Midweek Music News Roundup 1.27.10: Looking Like A Fool Wit Yo Pants on Da Ground

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 01.27.2010

Prince shows the sports fan in him, an in depth look at the lyrical mastery that is "Pants on da Ground," a tribute to Kate McGarrigle, Carl Barat talks The Libertines, Vampire Weekend set indie records, movies about Magnetic Fields, The Tallest Man on Earth grows eternal, Sylvain Sylvain sells hats and musicians give love to Haiti. And...Keith Richards...gives up...alcohol?

So the weird saga of Margaret Cho and I continues. Apparently, no one in the actual "Cho camp" as I called it sent me the video of her at the AVN Awards (which I typo'd as the non-existent AVI Awards), and they asked I correct that. So there they go. They had nothing to do with it. I'll also say they told me that her album would be released in the fall, and offered me a possible interview, which was nice, but I declined. If only every artist I passingly mentioned was so kind as to have his or her publicist or management company send me an e-mail. But then again, I'd probably be too busy to cover it all.



- I would really like to go one week without a death announcement. Really, it would make me happy. Alas, we must pay our respects to Kate McGarrigle, member of the McGarrigle Sisters and matriarch of the Wainwright family. With her sister Anna, Kate was known for her beautiful voice and the way it floated over wonderful folk melodies. She passed away on the 18th after a battle with cancer, survived by her superstar children, Rufus and Martha. May she rest in peace.

- It appears Carl Barat is considering the possibility of getting back together with his old flame. By this, of course, I mean he suddenly seems more open to the concept of a Libertines reunion. I wish there were more information, because without it I'm just hopeful and pathetic, but we can cross our fingers.

- Vampire Weekend have scored the number one album in the country, outperforming last year's indie winners Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective. Congratulations to them, and may they continue finding new ways to remake Graceland. But really, it is nice to see indie bands succeeding. Every time it happens it gives me the opportunity to fob off Star Power and repost my application story. But I won't be doing that...this time.



- The Magnetic Fields released a new album yesterday called Realism, but never one to rest, Stephin Merritt has something else in the mix. Over the past ten years, filmmakers Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara have been chronicling Merritt's career and life, preparing to release a documentary later this year. Fans rejoice. By the way, I'd love to give you my thoughts on the album, but like the last five albums to be released that I've gone to the stores for on the release date, I couldn't find it. Blast my cursed tastes!

- Even after the Super Bowl, I didn't peg Prince as a huge football fan. Maybe a passing fan, but I always envision him far too busy doing Prince things to have the time for regular mortal joys. But apparently, I'm wrong. According to MTV, Prince has recorded a fight song for the Minnesota Vikings. Prince apparently recorded the song, called "Purple and Gold," immediately after watching the Vikings beat the Cowboys. You can stream the song here.

- Folk music is kind of dormant these days, but folk fans can rejoice at this news. The Tallest Man on Earth has announced his second album, to be titled Wild Hunt. To be released April 13, the album will be lead with the single "King of Spain," available now at Pitchfork. If the single is any indication, the Man's still got it.


Pictured: Sylvain Sylvain (in a cool hat) with David Johanssen.

- I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but a while back the promotional company of Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls contacted me because I mentioned an album of his was poorly promoted. I apologized to them, because it was kind of random and mean of me to say that. Now I make up for it by saying that Sylvain's latest project is well promoted: he's selling hats! He's been making his own hats to wear on stage for years and years, and now he wishes to share them. Quote Sylvain, "one size fits all with elastic AROUND THE BRIM for comfort AND LOOKS COOL AS A DOG!" You have a few days left to pick and bid here.

- Wilco, Radiohead, and every other band alive (notably U2, Jay-Z and Rihanna), has been providing a major outpouring of love and donations to the victims of the recent earthquake related tragedies in Haiti. Friday's "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon raised over $61 million, Radiohead's charity concert raised over a half million, and Wilco are asking for donations in return for various live shows. I'm no famous musician and I certainly don't have my own Haiti related charity set up, but I'd be remiss not to join in on the "people who have a semi-public forum and thus are telling you to donate" club. As we all must know by now, it's a seriously important cause, and anyone with the means to help should seriously consider trying to do so.

- You know, the world just hasn't felt right lately. I thought it was my return to school messing with my vacation equilibrium, but apparently it's something much different: Keith Richards has quit drinking alcohol, and is purporting to be four months sober. This man once fell out of a tree when he was in his 60s because he partied too hard. And now he's sober. Well, good luck to him? Congratulations? I don't even know anymore.

