Obligatory Post of the Beast
"Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on."
--Hamlet III.2
"What the hell?
No 'Sympathy for the Devil'?!"
--Me
In honor of the (questionably) ominous date, every site I frequent has apparently decided to publish some kind of infernal list. Particularly infernal is Allmusic's The Devil's Playlist. , I'll admit that the best strategy when reading anything concocted by Allmusic's editorial staff involves a large grain of low-expectation-flavored salt. All the same, this list is rather atrocious. Allow me to enumerate its failings in a smug fashion:
Allmusic's typical obscurist holier-than-thou-mutual-admiration-fest. For instance, note that Bauhaus was not fringe enough for this list. No, they had to choose a track from Peter Murphy (Bauhaus lead vocalist)'s solo career. To be fair, they make the track sound mighty good!
No Nick Cave. Come on, you've got to be kidding me! Okay, if Nick Cave wasn't obscure enough, they could always have chosen anything the Birthday Party ever wrote. Interestingly enough, they even have to invoke "Red Right Hand" in order to describe a more obscure track that was chosen in its place in order to placate the insidious hipster contingent.
At this point, I must point out that both of the choices mentioned above seem very apt, and it may just be that my taste in music is too pedestrian for the AMG staff. Even in the throws of obscurism, however, they seemed to find space for such staples as Black Sabbath, Slayer (honestly...), and even the Eagles' "Hotel California." And (you must be thinking) the incredibly obvious "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones. Nope. Not even mentioned. NOT EVEN MENTIONED! DAMN YOU, AMG EDITORIAL STAFF!
Also absent from the list: Electric Six. Hey, Tenacious D made the cut, thanks to Ms. Cammila "Look - At - Me - I'm - Being - Irreverent - So - As - To - Point - Out - How - Silly - It - Is - That - A - Critic - Of - My - Acumen - Must - Stoop - To - Choosing - Songs - For - This - List" Albertson. Speaking of Cammila Albertson, let's look at this dumb bunny's other choice: U2's "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car." Um. I'm pretty sure that song has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE DEVIL! Great. I can only assume that the Stones were bumped for this questionable choice.
I can't take it anymore. What's the deal with U2 anyway? I'm sorry, maybe it's just because the first U2 album to come out after the point at which I became seriously interested in music was Pop, but I just don't get it. Yeah, U2's good. But there's always some jackass at the party that seems to think U2 are revolutionary. Good, yes. Catchy, yes. Well crafted, yes. Great, occasionally. Revolutionary, no. They write good rock/pop songs (including the occasional exceptional track). That's it, folks.
So, the (very humble) beginnings of an appropriate 6/6/06 playlist:
Electric Six - Devil Nights
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand (or possibly Loverman)
Liars - We Fenced Other Houses With The Bones of Our Own
Murder by Death - Devil in Mexico
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Algae and Tentacles - Dr. Polichik
And here, dear reader, I leave off for further suggestions...
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on."
--Hamlet III.2
"What the hell?
No 'Sympathy for the Devil'?!"
--Me
In honor of the (questionably) ominous date, every site I frequent has apparently decided to publish some kind of infernal list. Particularly infernal is Allmusic's The Devil's Playlist. , I'll admit that the best strategy when reading anything concocted by Allmusic's editorial staff involves a large grain of low-expectation-flavored salt. All the same, this list is rather atrocious. Allow me to enumerate its failings in a smug fashion:
Allmusic's typical obscurist holier-than-thou-mutual-admiration-fest. For instance, note that Bauhaus was not fringe enough for this list. No, they had to choose a track from Peter Murphy (Bauhaus lead vocalist)'s solo career. To be fair, they make the track sound mighty good!
No Nick Cave. Come on, you've got to be kidding me! Okay, if Nick Cave wasn't obscure enough, they could always have chosen anything the Birthday Party ever wrote. Interestingly enough, they even have to invoke "Red Right Hand" in order to describe a more obscure track that was chosen in its place in order to placate the insidious hipster contingent.
At this point, I must point out that both of the choices mentioned above seem very apt, and it may just be that my taste in music is too pedestrian for the AMG staff. Even in the throws of obscurism, however, they seemed to find space for such staples as Black Sabbath, Slayer (honestly...), and even the Eagles' "Hotel California." And (you must be thinking) the incredibly obvious "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones. Nope. Not even mentioned. NOT EVEN MENTIONED! DAMN YOU, AMG EDITORIAL STAFF!
Also absent from the list: Electric Six. Hey, Tenacious D made the cut, thanks to Ms. Cammila "Look - At - Me - I'm - Being - Irreverent - So - As - To - Point - Out - How - Silly - It - Is - That - A - Critic - Of - My - Acumen - Must - Stoop - To - Choosing - Songs - For - This - List" Albertson. Speaking of Cammila Albertson, let's look at this dumb bunny's other choice: U2's "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car." Um. I'm pretty sure that song has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE DEVIL! Great. I can only assume that the Stones were bumped for this questionable choice.
I can't take it anymore. What's the deal with U2 anyway? I'm sorry, maybe it's just because the first U2 album to come out after the point at which I became seriously interested in music was Pop, but I just don't get it. Yeah, U2's good. But there's always some jackass at the party that seems to think U2 are revolutionary. Good, yes. Catchy, yes. Well crafted, yes. Great, occasionally. Revolutionary, no. They write good rock/pop songs (including the occasional exceptional track). That's it, folks.
So, the (very humble) beginnings of an appropriate 6/6/06 playlist:
Electric Six - Devil Nights
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand (or possibly Loverman)
Liars - We Fenced Other Houses With The Bones of Our Own
Murder by Death - Devil in Mexico
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Algae and Tentacles - Dr. Polichik
And here, dear reader, I leave off for further suggestions...
posted by Justin at 11:15 PM
1 Comments:
Death Valley 69 by Sonic Youth
"deep in the valley
in the trunk of an old car..."
Almost any old recording from the 1920's (just the production sound is creepy and therefore somehow satanic), but the one that plays at the end of The Shining works...
And speaking of..., that makes me remember:
Gyorgi Ligeti: Lux Aeterna and Requiem and Musica Ricercata
And "Hey" by the Pixies, with its whores everywhere. "must be a devil between us"
And John Wayne Gacey by Sufjans Stevens
And anything by any metal band from sweden, of course...
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