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…and my 24th favorite song of all time is:
“Be Safe” by The Cribs
The Cribs are a weird band, which you might have guessed, since their name is The Cribs. They are virtually unheard of in the US, but they are one of the more popular bands in England (where they are from) because, as usual, England has a higher tolerance for outside-the-box kind of stuff. Granted, a large portion of their music is very straight-forward indie rock, but they often veer into Avant Garde. The song that got me into them is a piece of pure pop perfection called “We Were Aborted”. Go figure.
Their best song, and a song that affects me highly every time I listen to it, is “Be Safe”. It is unlike anything you have ever heard. It is a long poem (a terrific poem) being read not by a member of the band, but by legendary rock innovator Lee Ranaldo of the band Sonic Youth, who is a kind of mentor to the members of The Cribs. Underneath this poem is some sonic-boom style grunge rock, and some moaning, dirge-like choruses sung by all the members of The Cribs. This song can come very close to literally changing your life.
There was not a satisfactory rendition of this song for streaming online, so I made one specifically for this blog entry. Please watch it below. The lyrics stream along with the song in the video. Trust me folks, this was not easy to make, so do this blogger a favor and watch it. I don’t ask for much. If it doesn’t blow your mind, I’ll refund your money.
Some of you may remember, about a year ago I made a list of my 100 favorite bands in order (that post is here). Well, here’s a list of my 100 favorite albums! This list follows (roughly) the same rules and principles as the bands list. To re-cap those principles:
1. This is a list of my favorites. It is not meant to be a definitive “best” list, hence there are no right or wrong entries and you can’t exactly argue with the list, though disagreements are encouraged.
2. How I made my choices: I pretended I was on a desert island with all 100 discs, then imagined I could only have 99. Which would I get rid of? And so on, down the line. This method creates interesing and unexpected results.
3. Unlike the bands post, the albums list is not limited to only bands. However, I did not allow live albums, compilations, or other such anomalies.
4. Much like the bands list, it is clear to me that this list must be in a constant state of flux; this is far from my “permanent” list of favorite albums. I can’t encourage you enough to do this yourself periodically, it really does reveal sea changes and trends in your own personal tastes. Without further ado, here is the list:
100. Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire 99. Woodpigeon, Treasury Library Canada 98. Do Make Say Think, You, You’re a History in Rust 97. Death Cab for Cutie, We’ve Got the Facts and We’re Voting Yes 96. Nirvana, Nevermind 95. Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do 94. Working For a Nuclear-Free City, Businessmen & Ghosts 93. Radiohead, In Rainbows 92. Seven Mary Three, day&nightdriving 91. Cold War Kids, Loyalty to Loyalty 90. Phish, Farmhouse 89. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here 88. Kings of Leon, Because of the Times 87. The Decemberists, Picaresque 86. The Ghost is Dancing, The Darkest Spark 85. Pearl Jam, Binaural 84. Seven Mary Three, The Economy of Sound 83. My Morning Jacket, It Still Moves 82. Barenaked Ladies, Gordon 81. Pearl Jam, Yield 80. The Frames, Fitzcarraldo 79. Death Cab for Cutie, Something About Airplanes 78. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nocturama 77. Radiohead, OK Computer 76. The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America 75. Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere 74. Pearl Jam, Riot Act 73. Explosions in the Sky, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone 72. Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News 71. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman 70. Nirvana, In Utero 69. The Cribs, Ignore the Ignorant 68. Sven Gali, Inwire 67. Fire on Fire, The Orchard 66. The National, High Violet 65. The Pixies, Surfer Rosa 64. Mogwai, Come On Die Young 63. Emily Wells, Dirty 62. Pelican, The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw 61. Radiohead, Hail to the Thief 60. Phish, Billy Breathes 59. Mooney Suzuki, Have Mercy 58. TV on the Radio, Dear Science 57. The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible 56. We Are Scientists, Brain Thrust Mastery 55. LIVE, Mental Jewelry 54. Primitive Radio Gods, Rocket 53. Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia 52. Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, F#A# 51. The Beatles, Revolver 50. Hey Rosetta!, Plan Your Escape 49. Seven Mary Three, Orange Ave. 48. Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam (The Avocado Album) 47. Grinderman, Grinderman 46. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges 45. Editors, In This Light and on This Evening 44. Bush, Sixteen Stone 43. The Postal Service, Give Up 42. The Cape May, Glass Mountain Roads 41. Pearl Jam, Ten 40. Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine 39. Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming 38. Yeasayer, Odd Blood 37. Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild Soundtrack
36. Pink Floyd, Meddle 35. Stars, In Our Bedroom After the war 34. Stone Temple Pilots, Purple 33. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs 32. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club 31. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Lyre of Orpheus 30. Silversun Pickups, Carnavas 29. Neil Young, Mirrorball 28. Kings of Leon, Only by the Night 27. The National, The Boxer 26. Chris Walla, Field Manual 25. Pearl Jam, Vitalogy 24. The Cribs, Men’s Needs, Women’s Need’s, Whatever 23. Cold War Kids, Robbers & Cowards 22. My Morning Jacket, Z 21. Phish, Rift 20. Pink Floyd, The Wall 19. Explosions in the Sky, The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place 18. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank 17. Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism 16. The Airborne Toxic Event, The Airborne Toxic Event 15. LIVE, Throwing Copper 14. Seven Mary Three, American Standard 13. Radiohead, Kid A 12. The Decemberists, The Crane Wife 11. Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, Raise Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennae to Heaven 10. The Arcade Fire, Funeral 9. The Beatles, Abbey Road 8. Pearl Jam, Vs. 7. LIVE, Secret Samadhi 6. Death Cab for Cutie, Plans 5. Explosions in the Sky, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever 4. The Beatles, The Beatles (The White Album)
3. Pearl Jam, No Code 2. Seven Mary Three, RockCrown 1. Hey Rosetta!, Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)
OK, the person who took this video is obviously a Johnny Marr freak (they even titled the video “Johnny Marr and the Cribs”), so you don’t see much other than Marr, but it still gives you a good feel for how awesome of an opener this song is. Plus, you see Marr lose sound for a few seconds and then get the problem fixed.
Poor quality, but here’s at least one with a view of the whole band. This one comes sooooo close to getting me in the shot; I was directly in front of Ross, the Crib singing the song. Alas, the camera never pans to the audience.
So, let me stop you before you post the comment…no, I do NOT have “too much time on my hands”! This is just what I decided to do with the time on my hands!
OK, with that out of the way…yes, you are not reading that wrong. I have in fact ranked my one hundred favorite bands in descending order. You may ask…why, and how?
Well, I’ve just always been curious how my favorite bands would rank if I spent the time to do it. I mean, I pretty much knew what 1,2 and 3 would be, but after that, it was a bit hazy. So I figured I’d devise a way to rank the top 50. I brainstormed my favorite bands randomly, and when I counted the brainstorm results, there were seventy-some, so I figured I’d shoot for the stars and go for the top hundred.
I also figured I needed a way to narrow down who I could use. The only criteria was they had to be bands, not just musical artists. No solo artists or R&B groups. This meant I could use Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but not Neil Young.
This is the method I used for ranking them: I thought about a desert island situation, and then I thought, If I could only take one album from these bands, which band do I choose? I didn’t spend any time pondering WHICH album it would be, just…which band would I want an album from? Then after a band was chosen, I crossed them off and asked myself the desert island question again, but now had to choose from the remaining bands. When thinking about Neil Young and Crazy Horse (or, say, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) I only allowed myself to consider the work of the collaboration. So, I could have Everyone Knows This is Nowhere, but not After the Gold Rush.
