The Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys, “Soup Is Good Food”

This is the song that let me finally crack the Dead Kennedys. I think there’s an adjustment, for me at least, as music gets faster and more challenging to find something you can pick out that lets you understand it. This song, as a relatively slow one and one where it’s easy to understand what Jello is singing, is the one that let me kind of get what they were up to. And from there, now that I had a rosetta stone for the band, I was able to catch up to the rest of their catalog.

Earl Sweatshirt, “Grief”

Odd Future was a whole thing that is one of the earliest pop culture things that I might have liked but that I feel totally missed me. I know some vague things about it, that Tyler, the Creator was kind of the center, and that Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt were involved. But, I dunno, I guess the rest of it all just sailed right past me. That said, I really like Earl Sweatshirt’s stuff, so I probably should go back and listen to Odd Future. I mean, if there are records with the collective on it. I dunno, man, I’m out of touch here.

The Fearless Flyers, “Under the Sea / Flyers Drive”

A lot of covers like this one are basically just to generate the Leo DeCaprio pointing meme - excitement at recognizing a thing and little else. The Fearless Flyers (Cory Wong and Joe Dart of Vulfpeck, Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy, and Nate Smith of a whole bunch of jazz projects) are great enough players that it’s fun to listen to them add their flourishes here, but it’s still essentially a disposable track.

Dead Kennedys, “Moon over Marin”

The closer to the second Kennedys album, Plastic Surgery Disasters, it’s one of those anthemic songs that the Kennedys would occasionally turn out. This is actually about as accessible as they ever got, although there’s still Biafra’s strange warble to contend with.

The Toasters, “T-Time”

I think the Toasters were at their strongest in their instrumentals (or near-instrumentals). This is just a groove, horns, and some soloing, and ain’t nothing wrong with that.

The Police, “King of Pain”

“King of Pain” is the first song I can recall reading the lyrics sheet for in order to try and figure out what was going on in it (the lyrics sheet didn’t help much). While I’m fully on board with digital delivery for music, and I’m happy to not fill my house with CDs and stuff, I do think that there are certainly small pleasures lost without the physical packaging.

Elvis Costello, “Just a Memory”

The deluxe reissues of Costello’s albums are mostly not worth it. There are some highlights from the bonus material, but you’re just better off listening to the actual album again.

Matthew Sweet, “Looking at the Sun”

This entire album is just so charming. It’s really hard to think about how it might possibly be improved, this is just power pop perfection.

Dead Kennedys, “Kill The Poor”

Now we’re talkin’! Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables is a singular achievement: deeply political, savagely sarcastic, fantastically well-written, and simultaneously both alien and incredibly familiar. It’s one of the albums that really kicked off hardcore, and judging by the kids walking around in Kennedys gear, it still resonates today.

Conor Oberst, “Get - Well - Cards”

Conor Oberst is known primarily as the guy fronting Bright Eyes, a band that I never got into. Like, I don’t even have one of their albums in the collections. No real reason, mind you. Hell, they might even be a band I’d like. So, how did I end up with one of his solo records? Excellent question! Uh, well, I’m VERY stupid, and incredibly impressionable. So, I’m sure at some point I read a positive review and thought to myself “maybe it’s time to try out some of this guy’s music”! What do I think? I honestly had forgotten I owned it.

I dunno, sometimes this stuff just is what it is.

The Beatles, “Octopus’s Garden”

I enjoy all of the songs Ringo sings. There, I said it!

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, “Naked Sun”

Listen to how shamelessly huge that drum beat is! This band is absolutely not afraid to throw a corny vamp like this on their album, and commit to it completely. Fearlessness is underrated in a rock band.

We’re a couple of weeks away from the first birthday of Five Songs. I’m thinking about changing up the format a little. Anybody have any thoughts? Here’s today’s music.

Freeway, “Hear The Song”

While I think Freeway usually has great beats, this is not one them. This song just feels kind of disjointed.

The Dead Kennedys, “I Am The Owl”

This comes from the second Kennedys full-length, Plastic Surgery Disasters, which is probably the album in their discography that I hear the least about. It’s not the debut, which was the most purely hardcore of their albums, and it doesn’t have as much of the baroque strangeness of their later releases. But, like all their albums, it’s still very good, and worthy of listening to.

A brief discussion popped up on Twitter, and I realized how strong 1989 was for albums. In no particular order: Bleach, 3 Feet High and Rising, Pretty Hate Machine, Doolittle, Energy, 13 Songs, Wrong, Bizarro, Paul’s Boutique, and Mudhoney were all released that year. And I’m sure I’m missing others. Although I’m sure I’d come up with similar lists for other years. I did look at 1990, and at first glance, it doesn’t seem as strong. Anyway, here’s today’s music.