Tool

Kings Destroy, “W2”

You know, there just aren’t that many metal songs about tax forms, so let’s enjoy this one.

The Beatles, “Here Comes The Sun”

I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s been a while: it’s really disorienting listening to the Beatles with only one headphone in. I recommend it!

Big Black, “Dead Billy”

This song comes from the first Big Black release, Lungs (later collected with a couple other EPs on The Hammer Party). While it shows off Steve Albini’s dark sense of humor, the rest of his sound is still extremely embryonic here. This was a solo effort by him, and the lack of other contributors also helped produce the spare tunes.

Tool, “Intolerance”

I picked up Tool’s first album when it came out, because they kind of ran parallel to bands like Helmet, who I loved. But they never really did it for me, and I fell off them after this album. I think it’s just too clinical for me. Yeah, you can hear some similarities to bands I like, but it needs to be grittier. At any rate, after not falling in love right away, the door was permanently closed by one of the most annoying fan bases in music at the time.