You can lay the blame at the door of SWC over at No Badger Required for the sudden appearance of yet another new series. It’s hopefully one that might attract a few guest postings…….
SWC is in the midst of a Top 200 rundown of his favourite songs. It’s, as you’d expect, an absolute doozy of a series, packed with great songs and even better writing, with many of the tales attached to the song recalling events, people and happenings in SWC’s fifty years on planet earth. Cannonball by The Breeders comes in at #45:-
“Now, this may not sit well with many of you, but what the hell, it’s my list and my blog, and I’m going to tell you regardless. I’m slightly bored by ‘Cannonball’ these days. There I said it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously a great song, one that is instantly recognisable by that chopsy little intro that descends into that feedback led guitar onslaught about a minute or so later. That much is clear and obvious.
“But, up until about, ooh a year ago, every time I heard ‘Cannonball’ and I heard the hook that crashes in after about two minutes, I used to get goosepimples running up and down my arms, because it still sounded exciting and incredible and it still made me want to throw myself off the sofa (avoiding the coffee table obviously) and had I been compiling this nonsense a year ago, ‘Cannonball’ would have easily found itself in the Top 20 (where it I think was last time around). But the goosepimples have stopped appearing and instead of wanting to throw myself off the sofa when that hook rages in, I now kind of give it a knowing nod and fluff the cushion behind me a bit.
“But, saying all that, its still too good and too damn addictive to ignore.”
Which got me thinking about those songs that no longer thrill me as much as they once did and how writing about them might spark off debates on TVV and, as indicated earlier, might also lead to guest postings.
mp3: The The – Infected (12″ version)
Infected, the second album by The The, was rarely off the turntable of my shared Edinburgh dwelling in 1986/87. It’s an album that I introduced to the two flatmates (one was a supply teacher, the other was a psychopathic air stewardess), neither of who knew much about Matt Johnson beforehand, but both were quite taken by at least some of its material. The air stewardess thought it was a bit dark and bleak, but loved the upbeat and danceable nature of the title track. The supply teacher was a bit of a chin-stroker and he loved the complex nature of the lyrics. It all meant that, given the stereo and speakers were in a communal part of the house, this was a record which we were all happy enough to get played on a very regular basis…and if we weren’t listening to it, there’s every chance a few months later that we’d load up the VHS tape of the Infected film taped from Channel 4, which featured all the videos made for the songs.
Please, as Chrissie Hynde once pleaded, don’t get me wrong. I still have a huge amount of time for the title track, It retains a powerful sound thanks to a bombastic, if a tad overblown production that has, with hindsight, blighted many tunes of the 80s. It still has that catchy sing along chorus and danceability that so enthralled the air stewardess. But as with SWC and Cannonball, the magic might not have totally worn off, but I’m nowhere near as captivated and mesmerised as I once was and Infected just doesn’t have anything like the same effect on me nowadays as it did back in 1986/97.
JC
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
My head today will be full to busting trying to decide if there’s a song I’ve fallen out of love with? I’m terribly loyal and while I can think of some that have gone from being a best friend to mere acquaintance ‘out of love’ seems untinkable. Truth is, there’s probably loads kicked to the kerb (I’m loyal, but fickle) that my rubbish memory won’t allow me to retrieve. This is a teaser of a post…
Flimflamfan
Great idea for a series. I saw The The with 3 mates at the Forever Now Festival in June and had 3 mates with me who were very nonplussed by them. I was very excited when they played ‘Heartland’ saying to my mates ‘listen to the lyrics – this could be today’ but they were looking at me like i was trying to get them to like ‘Agadoo’…
I love a music blog post that goes
Now, this may not sit well with many of you, but what the hell, it’s my list and my blog, and I’m going to tell you regardless
Yes! Drop that truth bomb!
I always considered the phenomenon you are describing as “not hearing it when it’s playing anymore” like you know it so well your brain stops listening. Even if you’re going “ohhh this is the bit that gives me goosebumps” and then it doesn’t.
I have suffered it many times. But the good news is three fold. The deeper cuts are out there and they’re richer pickings once you make them your substitute for the anthems
Leave the big repeater alone long enough and one day on a different set of speakers or in an unexpected environment you suddenly get it back afresh because you hear it with new ears unscripted
And finally. You end up listening to other stuff searching for that Cannonball high in the strangest of places.
No Stairway is a real thing. And it can send you to some fascinating places
As Flimflamfan puts it, there are certainly a bunch of songs that have been kicked to the kerb and thus also forgotten.
What immediately comes to my mind is my previous affection for Coldplay, I especially was into A Rush Of Blood, but ever since they did that Avicii thing I not only lost them, I’ve started to detest them. I’ve cleared my hard drive of every single note of them and I can’t stand hearing Chris’ voice anymore.
I never thought that songs like this needed the 12″ treatment. Even the 7″ version at about 4:45 overstays its welcome a little, let alone the extended version at over 6 minutes.
An excellent idea for a guest contribution. Will think about this JC
This resonates since I am committing to a brutal cull of my overlarge CD collection this year. I’ve sold nearly 100/1000 discs marked for termination. And I am zeroing in on the albums that I have had for 40 years but have not played in over half of that time. Thus, we find that not just albums, but whole discographies of bands like Cocteau Twins, who were deemed immeasurably crucial as they were happening are gone without a trace. Do I really need any B-52’s albums save for the first two? And then there’s the duff albums by bands I collected and listen to to this day heavily! But I’ll be damned if I should have to own copies of “Uvox,” “Brilliant,” “Once Upon A Time,” “Live In the City Of Light,” or “Street Fighting Years” just because of my “collector’s sickness!” And yes, everything by The The is going as well, save for “Soul Mining” and “Infected!”