11 Songs: The Dead Milkmen

So I brought up The Dead Milkmen on Friday. Here are 11 songs by them. It's not necessary a "11 best songs" list or even "Peter's 11 favorite songs" but it's certainly 11 songs you shouldn't miss. Why 11?

Seriously?



10 11 Songs By The Dead Milkmen, in no particular order.

1) Punk Rock Girl.

"Someone played a Beach Boys song [. . .] It was California Dreamin' and so we started screaming, on a winter's day."

Best part of the video? Rodney walks around reading a newspaper just like he would when they'd do this song live.

This video actually makes me kind of sad, since it features so much of Dave "Dave Blood" Schulthise, who took his own life back in 2004.

Thanks to this song, I made sure to take a walk to Zipperhead one Saturday back in '99. I bought a studded bracelet I still have around here today.

2) Bitchin' Camaro.

The best intro is still the album intro. "My parents drove it up for me from the Bahamas" is a recurring line in my life.

3) I Know Where The Tarantula Lives.

I love how this feels like a Carl Spackler line. "I know where the tarantula lives, so I've got that going for me."

4) Methodist Coloring Book.

I don't even know what to say about this one. Just watch it.

5) Nutrition.

At least I give a shit about the stuff I eat. I might be that guy, sometimes.

6) If You Love Someone, Set Them On Fire.

A sentiment not to live by.

7) Big Lizard In My Backyard.

This might be the first song I ever heard from this band, thanks to my friend Tom. He had Big Lizard on cassette tape.

8) I Dream of Jesus.

Nothing beats a story song by The Dead Milkmen. "He was shorter than I'd imagined." Like Tom Cruise!

9) Stuart.

Ah, Pueblo CO, home of all sorts of mailed pamphlets. The whole "he was a daredevil!" bit and "what the queers are doing to our soil" have legs. That makes me think I need to post about The Queers, too. Good band, shame about the soil.

10) Tiny Town.

We live in a tiny town, and we don't want you coming round. I think of this as a touring song.

11) The Thing That Only Eats Hippies.

Just a great baseline on this.

This list could easily go to 11+. But you won't go far wrong with those songs. There are a lot of newer songs which are great, too. But since I got into this band so long ago, the early stuff is really what's stuck into my soul as defining music for the band.

A Day Late: Best Thanksgiving EVER!

Timmy, do you like songs by The Dead Milkmen?

I won't vouch for the video (it's actually kind of awful.) But as typically long intros to "Bitchin' Camaro" go, this one is the best. My recommendation? Hit play, then tab away from the video.

One of my buddies hates these long intros, but I've yet to hear Bitchin' Camaro without Rodney Anonymous going off on something for about 5 minutes before B.C. starts.

Good Covers: Rockaway Beach and Covers x 2

It's a tight race for the top, but my favorite song by The Ramones has to be Rockaway Beach. The lyrics, the quick and pounding drums (especially after that little pause after the bridge), the straight-up guitar - it's all there.

This cover - another collaborative cover - combined the crooning of General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board with Joey Ramone on a surf-swing version of the song. It's nothing like the slamming original, but it stands up as a great version of the song.

For a straight cover, I like the version Green Day did when The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You can skip ahead to the song, but honestly, just wait 1:55 and it'll start.

Rancid "Let's Go" 20th anniversary vinyl

For any of you Rancid fans, this might be a good record store day pickup: "Let's Go" is being re-issued on vinyl. $21. Here is the announcement: Rancid Let's Go 20th Anniversary Vinyl I think I'll pass, because I already own the white vinyl limited edition of Let's Go that I got way, way back when. I don't really need two limited editions. But if I didn't have that one, I'd surely pick up this one.

I Like The Cover Better: Cars

Are there songs that you love, but you like a cover version better?

For me, one of those songs is "Cars" by Gary Numan.

I love that song. It's a mindworm seared into my life by endless viewings on MTV back in the day, airplay, the song popping up on New Wave compilations, and then later getting way more into Gary Numan.

It's great on the album, and it's great live.

But given a choice between the original and this cover/collaboration, I'll take the collaboration. The Gary Numan / Fear Factory combination really puts some body into this song and it really benefits from that. I've gone as far as to stick this version into my MP3 playlist in place of the original, and it works really well.

Honorable mentions: Gary Numan w/ NIN, live:

And this really unusual take on the song by The Leisure Society:

That's one I won't listen to over and over, but I'm really glad I found it. It's a very different spin on the song without losing its core feeling. Worth seeing if you like the original.

To qualify for one of these posts, I need to love the original, but love the cover better. That eliminates a lot of songs where I only like the cover. It also takes out a bunch of songs where the cover is great, but can't replace the original for me.

Who Will Save Rock and Roll?

This is my blog for writing about music that I like. The name is derived from this song by The Dictators from the album D.F.F.D..

It won't only be about Rock and Roll, though, as I like a variety of music. But it'll mostly be about rock. I'm not a kid anymore, so it'll be focused on somewhat older stuff much of the time. It'll be the music I like, the influences on my taste, gems lost to me until I find and post them, and so on. In the meantime, if you like what you see so far, stay tuned for more rock and roll.