The Singles Soundtrack was an important record for my circle
of high school friends. It’s a soundtrack that contained several brand new
songs by a collection of bands that were just starting to get huge: it came out
between Ten and Vs., between Facelift and Dirt, and rather than being just a
collection of throwaways (though some songs were pretty inessential. Why did
Soundgarden put all their terrible songs on soundtracks?), it features more
than a few early 90’s Alt-Rock high points.
It contains Paul Westerbeg’s best post-Replacements songs,
as well as “Overblown”, one of Mudhoney’s finest moments, a song that boldly
criticizes the Seattle scene that the movie and soundtrack were meant to
lionize, and if you asked a hardcore Pearl Jam fan to make a list of his/her
favorite songs, “State of Love and Trust” would be near the top.
These were our songs. They were new, and we felt,
momentarily, like we were part of something. Our High School years had been
filled with other people’s music. We ran full-on into Classic Rock because
that’s the bill of goods you’re sold when you want to be a Rock kid. “This is
time-tested. It’s authentic. It’s Zepplin and Floyd and The Who. It’s the canon.”
It took a couple of years to realize that these were not our stories and they
likely never would be. There was no shortage of bravado and sexuality to these
songs, but there was very little doubt, fear, or genuine rage.
We were mixed-up, angry kids, and whatever Aerosmith songs
WNEW was playing were not going to temper or hone it. By the end of our sophomore
year, we discovered Punk, but by then, it was other people’s Punk. All the best
bands had broken up. New York Hardcore was just crossover Metal bullshit, so we
listened to The Clash and Minor Threat and we were sated, but it still wasn’t
OURS in the way that holding a debut album in your hands and knowing that
you’re at the start of something makes a movement yours.
By our senior year, we loved Hardcore, but we also loved
Siousxie and the Banshees and the Sugarcubes and the Pixies, and we were raised
on Classic Rock structures, so were ready for something that rocked, but was
weirder, more complex.
Enter Nirvana, who freaking howled the most amazing words at
you, cushioned by perfect Pop and Pearl Jam who were Rock in the traditional
sense but fronted by a poet who made you toss all your Jim Morrison books because
you now found them lacking. This was real, and it was ours.
Then came the Singles soundtrack, and all of our best
instincts were confirmed. What songs suck on this record? The old ones. The
Hendrix one. The Led Zepplin cover. The ones we all fast-forwarded over.
For the adults in Mohammed’s radio, this is their most
important record. It shaped them because it’s both tragic and uplifting. The
movie has absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew
Wood, but it’s haunted by him. There are two songs by the former members of MLB
(Pearl Jam), a song written in tribute to him (Alice in Chains’s “Would?”), and
the man himself settling into the middle of the record with his most beautiful
song: “Chloe Dancer/Crown of thorns”.
Every adult in Mohammed’s Radio has a favorite “Singles”
song, and I’ll be posting them as we get closer to Thursday’s reading.
- Stephen
www.dthreec.org