Now, I am open to the fact that I may have missed something and may have to revise this list, so please, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, but remember, this is not a best list, but a favorite list, so you can’t really argue with the list, but I am actually afraid I forgot something, so please point out anything that seems amiss. (But for the record, I did NOT forget: Tool, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Led Zeppelin, or The White Stripes—I just don’t like them all that much. And post-rock fans: I didn’t forget A Silver Mt. Zion, Surface of Eceyon, or Mono. Just not my favorites).
I hear you….why should you care? Well, you shouldn’t care about mine, necessarily, but may I suggest you do something like this yourself? It’s more interesting than you may think. You can discern changes in yourself by analyzing your list. For instance, 15 years ago, Dave Matthews Band would have been in my top 5. Now, they’re 41. What would they have been 8 years ago? 25? So they’re on a slow slide. Does this have something to say about changes in me beyond simple musical taste? I’m not sure, but it’s fun to think about. And some bands will pop into and out of my life quickly, as I’m constantly on the prowl for new music. It’s intriguing to look at this list and wonder which bands will soon not make this list, and which bands that are currently in the 80s or 90s will be in the top 20 next year. It’s certainly not a concrete list, I’m sure it is in constant flux.
Oh, and here’s a fun thing: you’ll see it appears to be a list of 101 bands. That’s because one of them is a fake band name, made up by me, right now. If you are the first to identify which of them is the fake, I’ll send you a prize!! And it will be a real prize, not some mix disc I made or something. Good luck!
I’ve also linked to a few bands here or there, to some interesting or awesome song, video, or website, if you ever find yourself terribly bored with extra time on your hands.
Without further ado, the list:
101. MGMT
100. I’m From Barcelona
99. Oppenheimer
98. Invert
97. Constantines
96. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
95. Mother Mother
94. Hollerado
93. We vs. Death
92. Interpol
91. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
90. Thursday
89. Stone Temple Pilots
88. Mooney Suzuki
87. Razorlight
86. The Great Depression
85. The Two Koreas
84. The Mercury Project
83. Tea Leaf Green
82. This Will Destroy You
81. Iron & Wine
80. Band of Horses
79. The Stills
78. Jefferson Airplane
77. Monsterpants
76. The Walkmen
75. Drive-By Truckers
74. Black Mountain
73. Pelican
72. Animal Collective
71. dd/mm/yyyy
70. Cage the Elephant
69. We are Scientists
68. TV on the Radio
67. Tegan and Sara
66. Yeasayer
65. Editors
64. The National
63. Islands
62. Library Voices
61. Caribou
60. Stars
59. Grizzly Bear
58. The Presidents of the United States of America
57. Fuel
56. Low
55. The Talking Heads
54. The Hold Steady
53. Kaiser Chiefs
52. Mogwai
51. Arctic Monkeys
50. Bush
49. Franz Ferdinand
48. Do Make Say Think
47. Jets Overhead
46. The Ghost is Dancing
45. Architecture in Helsinki
44. Fire on Fire
43. The Emily Wells Trio
42. Creedence Clearwater Revival
41. Dave Matthews Band
40. The Shins
39. Deerhunter
38. Primitive Radio Gods
37. Barenaked Ladies
36. Nirvana
35. Sven Gali
34. The Trews
33. The Cribs
32. Doves
31. The Cape May
30. Man Man
29. Indigo Girls
28. Sigur Ros
27. Neil Young and Crazy Horse
26. The Violent Femmes
25. Grinderman
24. Rage Against the Machine
23. The Postal Service
22. Fleet Foxes
21. Kings of Leon
20. The Frames
19. Cold War Kids
18. Silversun Pickups
17. The Airborne Toxic Event
16. Modest Mouse
15. Hey Rosetta!
14. The Decemberists
13. My Morning Jacket
12. Phish
11. Pink Floyd
10. Godspeed You Black Emperor!
9. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
8. Radiohead
7. The Arcade Fire
6. Explosions in the Sky
5. LIVE
4. Death Cab For Cutie
3. The Beatles
2. Seven Mary Three
1. Pearl Jam
I arrived at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC exactly on time; doors for The Cribs show were to open at 7; I showed up at 6, to insure a front row spot. I normally show up a tad earlier than one hour, but The Cribs haven’t really caught on in the states yet (they’re British, and seemingly, considerably more popular there). I gambled correctly—as I walked up to the door, I was the 7th person in line (and when doors opened, there were no more than 20 of us in line).
