Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
So I’m coming to the end of this list here, & if you’re keeping count then you know this is only #9. I’m well aware that I’m including one less than I originally intended, but it was only because I had a hard time keeping it to just ten, & in fact I couldn’t decide one what should be the tenth. So I just eliminated the position entirely. If there’s one album that should probably go in that spot, though, it’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as it’s one of the few albums that I feel like I know every breath & panicky note to by heart. “Two Headed Boy Pt. II” was also one of the first songs to make me completely lose it, to an extent which I’m not at liberties to tell over a blog. Let’s just say it’s a devastating track, though. (If you’d like to know the Three Most Devastating Songs [I’m not making this up on the spot, either, this is a list I’ve constructed over several years]: Cat Power’s “I Found a Reason,” Sinead O’Connor’s “Tiny Grief Song,” & the aforementioned Neutral Milk Hotel song).
Anyway, I could talk about that album for a painful amount of time, but it’s probably the most worshipped & blindly slobbered-over album in indie rock’s history (aside from OK Computer, which I don’t understand as a cultural & musical monolith — ok, it’s nineties alt-rock with a warbly voice & moderately OK lyrics. Oh, the disadvantages of hype in a modern technosociety). Throwing all caution to the wind though, & in danger of sounding like a kid in a cardigan & tight blue jeans, it’s a freaking good album. Get over it.
Okay, so here is my last Formative Disc, & it’s a doozy.
The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat (1968)
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there is a greater song in the history of rock ‘n’ roll than “Sister Ray.” (By the way, at the bottom of that Wiki page is something I’ve never come across before — a sample of the song. It’s a great sample, too!) There are a million liars out there, & it only takes 17 minutes to prove them all wrong. VU’s first album gave them pop sensibilities to appeal to the mass Warhol market, but let loose in a studio with mics that are shot to hell & a battle for the loudest instrument, they practically destroyed themselves & everything around them. It’s Cale’s monster organ versus Lou Reed’s amplified six string mutilation. There is nothing better in one’s life than their first experience with this album’s closing track.
At least not in my personal experience.
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I realize this cheapens the song somewhat significantly, but it gives you a taste if you ain’t heard it before. Just go dust off your vinyl copy & touch the needle down right on side 2 instead of bothering to read this.