tenessential
6/8 Showstoppers
Alternative Press - Editorial Intern on 7/14/09 @ 11:48 AM - altpress.comSelected by Scott Heisel
Writing a song in 4/4 time is easy. Everyone does it. But to write in 6/8 time, as simple as it sounds, requires a certain appreciation and understanding of music theory and the use of melody. Attention elementary school music teachers: Here are some perfect examples of how a time signature can be powerful. Maybe you can even transcribe them for a recorder-and-xylophone ensemble. (It'd be better than playing, "Ode To Joy" for the millionth time, right?)
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Against Me “Baby, I’m An Anarchist!” (from Reinventing Axl Rose) (No Idea,2002)
Against Me! are known for baring their fangs with in-your-face socio-political punk. So when they slowed down on their debut full-length for an arm-in-arm sing-along about the Battle In Seattle, it was entirely unexpected and totally awesome. Sure, it’s kinda weird that Tom Gabel openly endorsed Barack Obama-a “spineless liberal,” just like the ones he mocks in the song-last year, but hey, we all grow up. (Some of us just do it in front of Punknews.org.)
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Alkaline Trio “’97” (from Alkaline Trio) (Asian Man,2000)
How incredible is it that the very first song this onetime Chicago band released is still praised by fans as one of their very best more than a dozen years later? Originally issued on 1997’s Marc’s A Dick And Gar’s A Drunk: The Johann’s Face Story compilation, “’97” is the first of many nasty-breakup songs penned by Matt Skiba over the years, capped off with a howling refrain of, “I don’t deserve this!” that sounds great echoing off rock club walls.
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All Time Low “Remembering Sunday” (from So Wrong, It’s Right) (Hopeless,2007)
What’s more heartstring-tugging than a melancholy duet? One in 6/8 time, of course! (See also: Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear You Me.”) It’s mighty impressive how well Alex Gaskarth and Juliet Simms (of Automatic Loveletter) play off each other in this heartbreaking number about falling out of love. The only way to make it better is to witness Gaskarth and Simms perform it acoustic, like a few dozen lucky Warped Tour attendees did in Minneapolis last summer.
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Cursive “The Martyr” (from Domestica) (Saddle Creek,2000)
Tim Kasher doesn’t really know how to write happy songs, so it’s to be expected that Cursive’s entry to this list is full of anger, self-loathing and finger-pointing-all set to a head-bobbing beat. It’s kind of awkward singing along to this one in concert, as Kasher loves to toy with the audience, typically leaving a very pregnant pause in between “Sweet baby, don’t cry,” and its second half, “Your tears are only alibis!”
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Duvall “Taking Me Home” (from Volume And Density) (Asian Man,2003)
Considering how traditional a songwriter he is, Josh Caterer rarely explored other tempos in Smoking Popes. But on his post-Popes band Duvall’s first LP, he dove headfirst into the kind of breezy ballad that in a perfect world would soundtrack a thousand proms. As with nearly all Duvall songs, the lyrics are about Christ, but just squeeze your date closer and sing along with the song’s crescendo, “You’re taking me home.”
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The Hold Steady “Lord, I’m Discouraged” (from Stay Positive) (Vagrant,2008)
The Hold Steady are masters of “inclusion rock,” a newly minted term that encompasses everyone from Bruce Springsteen to the Gaslight Anthem-it’s musicians writing songs that ideally, the whole world could raise a glass to. Fewer Hold Steady jams encompass this feeling better than “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” a slow-burning number complete with a false ending and Tad Kubler busting out an 18-string double-necked guitar and just going to town.
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Lucero “The War” (from Nobody’s Darlings) (Liberty & Lament,2005)
Ben Nichols has written about “the War,” referring to World War II, in a number of songs throughout Lucero’s career, but none are better than “The War” itself, a sparse, solo number at the end of Nobody’s Darlings. Nichols relies on his weathered, scratchy vocals and a beaten-up acoustic to tell the story of a soldier’s survival through his abandonment of God. In concert, it frequently inspires the audience to storm the stage and sing along.
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Small Brown Bike “See You In Hell” (from Dead Reckoning) (No Idea,2001)
A band who made their living in the 6/8 time signature, Small Brown Bike’s peak was “See You In Hell,” a shoulda-been hit single, if only Fuse existed in 2001. Stuck in your dorm room with a nü-metal-loving roommate? Crank this brutal slab of post-hardcore, the chorus of which is the song’s title hollered with the intensity of a lion’s roar, and see their tastes evolve right before your eyes. (Hey, it worked for us.)
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Texas Is The Reason “A Jack With One Eye” (from Do You Know Who You Are?) (Revelation,1996)
On an album full of songs that sound like they could be closing tracks, “A Jack With One Eye” is Texas Is The Reason’s official last song-not only does it close out their only full-length Do You Know Who You Are?, but it also closed their two-nights-only reunion shows in 2006 (assuming you ignore the encore, which we’re choosing to do). Garret Klahn’s gut-wrenching lyrics and pained vocals are unforgettable.
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Weezer “Susanne” (from Weezer: Deluxe Edition) (Geffen,2004)
Initially a B-side to 1994’s “Undone (The Sweater Song)” that also popped up in 1995’s Mallrats, “Susanne” finally got a proper release in 2004 on the deluxe edition of Weezer’s first eponymous album, affectionately labeled the Blue Album by fans. Rivers Cuomo wrote the instant sing-along for a Geffen Records employee of the same name who befriended him early on in the band’s career. (Yes, she even baked him brownies like the song says.)
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I love this list and completely agree with you on it. Every song on here I love.