Barrett Strong

They Might Be Giants, “Particle Man (Live)”

Honestly, the reason for me to listen to The Flood Show is mostly for the in-between song banter.

Urge Overkill, “Eggs”

Urge Overkill were a band out of Chicago that were doing big hard rock moves ironically, and in the early 90s, that was enough to attract attention. They would eventually mutate the ironic rock stuff to just sincere rock stuff, end up on a major label, and carve out a career being rock stars at a time when rock stars didn’t much look like rock stars. Or something.

Foetus, “Ramrod”

This track was originally the A-side of a single, and it was later pulled onto the compilation Sink. It’s a fantastic example of the mid to late 80s stuff that Foetus was up to, this kind of noir-inflected, orchestrated industrial noise stuff. There’s something familiar about this song, with gestures towards obsolete but recognizable types of music. But it’s all arranged in disquieting ways, like a musical Frankenstein’s monster, all bolts and dead flesh arranged in a groteque parody of life.