#434: Pavement, ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’

MATADOR, 1994

For a special treat, Eric Liggett volunteered to write a guest post. Since I was really little, I colored every interaction with Eric (who is about 10 years older than me) with this maybe true/maybe not true story: Teenage-Eric performed with his band at the church building I attended and smashed his guitar at the end of his performance. Just the crumbs of this story had me starstruck. I choose to believe it is true. Either way, Eric is the most real-life "rock & roll, cool guy" out there and I hope he guest writes more for this newsletter. 

Music is a passion of mine. I love listening to music, playing it (or trying to anyway), seeing it live, discussing and dissecting it – everything about it. At work, I can talk about my duties, project status, team development, and so forth with the requisite corporate professionalism needed, but when a coworker starts talking about the last concert they attended, my overenthusiasm quickly betrays my professional demeanor.   

I admire good writers as it’s a skill I long for. I’ve enjoyed following Nicolle’s album reviews and appreciate her writing skill in interweaving the albums with life and providing thoughtful and insightful commentary. I admire her taking on this monumental task of sifting through 500 albums. When I saw Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain approaching on the list, I couldn’t help but ask her if I could write about it. Looking back, I should have proposed an overly detailed video rant instead as that is more my style and strength.  

Stephen Malkmus, Pavement co-founder, vocalist, songwriter, and co-guitarist is also a talented writer. His lyrics are somehow unique, witty, self-aware, nonsensical, deep, sarcastic, and poignant all at once. I deeply admire Malkmus’ songwriting ability and it is on full display on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.  

I turn 40 in a few months. As I approach prime mid-life crisis time, I’ve opted for more of an existential and faith crisis instead of buying a sports car. Even in my late (ok, very late) 30s, I identify with the album’s most controversial* track, Range Life, as it seems to assess the struggle between wanting to be careless, rebellious, and anti-authority with the opposing appeal of settling down and having a “range life” – stability, routine, order and maybe even some conformity. Maybe true happiness is somewhere in the middle?  

I also identify with the album’s fan-favorite, Gold Soundz. I am a nostalgic person and have a problem romanticizing the past. It’s been revealing to me living in the place where I grew up to visit old haunts with my wife or family and realize that a lot of these places were not as I remembered. Despite the romanticism, it’s hard to not also look back on aspects of the past and cringe at decisions, things said, and actions taken. Trying to learn lessons from the past and not let it define you is one of life’s challenges. As Pavement states in this track, “you can never quarantine the past”.  

So much of this album (Cut Your Hair, Elevate Me Later, Fillmore Jive) is a critique of the music industry/scene and the rise of the many grunge, alternative, and indie bands that arose from the ashes of the 80s hair bands. Ironically, Cut Your Hair, with its sharp commentary on the industry, was the band’s breakthrough hit and bestselling single which helped make them the Indie darlings they still are today.  

I saw Pavement live last year. These songs still hold up and the band’s chemistry and sound reign despite two long hiatuses since originally breaking up in 1999. Part of the fun of their songwriting is the many interpretations of the lyrics and even disagreement on the lyrics themselves. If you have never listened to Pavement, I hope you enjoy this album and will check out their other work. Stephen Malkmus has a storied solo career, and his debut self-titled album is a gem.  All the rest of Pavement’s catalog is just as creative, zany, and beautiful. Pavement is good for the soul.  Stephen Malkmus knows how to write, and my music life is the better for it.  

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Top tracks: Silent Kid, Gold Soundz, Cut Your Hair, Range Life 

* The controversy stems from Pavement mentioning Smashing Pumpkins in a negative-ish way? (hard to tell with Stephen Malkmus’ wry humor). This led to rumors of Pavement not being allowed to join 1994’s Lollapalooza due to threat of the Pumpkins backing out which Billy Corgan later denied.