I was standing in line for no longer than 5 minutes when Johnny Marr walked out the door and directly past me. Chances are, you don’t know who Johnny Marr is, but in my insular little “Indie Rock” world, he’s our very own Eddie Van Halen.
Johnny Marr. I didn't take this pic, I stole it off the internet.
He was, most famously, a founding member of The Smiths. After they disbanded, he dabbled all over the place for years, making special appearances here, in one-off bands there, producing albums over here. Then, 2 years ago, he quite unexpectedly joined indie favorites Modest Mouse—being granted full member status— rounding out their sound in a quite marvelous way. Then, just last year, he joined The Cribs (which, you must realize, were a quite established band in Britain, and they were a band of three brothers—so Marr’s full membership is quite…strange). Once again, Marr’s addition really amped up that band’s sound, giving it a much less bare-bones feel and adding an “atmospheric” quality.
So now, Marr is an ex-Smith and a current member of one of the most-beloved American indie bands and one of the most beloved British indie bands. Wow. And here’s what really makes him so loved: he really is the epitome of cool. I mean, he’s just really cool! And to watch him play…most guitarists like to make what they’re doing look harder than it is, but Marr seems to try to make it look easier. He really seems like he is making a grocery list in his head while he’s playing, without being disengaged. AND—he’s short, probably no more than 4 inches taller than me. Badass.
So anyway, I’m standing in line and Johnny Marr walks past me. Without thinking I just yelled—yelled, and he was just a few feet away from me—“Johnny!” Damn. I sounded like some damn groupie! I had just been shocked by the sight of his shock-black hair. So he looks at me expectantly, as if I was going to say something of substance following my shout, like “Your mom’s on the phone!” or “There’s a piano falling toward you!” but all I managed was “Hi!” and he gave me a perky British “Hi!” back, and was on his way.
Turns out, my HI with Johnny Marr probably wasn’t worth it. Seems the woman in front of me in line had spoken to him earlier before I got there, and saw the fact that we both knew who he was as some sort of bond. I didn’t mind talking to her at first—she was, after all, very nice. But we had a crucial miscommunication that ruined everything.
The annoying woman
She quickly revealed to me that she knew nothing about Johnny Marr—she was there with her son, who knew who he was, she had “never heard of him”, to quote her. This was fine with me, of course, and then I said “He’s actually been in lots of bands”. But she must have thought I said “I’ve actually seen lots of bands.” Which would have been ridiculous of me to say at that point in the conversation, but she probably heard it because she was waiting to just pounce on someone and tell them her concert-going history, and this opened it up.
There’s one of these in every concert line, isn’t there? Why do they do this? I do not give a shit about what shows you’ve seen!!!! If it can come up in normal conversation, then fine, but the whole “Jaws scar” scene with concerts is just…gross. It grosses me out, personality-wise. And she would. not. stop. She talked straight to me for the whole hour in line, and even intimated I should stand with her and her son once we got in there. Unfortunately, when we got in there, they chose Johnny Marr’s side of the stage, so I had to settle for Gary Jarman’s side (not a bad compromise, really). Oh, and right before doors opened, she went over to the box office and bought 2 tickets for the Editors show in February, which I may be attending if work schedule permits. I’ll have to take someone with me in case I get stuck in line next to her again!
(some of you may ask what the difference is between these obnoxious concert-line braggers and me writing long blogs about each of my concert experiences. And you have a mild point, the difference is negligible, but here it is: you can’t click out of or minimize these line gabbers.)
The opening band (there were supposed to be 2 openers…not sure what happened) was so-so, I’m not going to waste and time talking about them.
