Welcome to another installment of Mislabeled Monday, brought back after a kind of astonishingly high level of demand (I'm flattered that people really seem to like this feature, I think it's quite fun myself!). Today's prize is a SPECIAL SUGASHOCK GIVEAWAY, a copy of each n' all of the albums mentioned in the upcoming feature on Shelved Teenpop, including bonus B-side comps. Since one of these has already been given away (Leftonian classic Melicious), I'll replace it with the soundtrack to On the Line, starring the one and only Lance Bass!
As usual, first commenter to correctly identify ALL of the following three songs winz. They're a cinch this week, so I expect a winner before I wake up!
EDIT: We have a winner, so I will now open the floor to RUNNERS UP. Today's secondary prize will go to whoever can come up with the WORST imaginary Hold Steady line. So it has to be (1) distinctively Hold Steadyish but (2) distinctively terrible.
The Hold Steady - Righteous and Awesome
Craig Finn is back in lapsed-Catholic mode on this B-side from Boys and Girls in America, alternately exorciating and sentimentalizing his religious roots. Here, our blitzed protagonists decide on a whim to really examine the etymological foundations of their slang, and find that the Good Book still has a thing or two to teach them. The song culminates in the adenoidal, acerbic chorus:
She said "Righteous" and I said "Awesome"/ Just like it says in that place in the Bible/ I said, "y'know I haven't read it in ages," so we flipped through a couple of pages/ and thought, "Jesus oughta sue us all for libel!"
At which point the band vamps on "You Shook Me All Night Long" for three glorious minutes.
Gwen Stefani - Batshit
Apt title, this track (which may or may not be appearing on the upcoming album...my money's on, uh, NOT) is hands-down the most CRAZY SHIT I've heard this year. Maybe any year. It's like BAG LADY weird. I won't bother to transcribe any of it...I'm not sure I heard any of the words right, if it's even in English, good luck finding reliable lyrics -- plus her delivery is warp-speed PLUS they sped up her voice Chipmunk style (except when she yells BATSHIT! which is like a multi-tracked banshee wail). The production is...not even a mess, just APOCALYPSE. The beat starts somewhere between reggaeton and J-pop and ends up...I dunno, falling off a cliff and landing on a bunch of pots and pans. Plus gothic choir, digeridoo, accordion, theremin, airhorn, music box, kazoo, a hippy dippy 60s sunshine pop break (they go into "Kumbaya" for a split second), some angst-guitars, cowbell, mellotron, gargling, and I swear there's a sample of "My Name Is Larry" in there but maybe I'm just hearing things, it could be Gwen-biting-Fischer-biting-Gwen (like if he actually bit her). After seven minutes you might need to take a break.
The Shins - Fry That Chicken
I don't know who sent me this (name didn't ring a bell), but I must say I'm very conflicted. The Shins just put on a supersecret show in Oregon City for a small audience (or so this guy claims...I'm not totally convinced it's legit, but it definitely sounds like James Mercer, so kudos if it's a phony because you had me fooled) and apparently their encore was a raucous cover of Ms. Peachez "Fry That Chicken," which has come under fire for perpetuating stereotypes, like the idea that African-Americans frequently eat their dinners outdoors. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as anti-PC as the next guy, like maybe we need to FIX PROBLEMS and not just RENAME THINGS. I think people in general are definitely way too sensitive about jokes. If intentions are clearly humorous, I don't see what the problem is. People rip on me all the time, even if I am a white male, and I take it with a good sense of humor almost all of the time. But still, I think that Mercer (or whoever) is definitely crossing a line here.
Good luck! All answers must be in the form of comments and vice versa and I'll know if you googled because of TECHNOLOGY so don't even try it.
I can't believe I'm actually typing this.
ReplyDelete1.Sharona and Daniela Pick - Hello Hello
2.Fefe Dobson - If I Was A Guy
3.Hilary Duff - Supergirl
There you go. What's more pathetic of me, 1. Initially thought that there's a new Gwen track and download it right away?, 2. Reread and decided to participate in this?