15. Queens of the Stone Age, "Song for the Dead"
16. Death Grips, "I've Seen Footage"
17. Television, "See No Evil"
18. David Bowie, "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Nine Inch Nails remix)
19. The Blow, "True Affection"
20. Prince, "Batdance"

Happy birthday, Kate.

Ben in the Art of Archery

My buds Ben (not myself) and Arch both have birthdays this month, and are getting hitched this year. This was the only pun that I could think of that included both of their names.



Ben in the Art of Archery

1. Neil Young, "Cinnamon Girl"
2. Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg, "Let's Do It"
3. U2, "Desire"
4. Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"
5. Liz Phair, "Polyester Bride"
6. Pulp, "Disco 2000"
7. Hüsker Dü, "Could You Be the One?"
8. The Zombies, "This Will Be Our Year"
9. Roy Orbison, "You Got It"
10. Stiff Little Fingers, "Alternative Ulster"
11. Tom Petty, "You Wreck Me"
12. Squeeze, "Tempted"
13. Matthew Sweet, "Sick of Myself"
14. Japandroids, "The House That Heaven Built"
15. Blue Öyster Cult, "Burnin' for You"
16. The Smiths, "Ask"
17. David Bowie, "Modern Love"
18. TV on the Radio, "Second Song"
19. Elvis Presley, "All Shook Up"
20. Bruce Springsteen, "Glory Days"
21. The Beatles, "It's All Too Much"

Arch is the only person I know who likes both Joan Jett and the Replacements as much as I do, so of course I had to include their underrated team-up from the Tank Girl soundtrack, covering Cole Porter's most punk rock song. I'm hoping that Squeeze and the Grateful Dead's biggest hits will work as either introductions or reinforcements, and I'm including Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and a lesser-known George Harrison song in honor of Arch's affinity for the Traveling Wilburys.

There's a vaguely romantic theme here--I guess almost all songs have one, but tracks like "This Will Be Our Year," "Burnin' for You," "Cinnamon Girl" and "You Got It" are especially for these two. Then again, I couldn't help including Stiff Little Fingers and Hüsker Dü. That's what friends are for.

Stiff Little Fingers, "Johnny Was"

I am not a Bob Marley fan. I've heard all of his albums, sometimes on repeat in various workplaces and dorms, seen the Kevin MacDonald documentary, toured his digs in Jamaica and even held down a writing gig writing for Bob's official web site, but to these ears his music is pleasant at best and grating at worst. It's not even the fans or the overplaying that bothers me. It's just that for a supposed revolutionary, the songs are about as incendiary as Hootie & the Blowfish.

Smart people who like Bob Marley tell me that it's subversive, politically charged music that has been appropriated by the frat boy, trustifarian and beach bum crowds. I believe that, but it's hard for me to get fired up about a revolution with lyrics like "Let's get together and feel alright" or a melody that was blatantly stolen from the Banana Splits theme. If Bob Dylan or Mick Jagger had written "Redemption Song," people would cringe.

That being said, I love hearing what Stiff Little Fingers found in "Johnny Was," a deep cut from Marley's Rastaman Vibration. The militaristic drum intro preceded "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by four years, and Jake Burns brings out the manic urgency in the riffs and lyrics, wasted in the lazy keyboards and stoned delivery of the original. I'd also wager that it's the first-ever eight-minute punk song. Not that it feels long--in the Fingers' hands, it's a protest punk bridge from the MC5 to "Killing in the Name."