MP3: The Bear Quartet - Fuck your slow songs
I hate irony in music. Hate it with passion. That's one of the reasons that Scandinavian music is appealing to me - it's so refreshingly irony-free. Bands like The Hellacopters play ridiculous, over-the-top arena rock, but there's no "ha-ha, we're only joking" wink-wink/nudge-nudge to it. They play it like that's what they were meant to do and they do it well. There's nothing half-ass about it and that's why it's awesome.
So why does The Bear Quartet's "Fuck your slow songs" appeal to me? It's approach is so blatant, but that too, is the point. The lyrics:
"Your criticism has been noticed
and we plead guilty to a major part
but nothing's easier or more fun
than annoying young punks
so we slowed it down
and added strings and a steel guitar
we wrote song words
about how misunderstood we are"
It's entrapment! If you're annoyed, it means they've won. It's true - nothing is easier than annoying young punks and I know that first-hand. The song itself isn't exceptional, but it serves as a fine anthem for the band's dissatisfaction with the musical norms of the day and proves to be prognostic with regards to their future path. That's more than enough to make it Important with a capital i.
2001's "Gay icon" was the first BQ album I bought. Despite my horror at the gatefold image, I found it to be a great introduction to the band as I immediately set off to devour their vast back catalogue. The music tends to be a bit too typical slacker/indierock for my tastes, but that's okay - there's plenty of highlights to make up for it.
The Bear Quartet - Fuck your slow songs