Monday was a horrible day for music. And I'm not talking some Geldof-related nuisance or the general back-to-work, I-want-to-die vibe, I'm talking about that Monday gone specifically, as it was on Monday I received the news that Supergrass, currently in my top five favourite bands ever fo' shizz, broke up.
This was especially annoying because only the previous day I had been listening to Road to Rouen and thought that, while they'd never be as big as they were in the mid 90s again, their consistently great albums showed they never really ran out of ideas, and would probably keep making great albums for the next 40 years.
Well, fuck you too, Monday.
As I previously said, I intend to do more list-based blogs on here just for shits and giggles, and had actually planned to do a top 10 of Supergrass songs. Needless to say, their demise confirmed it as the first list. Though, this is not a Top 10, as such, from 10 to 1 or vice versa - I've ordered these as I would choose to listen to them from start to finish.
~ ~ ~
Moving
(Supergrass)
A mainstay of the Supergrass style is the balance between lighter, trippy psychedelia and the balls-out, often Stones-y rock, and darnitall if Moving doesn't nail it. The verses lull you into a trance, before the chorus kicks in, and if it doesn't urge you into some spontaneous dancing then you've probably just been paralyzed from a stroke. Or something. Had never liked the song much at first but over time it's really grown on me, and it's the perfect slow, buildy-up opener to an album.* See also: In It For The Money, and Muse's Take a Bow.
* as opposed to one that just launches into the rocky shit straight away. For example, if Richard III had opened In It For The Money. See also: Elvis Costello's No Action.
Diamond Hoo Ha Man
(Diamond Hoo Ha)
This is one of the songs Gaz and Danny did while Mick was recovering from his broken back, but I can't see how it could be performed by a two-piece without losing a great deal of its awesome. My first impression of the song, with its octaver-ed riff and thump-drum intro, was that the two-piece version of the 'Grass had turned them into the White Stripes, but as it progresses the song grows beyond simply the riff. The jump mid-verse ("All I got...") to the different rhythm in the guitars and bass is just fucking genius, and such a killer hook. I can say without a doubt that it was this song that properly got me into Supergrass: I knew Alright (everyone knows Alright, fuck sake) but not much else, then I saw the band on Jools Holland after DHH came out, and this song (as well as the also-pretty-sweet Rebel in You) blew me away.
Can't Get Up
(Life on Other Planets)
This was the second 'Grass album I felt I could listen to the whole way through, no problem, after In It For the Money, after I'd just got into them. Since then I've grown away from it a bit but it's still got some cracking songs, this one being the best by far. You could say it follows on from Pumping On Your Stereo as "one of them songs where they're actually singing something a bit dodgy, but call it something else to hide it". First there was humping, now a sly "it". Just a great tune, great harmonies, the works.
Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5, & 6)
(Road to Rouen)
Now, Rouen is a strange one for me. Even when I'd gotten into the band a good deal, I put off listening to the album, because for some reason I'd had the idea that the album's reputation was that it was their only real bum note, that they'd tried to be all serious and it was shit. It's absolutely not shit, and may in fact be their best album. It's certainly the album with the most texture and depth, and just by listening you know there's an extra layer of quality on all the songs. This one is the opener (I have no idea whether there is a Part 1, 2 & 3, or if it's a Star Wars reference or something) and like Moving it's a wonderful opener of the slow, build-up variety, from the instrumental acoustic into a trippy haze and then BAM! Into... wait, that's fucking Trampled Underfoot, the plagiarising scamps. Although kudos to them, if anyone noticed this while listening to the album, they'd have forgotten about it as soon as they get to Kick In The Teeth. when they realise the 'Grass have basically just lifted Come On Now by the Kinks and slowed it down.
Eon
(Supergrass)
This is a strange one. By all means, it seems like a filler track - a long buildup, a few short lines of verse that try not to sound too late 60's Beach Boys, and then back into the buildup. The song kinda passes you by before you've realised it's over. But I love it. I don't know what it is about the verse, but it's just the perfect melody, the perfect chords, strangely optimistic while seeming unbearably sad at the same time. If this song had a music video, I'd imagine it having a man standing on a tall building, laughing at the life that's led and then ending it. Or flying off. If there's a decent video budget he can fly.
