Apparently my original, clever, and entirely hilarious "insane shine" picture has disappeared, never to be found. In its place, enjoy this amazingly creepy picture of a piece of toast.
There are few topics as universal as insanity. It's a subject as old as the human race itself (at least I hope so -- can you imagine how boring the world would be if it were populated by nothing but sane people?). As a result, there have been lots of bands that have written songs about it. Some, naturally, are more famous than others. For both your reading/listening pleasure and my writing/DJing pleasure, I've elected to go down the proverbial road less traveled and pick three that might not be immediately obvious to everyone. (I mean, yeah, sure, I could've used the easy way out with Metallica or Black Sabbath and then just taken the rest of the day off, but as good as "Sanitarium" and "Paranoid" may be song-wise, it just not as much fun for either of us.) Even still, there were tons to choose from.
So, as Prince once said, "Let's go crazy!"
The Avalanches - "Frontier Psychiatrist" (mp3|6.60MB)
The Avalanches are the epitome of cool. Their first (and, to-date, only) album Since I Left You is probably the finest example of sampling I've stumbled across: not one original note was played for its making, but somehow these guys managed to glue together thousands of pre-existing clips in a way that is captivating, chilled-out, and wholly listenable. The disc flows all the way through, and I've always likened its effect to wandering from room to room at some lush, high-scale cocktail party. Its best song, to the extent that the individual tracks can be separated at all, is probably "Frontier Psychiatrist." It uses the same approach present elsewhere on the album, but here the samples seem to fall together with a grace that's almost serendipitous. It's catchy, it's funny, it's addictive, and it has one hell of an awesome music video. What's not to like?
(from the 2001 album Since I Left You)
Peter Gabriel - "Family Snapshot" (mp3|4.05MB)
Ask either Lea or myself, we'll tell you the same thing: Peter Gabriel's third solo album is a masterpiece (it has one of the best album covers ever, too). In some sense, almost every single song is a meditation on instability of some sort (lack of inhibition, amnesia, stalking/voyeurism), and while years of listening to the album have never given me a definitive answer as to which is the best of these, the relatively calm and meditative "Family Snapshot" is almost undoubtedly near the top of the list. The subject, despite its psychological complexity, is alarmingly straightforward: a man resolves to get the attention he was never given as a child by assassinating the president. There are a million ways Gabriel could have handled this idea, through various degrees of good and bad taste, but I think he hits the perfect notes of desperation and sadness. Even though what he's doing is terrible, you feel for the guy ("I want to be somebody / You were like that too / If you don't get given you learn to take / And I will take you"). With just the right touch of humanity, Gabriel turns a risky subject into one of his best songs ever. Sometimes that's all it takes.
(from the 1980 album Peter Gabriel III)
Pink Floyd - "Jugband Blues" (mp3|4.04MB)
In all honesty, this has got to be one of the most depressing songs I've ever heard. Before you go jumping on me for choosing a Pink Floyd song despite actively trying to avoid obviousness, let me explain: all of the band's more famous ruminations on madness were written in the 70s by Roger Waters. "Jugband Blues," on the other hand, was penned by original frontman Syd Barrett, who -- for those not up on their Floyd history -- basically took too much acid and lost his mind. Despite almost inarguably being a genius (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is one of the best psychedelic albums ever), the band eventually fired him for being too erratic; he recorded a couple batshit fuckin' weird solo albums (The Madcap Laughs is the best of these), then went into complete seclusion until his death in 2006. "Jugband Blues" was his last-ever contribution to the Floyd. Written during a rare lucid moment, it's an honest realization of losing it completely. Even despite this, Barrett wasn't mentally capable of finishing the song; to rectify, he hired a jugband to come into the studio and improvise a midsection. The finished product is perhaps unintentionally devastating, but devastating nonetheless. Plenty of bands -- later Floyd included -- can write about insanity, but few have been there in the way Mr. Barrett was. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
(from the 1968 album A Saucerful of Secrets)
Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly a brighter and more cheerful entry than last week's emotional catharsis, but hey. You've gotta take one for the team from time to time. If all goes according to plan, I'll see you next week for Easter. Maybe I'll do an entry on, I dunno, candy or bunnies or something.
For the first time, I invite you to send lovemail/hatemail/anymail related to the Sunday Superlative to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. Requests are always considered and welcomed. See you next week!
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