It would be pretty difficult for me to pick one single favorite from 1981 (or even a few dozen, really). But if I absolutely had to, 'O Superman' might be the one.
Flappy Bird, if you haven't proceeded to 'Big Science' yet--you really need to. 'o Superman' is the high point, sure, but it's really a rather amazing album--writing, performance, production, coherence--that things like 'US Live' or 'Strange Angels' or 'Mister Heartbreak' (much as I love those) barely suggest.
― Soundslike, Sunday, 25 February 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
i listened to this on the way to work this morning and started crying
― marcos, Friday, 2 March 2018 20:46 (six years ago) link
https://media.giphy.com/media/14ouOwZDPad0Na/giphy.gif
― flappy bird, Thursday, 29 March 2018 17:49 (six years ago) link
hi mom
― scotti pruitti (wins), Thursday, 29 March 2018 17:50 (six years ago) link
One of the things I love about US/BS is that a lot of it is this haunting/sinister/whatever take on what is essentially 80s brick wall standup. You seen these answering machines they have now? You know when you're on a plane and the captain comes on and says― scotti pruitti (wins), Friday, February 23, 2018 5:03 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I was thinking that Talking Heads sometimes have this kind of new wave + performance art + stand-up comedy vibe as well - I always thought the song titles for Fear Of Music looked like the track listing for a stand-up LP where the track titles are the subjects of the various 'bits'
― soref, Thursday, 29 March 2018 18:06 (six years ago) link
So true, trying to think who would be a good fit, my vote would be Mitch Hedberg.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 29 March 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 14 April 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
Soref - you seen the fred armisen talking heads mockumentary? Sounds like it’s up your alley
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Saturday, 14 April 2018 03:32 (six years ago) link
for posterity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk_-fLpmM4E
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:18 (six years ago) link
^ Laurie Anderson performing O Superman in NYC one week after 9/11. I didn't hear this song for the first time until late last year and I'm glad that my memories & associations with it aren't burdened or changed in the ways it was changed almost everyone that had heard it before 2001.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 04:21 (six years ago) link
It's gotta be petrochemical arms, but the whole thing is a masterpiece.
― MikoMcha, Saturday, 14 April 2018 08:23 (six years ago) link
weird timing with this poll ending today. all i can think about is Wag the Dog, Eisenhower's farewell address, and this song. how she captured - in sound - the feeling of living in the powerful country on earth, stuck in a never-ending war that we never see, or we can choose not to see or think about. nabisco otm so many years ago about how this song changes our perception of time, and it just doesn't sound womblike, it is a womb, comforting & hypnotic & dark & soothing but with something so sinister barely audible past the song's horizon, until the very end.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 14 April 2018 22:35 (six years ago) link
*most powerful
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 15 April 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
missed this poll. would have had a damned hard time choosing anyway. amazing song. "so hold me, mom" for emotional punch, maybe.
― explosion from DOOM courtesy of id software (Doctor Casino), Monday, 16 April 2018 13:40 (six years ago) link
heartened that every line got at least 2 votes
― flappy bird, Thursday, 19 April 2018 05:59 (six years ago) link
Fewer lines than you might think for an eight minute track. Admittedly there are musical breaks..
― Mark G, Thursday, 19 April 2018 10:21 (six years ago) link
this is one of my favorite songs but i didn't vote in this bc separating out the lyrics of this song doesn't make sense to me. i will say that "so hold me mom in your long arms" feels like the emotional release of the song, though it also has to do with the way the music shifts under that line.
― na (NA), Thursday, 19 April 2018 14:25 (six years ago) link