Turn world on its ear and pick a Mats/PW indie hit

[torethatbridgeout]

choose one that most belonged in the Top 40 or pick your own and say why

[fungo]

I Will Dare was a modest hit, but I was always surprised it wasn't even bigger. I think it could have been with that catchy bass line and a danceable beat.

[GtrPlyr]

I always thought that "I'll Be You" or "Achin' to Be" could have been Top 40 hits.

[torethatbridgeout]

GtrPlyr said:

I always thought that "I'll Be You" or "Achin' to Be" could have been Top 40 hits.

even had videos ... but they were from major label albums so no dice

[Nudge]

i'm in trouble cause it's of my favourite mats album and if the sex pistols could get in the top 40 then so should've the mats.

[ClamsCasino]

GtrPlyr said:

I always thought that "I'll Be You" or "Achin' to Be" could have been Top 40 hits.

I thought "I'll Be You" actually did crack the Billboard charts. Maybe not top 40, but it's the song that always gets referenced as the Mats' one "hit." MTV sure played the hell out of the video.

As for the poll, I'd have to say "I Will Dare" even though "Kiss Me on the Bus" actually got more radio play (at least in the Detroit area). I'm not sure what "Let's Not Belong Together" and "Get a Move On" are doing on the ballot though. "Get a Move On" is somewhat catchy for a Stones riff, but it's hardly a contender for radio play, and "Let's Not Belong" is easily the worst song off of Mono. High Time, Kickin' The Stall, AAA or Between Love and Like all could have been singles off Mono.

[torethatbridgeout]

ClamsCasino said:

I thought "I'll Be You" actually did crack the Billboard charts. Maybe not top 40, but it's the song that always gets referenced as the Mats' one "hit." MTV sure played the hell out of the video.

As for the poll, I'd have to say "I Will Dare" even though "Kiss Me on the Bus" actually got more radio play (at least in the Detroit area). I'm not sure what "Let's Not Belong Together" and "Get a Move On" are doing on the ballot though. "Get a Move On" is somewhat catchy for a Stones riff, but it's hardly a contender for radio play, and "Let's Not Belong" is easily the worst song off of Mono. High Time, Kickin' The Stall, AAA or Between Love and Like all could have been singles off Mono.

If videos tell you something, there was a video for "Let's Not Belong." I like it a lot, and a lot of reviewers picked it as the best or one of the best. But I agree it's an even album with a lot of songs good enough for radio, at least in our alternate universe. I'm glad you included "Between Love and Like" since that was ultimately my fave after "Let's Not's" charms wore off. What makes it easily the worst song for you anyway

As for Dead Man, you're right "Move on" is just catchy, though that ought to be enough. Maybe Vampires? MPLS?

[Wolfdog]

I voted for 'I Will Dare' because it was the only Mats song up to that point my roommates could stand, so if their Boston and Pink Floyd lovin' minds thought it was good it shoulda been a hit.

But the song that always grabbed me as a 'perfect' guitar pop/rock song was 'Can't Hardly Wait'....shoulda been a hit then, could be a hit now.

[prozach]

ClamsCasino said:

I thought "I'll Be You" actually did crack the Billboard charts. Maybe not top 40, but it's the song that always gets referenced as the Mats' one "hit." MTV sure played the hell out of the video.

I think the booklet in 'All For NOthing' said I'll Be You cracked the top 40. I always thought looking back that, for the era, Talent Show's opening riff alone coulda/shoulda gotten it some serious airplay.

[A Regular]

I'd vote for Runaway Wind. If power ballads from the Goo Goo Dolls can make it, this certainly should have.
It's also a sentimental favorite of mine, and had accompanying video.

[zook]

Color Me Impressed has a great riff, is a rocking tune and the phrase "color me impressed" is the kind of sarcastic, piss off phrase teens love to use to annoy their parents. The lyrics are perfect for teens, college students or twenty something party goers and it's hard not rolling your eyes when saying this to someone. However, as much as I love the song, I always thought of it as an early sign of Paul's brilliance. It has all the ingredients there but he lacked the experience to put it over the top.

Clams - Let's Not Belong is one of my favs off Mono (along with AAA) so I am curious as well to know why you think it is the worst.

[gravy]

"I Will dare" should have been what "I will follow" was for U2.

"Bastards of Young" should have been what "Smells like Teen Spirit" was for Nirvana

#nosmileys#nosmileys

[bhay42]

gravytrain said:

"I Will dare" should have been what "I will follow" was for U2.

"Bastards of Young" should have been what "Smells like Teen Spirit" was for Nirvana

Well put Gravy.

I remember Can't Hardly Wait, Talent Show, I'll Be You, and Merry Go Round all getting airplay on my local Long Island station, though very minimally. I always thought of that batch Can't Hardly Wait would've been the one to break thru.

As for I'll be You on the pop charts, I believe it scored #38 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart.

And I'm tossing in another vote for loving "Let's Not Belong." It's my 2nd fav on Mono (after AAA)

[ClamsCasino]

zook said:

Clams - Let's Not Belong is one of my favs off Mono (along with AAA) so I am curious as well to know why you think it is the worst.

