#245-#241

#245. Dune Rats - Scott Green (#34, 2016)

27th of 2016

There's a scene at the start of the mid-2000s comedy film "Eurotrip" where we're being introduced to all of the characters. The main character has just been dumped by his girlfriend and is at his high school graduation party. There's a rock band playing, and they bring his ex-girlfriend up on stage to perform a silly song where the singer gloats about all the times he was having sex with her while the main character was oblivious. One of those essential diegetic soundtrack moments that's instantly memorable and likely to get a whole wave of people quoting it from then on.

It's quite possible you know this song, it's "Scotty Doesn't Know" by Lustra, a song that has remained popular well beyond the shelf-life of the immature film it comes from, and it's brought about a whole wave of people being exposed to it without that context. I've seen so many people baffled by this song, otherwise standard pop punk but with disgusting lyrics, and it's fascinating that it causes such a different reaction like that. I can't imagine ever getting mad at it. A few months into his tenure as Australia's 30th prime minister, Scott Morrison's website wasn't renewed and lost the licence for the domain. A man from Melbourne quickly bought it for $50 and had the website just play the song "Scotty Doesn't Know" alongside a photo of Scott Morrison smiling. This isn't really relevant at all to "Scott Green" but when it came out, I think I thought of Scott Morrison as the most notable Scott at the time. I guess the title rhymes with Engadine.

If there's one important gimmick you need to know about Dune Rats, it's that they like smoking weed. It's actually not something that's come up very much with their Hottest 100 catalogue. They couldn't quite make the cut with "Dalai Lama, Big Banana, Marijuana". If there's ever been a good reason for that reputation to stick though, it's that "Scott Green" is probably their most famous song. This is the song where they take a similar line of thinking to "Ebeneezer Goode" by The Shamen, working with the fact that the phrase 'Who's got green?' sounds like 'Who's Scott Green?'. It might be a sign of how completely out of it they are that they don't even try to maintain it. I feel like if they had The Simpsons' writers here, they could get some serious mileage out of it, but they break the structure every other time they say it. Maybe that's just a further way to plant the message, commit to the idea that Scott Green is a real person.

To dabble in the world of Dune Rats, this is probably the most succinct way to do it. I wouldn't say they always knock it out of the park when they try to come up with memetic phrases for their songs, but this one passes with flying colours. To me, it's a very unlucky song to not be higher in the countdown. It landed right underneath "Bullshit" (#756) which gives off the impression that it was just collective voting for the band, but in reality this is a song that was released in the middle of November and just didn't have enough time to catch on. You'd think this means it was a late bolter but from what I saw in the vote counting, it wasn't. It just stabilised behind "Bullshit" at a relatively consistent rate but never started catching up to it. The win would only come a few years later when it landed at #139 in the Hottest 100 of the Decade as the sole Dune Rats representative. I suppose that's something else it has in common with "Scotty Doesn't Know", being a one-note joke that satisfies the sound it's going for so well that it far outlives the short buzz of a novelty.

#244. DMA'S - Do I Need You Now? (#97, 2018)

27th of 2018

I think sometimes we can get unnecessarily caught up in image when drawing comparisons and contrasts. It can be particularly interesting I think when you can find something that connects two seemingly otherwise completely irrelevant parties. A lot of it is all marketing anyway. Very easy to find pop music that sounds like electronic music, rap music that sounds like rock music, what have you.

I'm doing the Oasis bit again, but just once more to put it all to bed. It's extremely easy to make the comparison, and "Do I Need You Now?" isn't particularly subtle about it, with the trudging drums and big power chorus. But no, what this song takes me back to is actually Robbie Williams. The dressing is a little different, but at its core, we're working with the same playbook. I hear a song like "Supreme". It's in the way both songs seem to emphasize the melancholy through the verses, laying on moment after moment of frustration. The choruses lift immensely, but also don't resolve that prior issue. I enjoy both of these songs a lot, and I feel in hindsight that they're occupying the same space.

It's a peculiar situation that makes me want to re-assess the whole thing with DMA'S. I think I've said before that it's not necessarily Oasis that they make me think of, but just that general era, through certain production and songwriting choices. Locking it onto an artist that's contemporary of that era but not playing by the same rules makes complete sense to me. Whenever we unsuccessfully draw a memory, we're likely pulling back multiple parts of the same chapter, forgetting what goes where, and just running with it. You wouldn't necessarily think of this one because it feels like it's the muddled up version of the story, but then when reality makes less sense, we're just bound to tidy up to the most convenient narrative. I'm totally in on the idea of DMA'S being a turn of the century pop star, it doesn't need to make sense.