So, after a long wait inside the club (I assume most of you have been to 9:30 at some point, but if not, it’s comparable to Electric Factory or Chameleon Club) The Cribs finally emerged. I found myself a bit more excited than I had expected. They did not enter to the prolonged classical music they have been using as entrance music for the European tour this year. It was sort of like a southern gothic funk….very dark and brooding and quite awesome. It only played for about one minute before they came out, and when Johnny Marr started playing the “We Were Aborted” riff, I absolutely lost my mind, even though I knew this would be their opener, and I’ve watched about 12 different live versions of this show opener on YouTube, but really, truly, I think “We Were Aborted” may be the BEST concert opener I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen Pearl Jam open with “Wash”!). The music, the way Marr plays so casually, the way Ryan Jarman jumps facing the drum kit, the way Ross Jarman nearly comes off his stool while hitting the drums…just really, really, really good rock and roll. And then they immediately follow this with “Hey Scenesters!”, a rollicking indie anthem from an earlier album, and one of my absolute favorites. I was quite pleased with our crowd’s singalong to “Hey Scenesters!” (I’d estimate the 9:30 Club was at about half capacity for the show, but we were a lively bunch). There’s no YouTube from the show I was at, but here’s a video of a “We Were Aborted”—->”Hey Scenesters!” opener from a few months ago in Europe. It fairly accurately depicts the opening from last night:
Here’s the full setlist:
We Were Aborted
Hey Scenesters!
We Share the Same Skies
Hari Kari
Last Year’s Snow
What About Me
Cheat on Me
I’ve Tried Everything
Save Your Secrets
Mirror Kissers
Another Number
Our Bovine Public
Ignore the Ignorant
Be Safe
I’m a Realist
Girls Like Mystery
Men’s Needs
City of Bugs
–No encore
–“Hari Kari”—the end repetition part was ridiculously intense
–“Save Your Secrets” proves in a live setting that it is, unexpectedly, a moving cynical ballad
–I must have really, REALLY wanted to see “Mirror Kissers”, because I nearly jumped over the barrier when they started it. It had a prolonged, feedback-heavy intro. I sweated profusely.
–On a bad note (pun intended), “Our Bovine Public”—which I love–was almost unrecognizable. It was way too heavy and loud. I didn’t even know what song it was until the SECOND chorus. Not sure if this is a result of Marr’s added guitar (this is a song from before Marr joined the band, hence there’s one more guitar part in it when they play it). Even after I realized what it was, I couldn’t enjoy it.
–When either Gary or Ryan Jarman addressed the crowd (about 5 times total) it was damn near impossible to understand them. VERY thick accents. Makes you wonder why it’s so easy to understand them when they’re singing?
–“Be Safe” is an incredible and very unique song in The Cribs canon. I IMPLORE YOU TO CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINKS, YOU WILL LIKE THIS. Read what the song is here. Read the lyrics here. Here is the best video I can find of a performance of the song similar to how I saw it, however, at my show, the screen was directly behind the band:
–The crowd seemed most amped for “I’m a Realist”—there were many calls for it throughout the show, and the biggest cheer was for the song’s start—which I found odd, as it’s not their most dynamic song. It has somewhat silly, curse-infused lyrics at the beginning, though, which I suppose accounts for it’s popularity.
–“Girls Like Mystery” was a nice surprise, hadn’t seen it on any of the setlists I’d been following leading up to the show.
–I was at first disappointed when I realized “City of Bugs” would be the closer. It’s my least favorite song on the new album. But bada-bing! In the live setting I was convinced. I saw what they were going for. It was engaging, energizing, and intense. I could even finally forgive the lyric “I’m messed up, baby, like the Berlin Wall.” The guys left their guitars on the stage in a feedback loop, so we couldn’t rightfully cheer until a roadie unplugged the guitars, a few minutes after the band left the stage, but I was looking around, and nobody left that venue until we could cheer, and when we did, we did as though The Cribs were still on stage to hear us. Great band. Consider me hooked.
Notes From the Fire 