Apr 182011
Let’s try another 1-2 Punch, shall we? Top 10 lists are too much; Top 5 lists invite too many opportunities for throwing in a hipster, obscuro choice to distinguish oneself from the raging masses. What I’d like to know is what TWO (2) songs you would choose from an artist’s catalog to say as much about that artist that you believe represents said artist’s core as possible? In other words, if you could only use TWO (2) songs from an artist’s catalog to explain all that said artist is about to a Venusian, what TWO (2) songs would you pick to represent said artist’s place in rock ‘n roll?
I’ll pose two artists and you—love ’em or leave ’em—give me each artist’s representative 1-2 Punch. Dig? Here goes!
Talking Heads
R.E.M.
Talking Heads: “Psycho Killer,” “Crosseyed and Painless”
R.E.M.: “Driver 8,” “Binky the Doormat”
R.E.M – Pretty Persuasion + Driver 8 (I’m in a pre-Green mood these days)
Talking Heads – Nieve Melody + Once In a Lifetime
of course I meant
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
always liked this song.. but I might have been influenced by the video which I found entertaining
Heads: Psycho Killer (more or less defines the good for me) and And She Was (more or less defines how bad they got)
REM: Radio Free Europe (the good) and Everybody Hurts (the whiny irritating Stipe)
REM — Radio Free Europe, Losing My Religion
Talking Heads — Life During Wartime, Burning Down the House
Talking Heads: “And She Was” and “The Great Curve”
I’m not a big fan of REM and haven’t heard enough of their albums to make a judgement here. I prefer them when Stipe lets down his hair (or what’s left of it) and gets goofy on songs like “Stand” and “Shiny, Happy People”. Otherwise, REM just isn’t fun or quirky enough to balance out the overweening seriousness and moroseness – “Everybody Hurts”, gawd.
Talking Heads: “Life During Wartime” and “Cities” – both songs are on the “Fear of Music” album which caught them right between the paranoid quirkiness of their 1st 2 albums and the arty-party sound of their next 2 discs.
R.E.M. : “Radio Free Europe” and “Stand” which represent, respectfully, indecipherable Stipe and decipherable Stipe.
Re: REM getting goofy
HIGH FIVE!
Talking Heads: “Psycho Killer” and “Once in a Lifetime”
REM: “Radio Free Europe” and “Man on the Moon,” the latter having a mix of goofiness and Stipe’s latter-day World Wide Healing.
Talking Heads: Girlfriend is Better, Once in a Lifetime. A great band live and on record.
R.E.M. Orange Crush (older) and Leaving New York (newer). I like everything thru Green.
Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime,” (killer lyrics) “Burning Down the House” (their last great song)
REM, “Radio Free Europe,” (one of the greatest songs ever written in my opinion) “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” (And I Feel Fine): the band’s “Start Me Up” moment
jon langford’s artwork now supports his music hobby.
not sure how this comment ended up on this thread…
Psycho Killer-early definitive hit
Burning Down The House-bigger hit with identity intact
The One I Love-because it’s their only good song
Stand-because it’s so fucking jive, like the rest of their work
That’s funny. I’ll try to remember to include the Mekons in the next 1-2 Punch.
Talking Heads: “No Compassion” for the aggravated wimps at CBGB years and “Crosseyed and Painless” for their big band highlight. “Naive Melody” is my favorite tune by them but I can’t seem to work it in here.
REM: Murmur I love but doesn’t have many distinguishable tunes so I’ll take “So Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” to represent the college radio band. And “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”, their coming out to mass audience song that just starts to hint at the annoying aspects that would take over after Green.
REM – Driver 8 and It’s the End of the World. Mostly just because I like those two songs.
Talking Heads – Take Me to the River and the version of Psycho Killer on Stop Making Sense. Those would get me interested in them if I wasn’t already.