"Do I Need You Now?" pretty strongly encapsulates the whole idea though. A song that totally snuck up on me in the years that followed its release. Because I list and rank music so often, I basically have a recorded history of watching this song grow on me, to the point of being a genuine contender near the top rung. It won't go any further than this, but then who knows. Ask me again in a few years.

#243. The Smith Street Band - I Still Dream About You (#41, 2020)

16th of 2020

I apologise for the lengthy interruption, welcome back to The Smith Street Blog, where I pretend to have a deep and meaningful understanding of the inner workings and feelings of Melbourne suburbs I've never set foot in. I still dream about you Wil, it's a natural consequence of burning the midnight oil writing at length about your band. It's pretty much a ritual for me at this point.

My grand revelation about this song is that I think it sounds a little bit like "Notion" by Kings of Leon. I had it in my head that it was one of the two albums they put out in quick succession but I thought it was more likely to be the first. Let that be a point against anyone who suggests they radically shifted course between those albums, as I could readily imagine "Notion" being on "Because Of The Times". Swap it out with "Fans" and tell me something's out of place. Incidentally this could also be seen as The Smith Street Band's big level up moment because this comes from "Don't Waste Your Anger", their only ever #1 album. They've only had one other studio album even make the top 10, so it's a bit of an isolated moment, pun not intended.

If you're after The Smith Street Band at their best, then this is a pretty good place to look. A lot of the lyrics could easily scan as wanting to reignite a relationship from a long time ago despite all the time that's passed, or perhaps because of it, realising there are logistic issues but not truly being able to let go of what once was. Doesn't THAT sound like a Smith Street lyric? Anyway this is actually a song about giving up on smoking. It makes for some amusing anthropomorphising, and leads to the great lyric 'Lucy [Wilson] said I was a dickhead, Lucy knows me too well'. This is the second time here we've encountered a namedrop from someone who's no longer in the band, after "Passiona" (#366) mentioned 'Just me and Chris'. Otherwise, a lot of big cathartic releases, so you can probably get something out of it even if you've never smoked, I know I do.

#242. Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (#10, 2021)

14th of 2021

Vertical Horizon, Plain White T's, Soulja Boy, Jay Sean, Taio Cruz, fun., Iggy Azalea, Desiigner, Luis Fonsi, Lewis Capaldi, just a handful of artists. What do they all have in common? They all very quickly took the American public by storm and scored a #1 hit. They didn't completely disappear after that, scoring a second or third hit that might have been notable in its own right (Taio Cruz might be cheating here, his US #1 hit is not "Dynamite"), but the moment was a brief flicker and they very soon never troubled the Hot 100 again (maybe Lewis Capaldi could still do it but I'm getting doubtful). It's an incredibly common career arc. You can't entirely call them a one hit wonder, but they never fully escape the shadow of it, there's just enough interest in the moment to keep the lights on for a little longer. For a while, it looked like Lil Nas X might join the club.

Despite the implied omnipresence, I think it's very possible for many to be out of the loop for big hit songs. Often times they're engineered to perform well in exactly the fields that the charts are measuring, so if you're not clued into those specifics, it's gonna feel especially like there's a whole detached world out there. I'm writing this as "Ordinary" by Alex Warren is #3 on the charts, having hit #1 almost a year ago, I'm not cognizant of who's keeping the wheel spinning. "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X is not one of these songs. It demonstrably became the biggest song of 2019, managed to spark debate about genre inclusivity and remix politics while trolling its way to being the longest running #1 hit of all time in America. By all accounts, Lil Nas X had the world at his palm, and that can go a long way. Sometimes the sheer fluke of it all can draw so many eyes to find out what happens next. It's a bit like when PSY had to follow up "Gangnam Style", and you might be surprised at just how well "Gentleman" ended up performing.

Lil Nas X had a second hit, "Panini". It's considerably less novelty than "Old Town Road", with the most gimmicky thing about it being an interpolation of the band Nirvana's song "In Bloom". By his own admission, this was accidental and he'd not listened to the band before, but I'm not entirely sure I can believe it. The song was a pretty big hit too. It might have been riding on some pretty lofty coattails, but it did more than enough to prove itself even if you'd have a hard time imagining him breaking out with it. The same could be said of just how big "Black Widow" was for Iggy Azalea immediately after "Fancy". Usually though, you only get one, so Lil Nas X put out another single a year later called "HOLIDAY" and it didn't make a massive impression. The career arc is understood. Our GOAT might just have been washed, doomed to say funny things on social media and eventually hit the nostalgia circuit. He clearly didn't have another hit in him.