The lame guitar riff and the cold and clinical multi-tracking just kill this song for me. Somehow it sounds too sloppy and too stiff at the same time. The seperate tracks sound so isolated from each other that they barely even mesh into one song. It's the least convincing one-man band recording he's done. I actually like the bootlegged demo version, which does away with the cheesy Chuck Berry riff and sounds like it was recorded with an actual drummer (someone else's voice counts in the track). The demo actually rocks, but the album verison sounds like a bad demo. When listening to Mono I always skip "Let's Not Belong" and "Footsteps."

[zook]

Clammy, are you a musician by chance. I'm not at all and I wonder if I am blessed by ignorance. By that I mean I don't know any better. I know little of the technical recording process or equipment so I think my ears are less picky. To me the song rocks and I have no idea how many tracks its been recorded on or if there is a drum machine.

Do any of you musicians find yourself more critical of songs in general because you know what goes on? Just curious.

[hello_ghetto]

ClamsCasino said:

The demo actually rocks, but the album verison sounds like a bad demo. When listening to Mono I always skip "Let's Not Belong" and "Footsteps."

More importantly, where can I find this demo?

[ClamsCasino]

hello_ghetto said:

More importantly, where can I find this demo?

At one time they were posted on www.bobsbarbershop.com/pwdemos/westydemos/, but that link seems to be dead now. Here's the track list:

Out of My System
Let the Bad Times Roll
Between Love and Like
Makin' Me Go
As Far As I Know
Shopping Bag/Diary
Only Lie Worth Telling
Let's Not Belong Together

[ClamsCasino]

zook said:

Clammy, are you a musician by chance. I'm not at all and I wonder if I am blessed by ignorance. By that I mean I don't know any better. I know little of the technical recording process or equipment so I think my ears are less picky. To me the song rocks and I have no idea how many tracks its been recorded on or if there is a drum machine.

I play music, but I couldn't say how much that colors my opinion. I'm definitely not one of those hyper-technical audiophiles who obsesses over bitrates and praises albums for their sound quality, but on the other hand I don't think it takes any particular talent or technical expertise to spot a drum machine or to recognize a poorly produced track. To put it in non-technical terms, I think that the album version of "Let's Not Belong" sounds like a really lazy recording of a really cheesy song. It still seems like the least Westerbergian track on the album to my ears.

[DaveinDK]

I get in on this a sec.

I'm a guitar player and sometime primitive lo fi maker of poorly produced home demos, and I gotta say that I think Let's Not... is one of the best tunes on Mono. Screw the production, it sounds like shit on most of the record, so what. The tune rocks and it's catchy in a poppy kinda bubble gum way. Pauls' got a buch of tunes lie this, always has. Footsteps is another great song. I think the three best potential mass market tunes on the record (given a different marketing strategy, radio play, video, new haircut, teeth.) are Let's, Silent Film Star, and Two Days Til...All good pop songs.

As for production....Have you listened to Crackle and Drag Alt version on headphones? I've been listening to CFT on headphones through my little discman, and man are the recording techniques used on the whole damn thing pretty primitive, but Crackle is just so fucked up! You should listen to it. The vocals in particular are all over the place, and the sounds so seperated, it's almost a totally different experience. It's still one of the best tunes on the album.. ...

Look man Pauls been putting no effort what soever on the recording process. A lot of it's probably first take stuff, one shot at the solo, singing, etc. It's ok with me. I'm digging the spontaniety of it all.

Someone mentioned Color Me Impressed. Another fantastic power pop tune, with all kinds of mainstream potential. Imagine Blondie doing that tune. But the recording basically sounds like shit, all tiinny and quck job prductyion values. Let's face it he production quality on Hootenany ain't all that different than what Paul.s doing now

[ClamsCasino]

DaveinDK said:

I'm a guitar player and sometime primitive lo fi maker of poorly produced home demos, and I gotta say that I think Let's Not... is one of the best tunes on Mono. Screw the production, it sounds like shit on most of the record, so what.

Actually, I love the production on the rest of the album. I just think that "Let's Not Belong" sounds like shit. It sound like a teenager figuring out how to use his 8-track. Yeah, the sound of the album is primitive and sloppy, but there's a good primitive and sloppy and a bad primitive and sloppy. I hear a big difference between "Let's Not Belong" and most of the rest of the album.

DaveinDK said:

Look man Pauls been putting no effort what soever on the recording process. A lot of it's probably first take stuff, one shot at the solo, singing, etc. It's ok with me. I'm digging the spontaniety of it all.

There is a line where "spontaniety" crosses into laziness. First of all, it's a little disingenuous to refer to a one-man band recording as "spontaneous." Live recordings are spontaneous, but multi-tracking every instrument yourself is the opposite of spontaneous. Paul's current writing style is obviously spontaneous, but his recording style is not. I'm sorry, but just because he may use the first take on each separate track does not make it sound like a spontaneous full band recording. Sometimes it even comes out sounding like a canned, sterile multi-track mess, like "Let's Not Belong."

DaveinDK said:

Let's face it he production quality on Hootenany ain't all that different than what Paul.s doing now

Actually, it's very different. Hootenany was essentially a live full band recording for all but a few tracks. That's the opposite of what Paul's is doing now.