G-Song
(In It For The Money)
It was a tough job picking songs from this album, it is still probably my favourite Supergrass album, but it works as a collection of fantastically catchy numbers, and to pick one out is a bit odd. Naturally I'd go with a single (see a bit below) but G-Song is, after careful consideration, probably the best all-round song on the album. The instrumentation on the downbeat chorus bit is just trippy to the max, and the steady rhythm of the verse is the perfect complement.
Shotover Hill
(Supergrass)
Third song from the self-titled album on this list... where IIFTM is a great album to listen to all the way through, I'd say that Supergrass has the best individual songs on it, but has a couple of songs that let it down (who wants to listen to a downbeat song after Pumping on Your Stereo, seriously?). I, personally, think the band are at their best doing the slower, psychedelia-tinged numbers like this, a song that just sounds so wonderful - never mind that it's a cracking song, great harmonies and such like. The best harmonies on the album, however, are at the end of What Went Wrong in Your Head, a song with a fantastic verse melody but it really doesn't go anywhere, and then at the end the instruments drop out and leave some sensational harmonies, the last note, where (I assume) Gaz slides up to the high note, is one of the greatest things ever.
Strange Ones
(I Should Coco)
I am not a fan of the first album. It's rather juvenile in places, and while it has a great energy on many songs, lacks the sophistication of even the next album. To be honest I could've chosen Mansize Rooster for this one, or Caught By The Fuzz, or Lenny (but NOT Alright, that's the generic choice), they're all good songs, but i really love the rhythm changes on this one, and I guess the quiet/loud dynamics are a good indicator this was a band who had a bit more to offer than "kids with beard playing loud punky rock".
Richard III
(In It For the Money)
Already said what I needed to say about the album in general. While G-Song is a great, well rounded song, this is definitely one of Supergrass's belting rockers. After the bizarre (but awesome) psychedelic fuzz of the title track, this song is just such a bullet.
Roxy
(Road to Rouen)
It was this song that absolutely made me want to do this list. Earlier, this song made my cry. It is quite simply the perfect closing song, for anything....
(Supergrass)
A mainstay of the Supergrass style is the balance between lighter, trippy psychedelia and the balls-out, often Stones-y rock, and darnitall if Moving doesn't nail it. The verses lull you into a trance, before the chorus kicks in, and if it doesn't urge you into some spontaneous dancing then you've probably just been paralyzed from a stroke. Or something. Had never liked the song much at first but over time it's really grown on me, and it's the perfect slow, buildy-up opener to an album.* See also: In It For The Money, and Muse's Take a Bow.
* as opposed to one that just launches into the rocky shit straight away. For example, if Richard III had opened In It For The Money. See also: Elvis Costello's No Action.
Diamond Hoo Ha Man
(Diamond Hoo Ha)
This is one of the songs Gaz and Danny did while Mick was recovering from his broken back, but I can't see how it could be performed by a two-piece without losing a great deal of its awesome. My first impression of the song, with its octaver-ed riff and thump-drum intro, was that the two-piece version of the 'Grass had turned them into the White Stripes, but as it progresses the song grows beyond simply the riff. The jump mid-verse ("All I got...") to the different rhythm in the guitars and bass is just fucking genius, and such a killer hook. I can say without a doubt that it was this song that properly got me into Supergrass: I knew Alright (everyone knows Alright, fuck sake) but not much else, then I saw the band on Jools Holland after DHH came out, and this song (as well as the also-pretty-sweet Rebel in You) blew me away.
Can't Get Up
(Life on Other Planets)
This was the second 'Grass album I felt I could listen to the whole way through, no problem, after In It For the Money, after I'd just got into them. Since then I've grown away from it a bit but it's still got some cracking songs, this one being the best by far. You could say it follows on from Pumping On Your Stereo as "one of them songs where they're actually singing something a bit dodgy, but call it something else to hide it". First there was humping, now a sly "it". Just a great tune, great harmonies, the works.
Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5, & 6)
(Road to Rouen)
Now, Rouen is a strange one for me. Even when I'd gotten into the band a good deal, I put off listening to the album, because for some reason I'd had the idea that the album's reputation was that it was their only real bum note, that they'd tried to be all serious and it was shit. It's absolutely not shit, and may in fact be their best album. It's certainly the album with the most texture and depth, and just by listening you know there's an extra layer of quality on all the songs. This one is the opener (I have no idea whether there is a Part 1, 2 & 3, or if it's a Star Wars reference or something) and like Moving it's a wonderful opener of the slow, build-up variety, from the instrumental acoustic into a trippy haze and then BAM! Into... wait, that's fucking Trampled Underfoot, the plagiarising scamps. Although kudos to them, if anyone noticed this while listening to the album, they'd have forgotten about it as soon as they get to Kick In The Teeth. when they realise the 'Grass have basically just lifted Come On Now by the Kinks and slowed it down.
Eon
(Supergrass)
This is a strange one. By all means, it seems like a filler track - a long buildup, a few short lines of verse that try not to sound too late 60's Beach Boys, and then back into the buildup. The song kinda passes you by before you've realised it's over. But I love it. I don't know what it is about the verse, but it's just the perfect melody, the perfect chords, strangely optimistic while seeming unbearably sad at the same time. If this song had a music video, I'd imagine it having a man standing on a tall building, laughing at the life that's led and then ending it. Or flying off. If there's a decent video budget he can fly.
G-Song
(In It For The Money)
It was a tough job picking songs from this album, it is still probably my favourite Supergrass album, but it works as a collection of fantastically catchy numbers, and to pick one out is a bit odd. Naturally I'd go with a single (see a bit below) but G-Song is, after careful consideration, probably the best all-round song on the album. The instrumentation on the downbeat chorus bit is just trippy to the max, and the steady rhythm of the verse is the perfect complement.
Shotover Hill
(Supergrass)
Third song from the self-titled album on this list... where IIFTM is a great album to listen to all the way through, I'd say that Supergrass has the best individual songs on it, but has a couple of songs that let it down (who wants to listen to a downbeat song after Pumping on Your Stereo, seriously?). I, personally, think the band are at their best doing the slower, psychedelia-tinged numbers like this, a song that just sounds so wonderful - never mind that it's a cracking song, great harmonies and such like. The best harmonies on the album, however, are at the end of What Went Wrong in Your Head, a song with a fantastic verse melody but it really doesn't go anywhere, and then at the end the instruments drop out and leave some sensational harmonies, the last note, where (I assume) Gaz slides up to the high note, is one of the greatest things ever.
Strange Ones
(I Should Coco)
I am not a fan of the first album. It's rather juvenile in places, and while it has a great energy on many songs, lacks the sophistication of even the next album. To be honest I could've chosen Mansize Rooster for this one, or Caught By The Fuzz, or Lenny (but NOT Alright, that's the generic choice), they're all good songs, but i really love the rhythm changes on this one, and I guess the quiet/loud dynamics are a good indicator this was a band who had a bit more to offer than "kids with beard playing loud punky rock".
Richard III
(In It For the Money)
Already said what I needed to say about the album in general. While G-Song is a great, well rounded song, this is definitely one of Supergrass's belting rockers. After the bizarre (but awesome) psychedelic fuzz of the title track, this song is just such a bullet.
Roxy
(Road to Rouen)
It was this song that absolutely made me want to do this list. Earlier, this song made my cry. It is quite simply the perfect closing song, for anything....
"Hello my honey,
My beautiful friend,
It's hard to imagine
It's come to an end"
My beautiful friend,
It's hard to imagine
It's come to an end"
... and is, in my opinion, their best song. Gaz's vocals on the quiet bits are just terrific, it's got such a great melody, and the string-and-organ buildup, and then bash, into the instrumental second half is just spectacular. So long Supergrass, and thanks for all the fish.
The Supergrass Mixtape on Spotify
Ciao for now.
The Supergrass Mixtape on Spotify
Ciao for now.
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