This is my way of saying that he clearly did have another hit in him. The kind of hit that completely stood on its own and set the stage for Lil Nas X being one of the biggest hitmakers of 2021. No longer was he living in the shadow of his monster hit, but instead stepping forward with a new persona. Everything had changed, but he was still causing a stir to gatekeepers, just a different kind this time.

Most of this all has to go through the lens of the music video. I can imagine someone just listening to the song and being completely oblivious to any controversy. The meta-text is all there, but a lot of the confirmation comes through easily missable pronouns and statements. Even the name, "Call Me By Your Name". It's obviously a reference to the book & film of the same name, close to the default answer for 'Name a homosexual piece of media'. Lil Nas X came out during the reign of "Old Town Road" but this was him putting himself out there like he hadn't before. He's just completely embracing the moment. He also uses a bunch of religious iconographies in the music video, riding a stripper pole into Hell, giving a lap dance to Satan before killing him, just very normal stuff. I'm just now learning that he was inspired by a notable music video from 2019, the artist for which I won't name yet, but didn't I do it for you? I just want to feel you're getting the references I'm putting down. In any case, Lil Nas X rode the moral panic to the bank. Perhaps in that sense he might have been inspired by a certain 2020 hit song.

I think what can be taken away from all this is that you do need a worthwhile tune if this is your business model. Lil Nas X has continued to court controversy lately but doesn't seem to have a free ride to success. It can be nice for some headlines, but I think the important thing in all of it is that "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" thrives on the fact that it's an incredibly catchy piece of music. The whole thing lends a lot of credibility to the idea of Lil Nas X as a popstar because he's so committed to the performance. The stickiest parts of this song come from all his different inflections and how the whole mood is warped around them. He comes in for the hook sounding gruff, but contrasts it by singing the same line in high notes moments later. He's working in tandem with the guitar which adds some nice flavour, but it's so minimalist. It's appropriate that he named the song after himself because he's selling himself as the package in this case, and evidently, succeeding with winged colours.

#241. Sticky Fingers - Just For You (#86, 2014)

30th of 2014

I apologise but I actually do have to bring up Oasis again. When you think of them, is there any particular word that you most immediately think of next? Just something you imagine Liam or Noel singing. For me it's a no brainer, it's 'shine'. I'm not the only one who's noticed this, and Oasis fans have been very diligent in documenting its extensive appearances in their catalogue. It feels like it's something that might have gotten exaggerated over time but even from the very beginning, Liam was absolutely making a meal of it. The one in particular that always sticks out to me (maybe because I've listened to it far more than the average person) is the one in "All Around The World". Complete and utter hubris. Noel can be just as guilty sometimes, but maybe a bit more self-aware, as there's a song on the first High Flying Birds album that says 'I don't care for the sunshine' over and over again.

It's this kind of rough exterior, poking their tongue out to good sense and taste, that I suspect has endeared the band to many over the years. I would be very surprised if Sticky Fingers do not find themselves around that circle. Mainly because Paddy admitted it in an interview with Tone Deaf. I'm specifically referring to the section on the song "If You Go", which has all the DNA of Britpop in it, and a chorus that sounds more than a little like "Some Might Say". They don't extend the same observation to "Just For You". Mainly because I don't think Britpop is the right fit for it. I just think of Oasis because that snarl is back. Also it's there, it's there, the chorus says 'sun is always shining' with the subtlety of the monster guitar riff behind it.

I get a lot of different ideas flowing through in this one. The piano anchors it in something closer to Madchester, but Dylan's faster pace takes it somewhere more modern. In reality though I think I'm mostly drawn to something contemporaneous to all that but completely different. Hear me out, "Just For You" sounds like The Prodigy. If you want to say that the piano sounds a bit like Cold Chisel then I won't stop you, but you might make Regurgitator fans upset. In all seriousness though, this song to me is all about the huge arrival of the guitar plummeting to earth in the chorus, and you can't convince me it doesn't do the same thing as "Voodoo People" or literally any single from "The Fat of the Land". I'm onto you 'Freddy Crabs'. I'm definitely charging them with the crime of illegal time travel, or just reminding me how much I love The Prodigy.