Pavement - Summer Babe

Where does one start with Pavement? They're one of my top 5 favorite bands, but I still have yet to an entry about them. If you haven't heard them, stop whatever you're doing and listen to their debut album Slanted & Enchanted. It's quintessential 90's lo-fi indie rock. Time magazine even included that album in their Top 100 Albums Ever list. Yes... TIME. Anyway you cut it it's one of the greatest albums of the 90's. Over a hundred entries in and the reason why I have yet to bring up this band is that it would have been kind of redundant to do so. The main thing I'm going for this this blog is to expose underrated and overlooked bands of the past. I feel like there's more than enough places to hear new bands, but what's the point of that when there's so much out there that majority of the world hasn't heard. Besides... a lot of new music sucks. If you're just going to regurgitate what bands accomplished 10, 20 years earlier, then what's the point? I'd rather listen to the original recipe thank you very much.

Now, Pavement- one of the most critically acclaimed and well-respected bands of the 90's. Why am I bringing them up here? For one, it's easy to overestimate the influence of a band. Pavement are a minor Beatles in my life, but in the scope of things how apparent is their mark? Their highest appearance on the U.S. Pop Charts was #70 with Brighten the Corners (though in the U.K. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, and Terror Twilight all made it into the Top 20) and their only charting single in the U.S. was "Cut Your Hair," hitting #10 on the Modern Rock Charts. Not a very direct mark. However they're basically the 90's equivalent of the Velvet Underground theory. They didn't tear up the charts, but those who heard them played in bands who then were influenced by their sound, other bands were influenced by the sound of the originally influenced, and etc. It all trickles down to 2007 where every guitar led indie-rock band has a trace of Pavement in them somewhere. So in short to why Pavement comes up today, while incredibly important, your Dad probably hasn't heard of them. Sigh...it's just a great way to end the week with my seemingly endless "Summer Songs" spree.

Now enjoy a classic that even the asshats at Rolling Stone thought was the 286th greatest song of all time. ("Like a Rolling Stone" was #1, followed by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones. You can't make that up.)

Pavement - Summer Babe [Winter Version]

"Ice baby,
I saw your girlfriend and she was
eating her fingers like they're just another meal
but she waits there
in the levee washes
mixin' cocktails with a plastic-tipped cigar

My eyes stick to all the shiny roses
you wear on the protein delta strip
in an abandoned house but i will wait there
I'll be waiting forever...
I'll wait and wait and wait...

Minerals, ice deposits daily, dropped off
the first shiny robe
I've got a lot of things i want to sell, but
not here, babe-- tortuuurreeee...

Every time I sit around I find I'm shot
Every time I sit around I find I'm shot
Every time I turn around I find I'm shot
Every time I sit around I find I'm shot
Every time every time...
You're my... summer babe
summer babe"

Summer Babe (Live)



Pavement @Matador Records