Pavement:Classic or Dud

I can sum up Pavement with a few words: run-on sentences, inside-jokes (which, unfortunately are never explained), sloppy jams hovering somewhere between self-mocking angst and slacker apathy culminating in complacency.

Something about them was unique at one time, but not terribly more unique than several other bands of the same era. And, is it just me, or does Steve have NO RANGE?!

That being said, I think Pavement are okay for summer music ("Summer babe"...) but Steve's starting to wear out his welcome in my eardrums.

I like the ballads, I think - "Here", "We Dance". Ask me in ten years.

I appreciate the Fall's virulence, to hark back to an obvious predecessor, to Pavement's mere quirkiness. Compared to the bile Mark E. can drop from his lips, the endlessly quoted putdowns from "Range Life" seem completely wimpy and pointless.

"Slanted.." is the only album that I play regularly, and I admit it's good, as is half of "Wowee Zowee". They CAN be almost great ("Summer Babe", "Here", "Father to a Sister of a Thought"), but seem content to pad out releases with half-arsed Pavement-by-numbers material. Or should that be Fall-by-numbers?

I lost interest by "Brighten the Corners" when it was clear that they could only do one thing, and we're probably going to do it for ever.

They make me bob my head and laugh and feel good - which is the whole of the point of Pavement (as far as I see it). And...job well-done.

'Crooked Rain, Crooken Rain' is simply brilliant in it's slackerisms. And is in my top 3 (maybe even THE) summer album list. Already have listened to it many times this very summer period and will surely listen to it many more times (as I have for past summers). It still hasn't lost it's charms on me (not come summer time, at least). Last summer, a younger cousin of mine got married. And...I played 'Crooked Rain' loud as I drove there and back as the perfect soundtrack to all that has been slacked in my young, but getting old, life. Worked perfectly for that "I'm 30. What do I have to show for it?" mood when you just want to say "Fuck it all. I'm going driving in search of some far off land of fairies and hot cocoa." (fine, maybe that's just me, but)

'Woowee Zowee' is good in many spots (nix the forced "punk" tracks). And Malkmus solo album is a solid summer album (for the most part). The rest...I don't care too much for, but. 'Crooked Rain' makes up for the rest alone.

It being Preston, Lancashire would have fitted Pavement's rather tiresome Anglophile image, I suppose.

well because your vitriol for the indie bands you don't like is so potent! but what people don't realize is that this is only because a True Indie Rock Player cannot tolerate impure visions, hangers-on, fake players in tha tr00 game! Why ride the Night Train to Butterglory when you can have the '97 California Cabernet of Trigger Cut! latecomers get a late pass, we been up in this game since the jump!

best song off S&E sounds least like the rest; i'd like them if all their songs sounded like that one.

With each Pavement album, there's like six good-to-great songs, and the rest is just absolute self-indulgent wankery garbage. It's shocking that their first couple records have achieved the status of Perfect Canonical Rock Classics That Everyone Should Buy. TRUST ME - THEY'RE NOT!

I completely agree with that, at least for S&E. I couldn't even listen to CRCR-- particularly that godawful single "Cut Your Hair"; Wowee Zowee and Brighten the Corners failed to make any impression on me whatsoever-- well, except that they seemed exceedingly mediocre. S&E has a few good songs, but "Here" is the standout tune, and it doesn't sound like the rest. I never feel inclined to listen to anything else by Pavement besides that song.

here?

also, classic!

xpost

the last song sounds a lot like "here." i'm blanking on the name. "i've been waiting. anticipating."

pavement are my favorite band ever. it makes me a little sad to know that some people don't like them; there's certainly some aspect of their music that everyone can love. a lot of people complain about malkmus' voice (especially early), but i think that he does some fantastic things with his voice that don't really fall under the "technical" category.
i've never really heard anyone say that the guy can't write a tune, mostly because that would be absurd to say. i can see why some people would be a bit put off by his (to them) excessive ennui and laid-back style, but for me that just enhanced what i loved about him. also, the more time you spend with the records, the more you can appreciate the songs which aren't as obvious at first. i know he first time i listened to S+E, i didnt really 'get' it besides "here", which i probably put on repeat for 5 hours straight. once you get adjusted to that particular style, the other stuff starts to make sense. what might ostensibly be "self-indulgent" are to me fruitful exercises in his singular, genius style. to each his own, though.

mr snrub, that's "our singer", S+E's closer

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/2009/02/the_spin_pavement_reunion_at_t.php

four-fifths of Pavement reunites (not really) for Bob N.'s wedding

was spiral stairs not invited? harsh.
i certainly wouldn't mind seeing Pavement play live again, but all of the hubbub and hype that would accompany a potential reunion would be dreadful, I'm sure.

Oh cool, the box set is streaming(!)

...but there's nothing new on these?

I thought it was just the Westing comp and the album reissue b-sides* repackaged in their original form...?

*(which were already all available on streaming)

correct, nothing new.

although i will say it is kind of nice to have this stuff separated from the proper albums. reminds me of my 2CD homemade compilation of their b-sides that i made in, like, 1998ish - "Four Channel Destiny"

granted, this is soemthing you can easily do with streaming playlists, but i don't make playlists.

I think those alt versions of "Black Out" "Extradition" weren't streaming before(?)

