Listening to Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain the other day, it
occurred to me: Some poor folks must think of Pavement, if they
think of them at all, as only a one-hit wonder, responsible for 1994’s
arch alt-novelty song “Cut Your Hair” (#10 on the U.S. Modern Rock
Tracks—a friend suggested that “Shady Lane” could be their
misremembered one hit, but I mean, come on, that didn’t even chart in
the States). Of course, Pavement have a staggering catalog of great
songs, and it’s arguable whether “Hair” was even that much of a
breakthrough hit (at what point does a song become a hit—heavy
rotation on radio or, once upon a time, MTV? Charting in the Top 40?).
But the idea of the one hit isn’t based so much on sales numbers or
airplay as it is on a kind of collectively agreed upon pop-cultural
memory, even if that memory forgets some pop-music history.
This thought stuck with me as I considered the upcoming tour pairing
of Depeche Mode and Peter Bjorn and John, who play
KeyArena on Monday, August 10.Some truly sad straw folks (though
obviously not the hundreds of people who will fill KeyArena this week)
might think of Depeche Mode as little more than a fleeting chart
fluke—perhaps for their gothic country-fried guitar-driven hit
“Personal Jesus” or maybe for ebullient early synth-pop number “Just
Can’t Get Enough” (really, the band had any number of hits that the
myopic observer might mistake for their only one).
But even more likely is that openers Peter Bjorn and John will go
down in the mass consciousness as only a one-off, on account of their
eternally, infernally whistling slice of pop bliss from 2006, “Young
Folks” (#110 U.S., #13 UK), which featured the Concretes’ Victoria
Bergsman singing in sweet duet with PB&J’s namesake Peter Moren on
the rapture of falling in love and feeling oblivious to the eyes of
others, young and old. Nothing the band has done since has achieved the
ubiquitous status of that single (though the band is fairly young yet),
but if they are only remembered for “Young Folks,” it’ll be history’s
loss. Writer’s Block, the album that spawned “Young Folks,” is
pretty much wall-to-wall pop hooks. Even this year’s lesser follow-up,
Living Thing (which underwhelmed upon first listen), turns out
to be full of unlikely yet effectively catchy tunes—the
delightfully foul-mouthed kiss-off “Lay It Down,” the
Graceland-aping title track—as well as a number of songs
that just add a little more space to the band’s slightly groovy sound
(“It Don’t Move Me,” “Just the Past,” “I Want You!”).
I’m not deluded enough to think an opening slot for Depeche Mode is
going to catapult these guys into the chart firmament. (Working with
Kanye West and Drake is probably more likely to do so if
anything does. And anyway, Depeche Mode fans probably won’t care for
them much.) But the point is that the charts and the VH1 countdown
shows and the people who get their pop-culture cues from them only
remember things one way; here’s to not caring about those folks.
hey zuesti-fuss.. do you think BOB will turn his back again on the key?
…pianos made for guitars.
Perhaps.. “it” was not intentional.
not often I agree with you, Grandy
Who lets you write this crap? You are truly are the worst writer The Stranger has had in the 13 years I’ve lived it Seattle! You managed to fill a whole article with nothing. I want the two minutes of my life back that I spent reading this.
I would love to see a list of artists that do not deserve one hit wonder status but have it in our collective memory (whatever that status has transformed into, as you suggest speculation of as well). It’s annoying when people assume Wall of Voodoo is just “Mexican Radio” or Devo is just “Whip It!” when both those bands had some dazzling, more guitar based, album length “moments” earlier in their careers. There’s a lot of other (probably better) examples too, but I’m sure I don’t know half of them.