Star Power

This is coming about a week late, but school started up again this week, so I've been busy and just want to kick back and do something fun. I considered talking about Scorpions breaking up after forty something years, but it occurred to me I didn't really care and would rather write about something more...whimsical. So here's this week's silly, shortest ever Star Power.



Pants on da ground,
Pants on da ground,
Lookin' like a FOOL wit ya pants on da ground!

Lyrical mastery. What does that even mean? Not what does "Pants on the Ground" mean, but what does "lyrical mastery" mean. I'm not saying "Pants on the Ground" is lyrical mastery, but rather that the definition needs to be rewritten. Think about it: a song can be considered lyrically genius if it has an emotional directness that everyone can relate to. Sure, the emotion in this case is the lightest possible anger at people who don't wear belts, but in an odd way it is indeed emotionally direct and relatable. There's also the consideration of historical resonance. There's no way to argue that Pants on da Ground is well articulated. There will be no argument that it has some kind of Dylanesque poeticism to it. But it does capture the voice of a generation, in an odd way. Sure, it's the last remnants of a generation prior, but this is what they're thinking now. They truly believe you're a fool with yo' pants on da ground.

To further examine whether or not these are great lyrics, I must examine what I think makes great lyrics. To make sure everyone is on the same page, I will now offer my top two lyrics, though I can't order them. First, "It's not the side effects of the cocaine, I'm thinking that it must be love," David Bowie, "Station to Station." Second, "That's not the electric light, my friend, that's your vision that is dim," Leonard Cohen, "Dress Rehearsal Rag." The unfortunate thing that occurs to me as I typed that out is that there is no particular reason that either of those lines constitutes great lyrics. The best I can come up with is that they're cool. So I guess that's why Pants on da Ground fails to qualify as great lyrics. No one can hear that and mistake what they're hearing as cool.

But I don't know. I still feel like several of the classifications for being good lyrics have been met. Again, the argument is not that Pants on da Ground has great lyrics. Just that lyrics are far more subjective than many people read them to be. Just because a song is beautiful to you does not a beautiful song make. I'm sure we've all quietly laughed at a song a friend told us was life changing. At least with Pants on da Ground, we're laughing at lyrics someone told us we'd laugh at.

Farewell Song

1989, the number, power to the people say HOOOOO, sound of the funky drummer. Public Enemy were fighting the power for two years already, but it was in 1989 that they announced their mission statement and unleashed their ultimate anthem. At the same time, Beastie Boys released their ultimate opus, Deborah Harry gave us a few great pop songs in another solo outing, Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair got spooky, New Order showed off their technique, The Field Mice introduced themselves to the world in LP form, Janet Jackson laid out her ideal rhythm nation, Morrissey offered up a fine few singles, Pixies did a lot by doing little, Lou Reed sang about his hometown, Neil Young once again redefined freedom, Prince sang about Batman, The Replacements told you a secret, The Stone Roses debuted, The Sugarcubes promised to be here today, tomorrow and next week, The The dropped a mind bomb, Tom Petty caught full moon fever, Madonna started her career in praying and the Vaselines called you a dum-dum. Whoa. That's a lot of big names in popular and critical circles. Each artist mentioned had a great single or two or three or hell, a great albums worth of material, but the winner of song of the year 1989 is also the song that I've retconned as the first song I ever played on the radio. Yes, I played others before it, but it was the first song I played after fully getting into my groove and deciding on a mission statement for my show. That song is "Debaser" by Pixies.



As for album of the year, I go a much different route. I admit at times I'm a bit of an amateur when it comes to hip-hop. In certain ways, I'm even a hip-hop denier, at least on a major scale. I admit this is a fault and not a positive and I need to listen to more of it, but it does allow me the cliché of imagined levity when I like a hip-hop album as much as I do this one. Paul's Boutique is the kind of densely layered, fully crafted album that you nary come across in any genre. That the Beasties did it is a credit to their immense talent. That they could never do it again is a credit to the immense talent of The Turtles' legal team. Aw well.

That does it for this week. Hopefully I'll get more into my groove and be less busy next week so I won't need to cop out Star Power. But even then, you got some good news and music, huh? Not like I can just give up on you, that'd be bad. And just like that, I hope you won't give up on me, and you'll once again come back next week, for another Midweek Music News Roundup!