But otherwise, yeah, I agree with alpine static – while you could recreate the track list, I still think it's cool that they made it available as a standalone thing.

Huh – the alt "Black Out" has "Gonna haunt you down, haunt you down..." lyrics

"Extradition" sounds pretty close to the album track

Also, I guess you still need to dial up the Westing... comp to hear the "Perfect Sound Forever" tracks (so Drag City Incorporated get their $0.0000002)

...and ftr, that's exactly what I'm doing now. I've never known most of these songs by title, but damn... "Internal K-Dart" and "Perfect Depth" are such anthems. After hearing those, you kinda have to play the final EP, and close out the trilogy.

Pavement have finally gone Gold:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-05-21/pavement-steven-malkmus-a-new-gold-record-tik-tok-harness-your-hopes

On May 16, the song (Harness Your Hopes) hit the RIAA’s classification for Gold status, meaning it hit the sales equivalent for 500,000 units across platforms. Malkmus was just as confused as the public by the song’s ascent — “I heard it was on a playlist or something,” he told Stereogum. “I’m not an expert on Spotify but, you know, one of those ‘Monday Moods’ or whatever the f— they do.”

lol SM

“Im pushing 60 i dont care”

Pretty wild that this is Pavement's top 10 on Spotify:

1. Harness Your Hopes 148M
2. Cut Your Hair 42M
3. Range Life 32M
4. Gold Soundz 27M
5. Spit on a Stranger 16M
6. Stereo 11.9M
7. Zurich Is Stained 11.3M
8. Shady Lane 10.8M
9. Grounded 10.1M
10. Father to a Sister of Thought 9.2M

Zurich is Stained 11.3M is the actual title

40M daggers

Here's the long version of how this song has exploded and a great read. Glenn McDonald is a hero too.

https://www.stereogum.com/2105993/pavement-harness-your-hopes-spotify/columns/sounding-board/

How cleanly the top 10 divides into tiers: S = "Harness Your Hopes", A = the three big radio-friendly songs from Crooked Rain, B = a career spanning selection of wistful tunez (+weird outlier "Stereo")

Stereo is an iconic Pavement song not a weird outlier

Yeah always felt that was a breakthrough single of sorts

What about the voice of Geddy Lee etc

an esteemed ilxor even took their name from it!

yeah, Stereo was a single at their commercial (until recently) peak, no?

that's enough fact checkin for now

Why is Zurich Is Stained up there now. This makes no obvious sense

It's not my fault

I didn't mean "Stereo" was a weird outlier in Pavement's overall discography or sound, just within my tiers list.

It isn't 'moody' like "Grounded" or "Zurich" or "Stranger", it's a lot goofier than the big trio of songs from Crooked Rain, it's maybe got more in common with "Harness" than anything else in that top 10 most-streamed list.

And if anyone is baffled by "Zurich"'s placement here, let me just add that the 2xCD reissue of S&E came out when I was a high school sophomore, and I spent an entire hour one time listening to "Zurich" on repeat and crying while mowing my parents' lawn.

My friends had a kid around 2000, and by the time the kid was three or four it was kind of a parlor trick for them to put on "Stereo" and have the kid sing along with it word perfect.

are you all still trying to figure this out? Spotify makes pkayliats, they put a pavement song on a playlist, lots of people who aren’t pavement fans listen to the playlist. It isn’t a bunch of little griel marcusues going “ummm Zurich is stained is the new ghostly weird Central Valley rubiyat” or something

lol

Thank you o wise one

pavement pkayliats

That Top 10 is like some bullshit classic rock Memorial Day list of The Greatest Songs of All Time where "Dust In the Wind" is #1.

its quite a thrill as a fanboy seeing Harness have some success. The rare occasion when dreaming about a bside being better known actually comes true.

lol brimstead

"zurich" is short/melodic/doesn't have SM shrieking at any point — it's ideal for spotify's "classic indie of the 90s" playlists that halfway cool coffee shops or co-working spaces play on endless repeat

What about the song "Harness Your Hopes"? How did it get that high?

Does it get played by ordinary guy?

I met it, and it does

now where's our fact checking cuz

where oh where is the "debris slide" tik tok trend

we can dream

Looks like no Malkmus solo song has topped 2 million streams, and the most popular ones from the s/t album ("Jenny & The Ess-Dog" et al).

malkmus's solo career is on the whole very good, more people should stream his post-pavement work imo

zurich is stained has always felt to me like a real standout on S+E ever since I bought it as a high schooler in 1998. not surprised that people enjoy listening to it above the other s+e tracks, which are clattery and noisier. i don't think it's the playlist thing like harness your hopes is.

also it starts off with a line about being a wimpy loser, people love songs about that

Some Jicks songs are higher than 2 million though

Oh wow, one of those cases where I didn't even think of searching for two different artist pages.

The "Harness Your Hopes" phenomenon is still so funny/random to me (even though, yes, I get "how" it happened). I received a notification a few weeks back that the song was released as a single... I guess to qualify for the RIAA certification(?)

+1 in the highschooler discovering pavement and immediately latching onto Zurich is stained.

It really is a little bop. The slide guitar still mesmerises me today like it did the first time.

Also vry cute story above about the 4yo parlour trick Eazy. Someone teach their kid Conduit For Sale next.