Random Eleven

This post is Your Montag’s answer to Norbizness’es Friday staple, the random Musical Audit.

The premise?

Fire up the jukebox, don’t skip over anything, and take the first eleven that pop up.

Ok, simple enough. We’ll try anything once. Here is the first— and quite possibly last installment of Friday Musical Audit…

Your Montag recently got a nonPod, a 20gig mp3 player, and have been adding music entire CDs at a time. About two thirds of the way through my collection, there are already 2336 songs on there. Because of the make-up of said CD collection, there is a preponderance of tracks from certain groups— Led Zeppelin, the Cure, Bad Religion, Aphex Twin (to name four) —on this device. I probably couldn’t listen to eleven random tracks without hearing one or more tracks from this core group. Thus is the unimaginative lame-ness of my musical tastes. (Hey, it’s not easy being completely mediocre in every aspect of one’s life. But Your Lame Montag is not one to opt for the easy way.)

1. David Bowie – Golden Years – 7.5/10
   David Bowie: cool dude, right? Watch the movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie’s lumpy stretch pants, and get back to me. No, no, he’s cool. This is a pretty cool song too.
2. The Smiths – Stretch Out and Wait – 5.5/10
   If Stephen Morrissey’s melancholy doesn’t make you want to open up your wrists, then you can live to appreciate him as brilliant lyricist.
3. The White Stripes – There’s Just No Home for You Here – 6.5/10
   Perhaps this is where Your Uncultured Montag loses all credibility as a music fan, but… The White Stripes? Montag likes!
4. Beck – Nightmare Hippie Girl – 6/10
   The first time Your Montag heard/saw anything about the enigmatic Beck Hanson was an “interview” (read: performance art piece) he did on MTV News. The anchor (was it Kurt Loder at the time?) was asking questions, but rather than speak, Beck just smashed a toy plastic telephone (or something.) It was riveting. Not long after that, Loser was all over the radio so I purchased the album this song comes from Mellow Gold which is still fantastic.
5. Pearl Jam – Long Road – 4/10
   The “other” song off the two song Merkinball disk, from their I’m-OK-Neil-Young-is-OK phase and featuring Neil Young on the guitar. The other song on this disk I got ID is pretty great.
6. Handsome Boy Modeling School – Greatest Mistake – 4.5/10
   Not to be confused with some smooth old-time Motown joint.
7. Depeche Mode – Policy of Truth – 6.5/10
   Off of Violator perhaps the greatest fucking album I’ve found. (If you like having a soundtrack for that sort of thing…)
8. Duane Eddy – The Trembler – 4/10
   Sounds like surfer music. I think he’s twangin’ on a bass guitar here. Neat, but not awe inspiring.
9. Thursday – Tomorrow I’ll Be You – 5.5/10
   Good.
10. Led Zeppelin – Dazed and Confused – 9/10
    See, I told you, it was unavoidable. (The 21 minute live version off The Song Remains the Same would have earned the coveted 10/10.) All I listened to in High school was Zeppelin. Not because they were making records then— I was still only in second grade when John Bonham asphyxiated on his own vomit and shuffled off; thus ending the Zeps great run —but because my dad had a pretty freakin’ cool record collection.
11. Thelonious Monk (Live at the It Club) – Blue Monk – 9.5/10
    Monk is the shit when it comes to jazz piano. This song is a fucking fantabulous example. It also has a bitchin’ bass solo, and some sweet saxophone in there.

Bonus #12: Windowlicker (Acid Edit) – Aphex Twin – It’s got a good beat and I can dance to it.

My only regret here is that nothing by Tremendous Fucking came up. Free downloads here! Kinda cool, kinda funny anyway.

Well, good start, just ok middle, and a strong finish. Averages out to 6.2/10 for whatever that’s worth. This Audit stuff is draining and somewhat embarrassing. Likely to be an infrequent occurrence here at The Stump. Unless we can get Fehlleistungen to cook one up some Friday…