Day 13 – A Song that is a Guilty Pleasure: “Straight Outta Compton”

“Straight Outta Compton” – N.W.A.

The nerd-approved 80s rap choice would have been Public Enemy, and when the two were actually up against one another in record stores and music mags, PE was what was playing on my VW’s cassette player (“Welcome to the Terrordome”). But for a guilty pleasure — no way: I’ve got to go with “Straight Outta Compton.” It’s practically steaming with guilt: it’s misogynistic, excessively violent, pornographic, exploitative … and such a catchy tune! “When I’m called off / I got a sawed-off / I squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off.”

Once a Crazy MF, now makes kids' movies

So, what makes “Straight Outta Compton” so completely awesome and guilty pleasure worthy? It’s raw, it’s angry, it feels real (whether it’s authentic or not is something for the experts to argue), and the backing track is tense and hypnotic: Public Enemy’s elaborate sirens, drones and samples are stripped down to the pure Id by Dr. Dre. The fact that the raps are filled with so much profanity that they are damn near pornographic adds to the frightening reality of the version of the LA neighborhood the song describes. Like Brian DePalma’s Scarface, it’s not great or incredibly original pop art, but it’s pop art that’s hard to tear yourself away from. To use yet another metaphor: It’s not like watching a car wreck — it’s like watching an Andy Warhol-and Charles Manson co-production of an 18 car pile up … “coming straight outta Compton!”

Day 12 – A Song from a Band You Hate: “Talk Dirty to Me”

“Talk Dirty to Me” – Poison

them's some nice lookin' ladies!

No one hates 80′s hair metal with more ferocity than I. The guitars were too pointy, the licks too fast, the spandex too, well, spandexy. I still find it quite difficult to muster up even a modicum of nostalgia for the likes of Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Dokken, or place name of random hirstute rockers here. All that being said, none provoke my ire like Poison: they were pretty, their songs were $hitty, and their awful video was all over MTV. And here it is again. Yuck! But at least “Talk Dirty” has a little bit of New York Dolls skank dust on it — if only a little bit — unlike the cringe-inducing horror of “Every Rose …” (I will not complete the title, and you can’t make me). Never shall that song damage the calm of this blog.

Day 11 – A Song from Your Favorite Band: “Left of the Dial”

“Left of the Dial” – The Replacements

the congregation from Minnesota

Favorite band: The Beatles? The Rolling Stones? REM? The Pixies? U2? The Police? At first I thought it might be difficult to come up with  – and stick with –this one, but it only took a couple of minutes of soul-searching to name my all-time crush: the Replacements.  None of the music of the bands that I’ve loved over my lifetime still resonates for me like the music of the ‘mats, still tugs at my heart-strings like the melodies and lyrics of Paul Westerberg during his beer-sodden 90′s heyday.

Let it Be, Tim and Pleased to Meet Me — the middle record being the stand-out — are as good of a three-album run as any band has ever had, and in this regard I’ll put the ‘mats right up against any of the great bands I mentioned in the first paragraph.  ”Left of the Dial”  is a great song  on an album absolutely packed with great songs — “Skyway,” “Bastards of Young,” “Here Comes a Regular,” “Hold My Life.”

An interview with the ‘mats …

Other people who love the Replacements include …