Mouth Breather — The Jesus Lizard
#365Songs: May 8. RIP Steve Albini.
Much will be written today about Steve Albini’s influence and impact. Today, and for many weeks and months to come.
And that’s as it should be.
All the ways he shaped what we call — for lack of a better term — “alternative rock” are almost incalculable.
Over the course of his now-too-short career, Steve became that rarest of rare emblems — a symbol of credibility. While he perennially downplayed his discernment and continued to swear he’d work with anyone who paid his fee, the truth is that he was the collaborator you sought out — whether you were trying to escape your fame (Nirvana) or cement it (Pixies) — when you were trying to save your musical soul.
But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m not here to talk about the amazing albums he produced, the deeply legit ways he took on and called out the music industry, or all the ways he lived the ethos he preached.
I’m here to talk about a messed-up guy with a bum leg from the Midwest who — as far as I’m concerned — could have easily been the weird, quiet nerd in the classroom who one day blows up the school and everyone in it. The one about whom people would then say things like, “I mean, sure, he said some weird stuff, but I never thought he’d actually do anything like that.”
I’m convinced that could have been Steve Albini.
But it wasn’t.
Instead of blowing everything up in real life, he blew it all up on record. His was a kind of twisted and deformed white male rage that the Midwest seems uniquely able to produce, but instead of becoming an under-educated, drug-addicted, steroid-popping, rapey blue-collar menace, he instead became an incredibly smart, passionate, teetotalling, musical maniac who created some of the most devastatingly disturbing albums ever made. And because he got smart, he got even. And because he was a driven and talented artist, he didn’t just target the aggressors that fucked with him, he targeted the aggressors that fucked with everybody.
Let me be clear. His music could be really fucking disturbing. Some of his language is so intense, you find yourself wondering, does he really mean that? Or is he satirizing people who think like that?
Very few artists are willing to risk that kind of misunderstanding. Steve Albini’s whole career was a commitment to risk.
Unfortunately for us and our #365Songs playlist, you can’t listen to Big Black on Spotify. Steve made it very clear why he pulled all the songs down:
“Spotify is a terrible company and we don’t want to be part of their business.”
So, go listen to “Bazooka Joe” on YouTube instead:
I knew a lot of guys who were a lot like Steve Albini when I was young and living in Michigan and Kansas.
Torqued up. Twisted. Angry. Perplexingly sexually angularized. At the mercy of things they couldn’t control. At the boiling point, all the time. They scared me. They still do.
Steve Albini kind of scared me, but at the same time, he didn’t. Because he had that guitar. There are a lot of cliches about guitars, but in Albini’s case, they were all true. In his hands, a guitar was a wand, a weapon, a woman, a scepter, a sword, a bazooka, a bomb, a harp, a gavel, a guillotine, a gun, a gong, and a bottle full of lightning.
I feel like people who get Steve Albini—who get what he emerged from and what he achieved — tend to have similar taste in music.
I don’t pretend to know for sure that I get him. But I feel like I do. And when I first saw his list of his 20 favorite songs, I knew I did. His first song on the list, which I’ll assume is his favorite Ramones song, is also my favorite Ramones song. ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement.’
‘Hospital’ by The Modern Lovers is also on that list. My favorite Modern Lovers song. Not a popular choice with most folks, even those who know the band well. He also includes ‘Brand New Rambler,’ by The Smashchords. I’m convinced I’m the only other person in the world who even knew that band. But I did, because someone spray-painted the name on an overpass near my neighborhood in Michigan.
I really struggled with what to choose for our playlist. Not being able to choose from Big Black, Rapeman, or Shellac mades it really tough.
Ultimately, I decided on ‘Mouth Breather’ by The Jesus Lizard because it’s just got that Albini thing. It’s angular, aggressive, smart, and weird. Exactly what the “alternative” should be.
Steve Albini spent his life breaking molds, and with his passing, he leaves one more broken mold behind.
~
Start following the #365Songs playlist today, and listen to each new song with each new article!
