A Combination of Things

Album #3

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

A message to all of those kids out there who want to be indie rock stars: its all about the songs. Dont worry about singing super goofy or writing songs with insane chord changes that dont make any sense or having the drummer play in a funky time the song doesnt deserve. and dont worry about cutting your hair in a crazy way or wearing low rider jeans with studded belts. dont worry about any of that stuff. Just worry about writing a good song, worry about writing a GREAT song. If you need an example of how this can be done within the vein of indie rock, a place where the actual song generally comes second to what the song means or what you were trying to accomplish sonically in the studio, look no further than Pavement’s second album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, the greatest collection of indie rock songs ever compiled on a vinyl or plastic disc.

There is something so simple about Pavement songs that makes you want to form a band just to play them but half way through the intro to Silent Kit, the first song on Crooked Rain, you realize that you and youre band are in no way cool enough to try and play a Pavement song, which is not your fault. They dont mean to be so cool they just are. Their lyrics make no sense and some of their songs have five or six distinct part some lasting whole minutes some lasting mere seconds its all there in a Pavement tune. Considering they invented the indie rock cliche if not the genre itself it is surprising that they are able to turn those cliches; feedback fests, sloppy guitar play, atonal singing, obvious self consciousness, into 6 classics of not just indie rock but all rock that was composed and performed in the 1990’s. Im talking about Silent Kit, Elevate Me Later, Stop Breathin, Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz, and Range Life and each in their own way grants you access to a little known place called indie rock heaven.

If there is one thing that sucks about being 26 its that i was born in 1982 which would  have made me 12 when Crooked Rain came out in 1994. I dont remember if i was listening to something specific when i was 12. i think by then i may have invested my Dads money in that 12 cds for a penny scam that BMG and Columbia music clubs used to run in Spin and Rolling Stone. If this was the case then i was listening to the first Weezer record, the Who’s Tommy, Core by Stone Temple Pilots, things like that. I certainly was not listening to Slanted and Enchanted which would have been the only way for me to have even known that there was such a bands as Pavement. My age is a travesty in this case friends. Oh how i wish to have been born in 1980. Then i might have been able to say i was aware of Nirvana and if you werent born in 1982 or after, then you might not know that the subject always comes up at some point, when engaged in conversation with a peer, whether or not you were aware of Nirvana before Nevermind came out. I can honestly say i was not and i am happy to say that because Nevermind is not a great record. it is no In Utero.

Do i think my life would have been different if i had discovered Crooked Rain in my teens rather than in my 2o’s? Yes. I would have had a far greater exposure to a lot of similar music if i had known about the Pavement. Chavez, Guided By Voices, the Pixies, Sebadoh, Archers of Loaf, Superchunk. These are all need to know bands that I immediately feel in love with after having taken my first mind bending, face melting taste of indie rock.

My favorite flavour? Pavement.

Tags: 15 Records, Pavement