189. Sleater-Kinney, "Dig Me Out"
I was wrong.
Somehow, years and years ago, I decided that Sleater-Kinney was not my thing and were overrated and I decided not to like them. I'm not sure whether this was just a knee-jerk reaction to hearing a few songs and not giving them a chance or just being the kind of oppositional asshole I can be sometimes, but I am here today to say I was wrong, I'm sorry, and I hope Sleater-Kinney can forgive me because this album absolutely fucking rocks.
This is S-K's second record and their first with drummer Janet Weiss, who I already knew from Quasi (a great and largely forgotten band that is worth a listen, but I digress), and whose drumming is absolutely essential to the sound of this album. (This is not to diminsh the roles played by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, more on which later.) Just check out "Things You Say," for example - it's not like it's super-flashy (although it is super-flashy sometimes on this album) - it's more like she knows exactly the right thing to do for the song at the right moment. A gift, I tell you!
The title track, right up front, lets you know what you're in for. You've got the crunchy guitar, some great drum riffs by Weiss, and then Tucker's strident, almost-but-not-quite-angry vocals. The second song, "One More Hour," finds both Tucker and Brownstein trading vocals, which is appropriate, because it's about their very own breakup:
In one more hour, I'll leave this room
The dress you wore, the pretty shoes
Are things I left behind for you
Oh, you've got the darkest eyes
Oh, you've got the darkest eyes
I needed it (I know, I know, I know)
Oh I needed it (It's so hard for you to let it go)
I needed it (I know, I know, I know)
There are two songs I kept coming back to, for different reasons. The first is "Not What You Want," which seems to be, like a lot of other songs on the album, about some aspect of Tucker and Brownstein's relationship, and also almost brims with sexuality. Then there's "Little Babies," which is just a great pop song with maybe Tucker's best vocal on the album and which, on its face, is about traditional maternity roles but is also about a band's relationship to its listeners - the kind of intense longing and needing that a devoted fan has for their favorite band and the band's urge, in turn, to feed that longing. Whatever the subtext, it's just a great rock song.
Just one other word about Corin Tucker, the singer. I think part of my problem may have been getting used to her voice, because it's not the usual woman singer voice. It's hard to describe but it is powerful and incisive and, according to Tucker, she cultivated it that way. "The first Heavens to Betsy record that we recorded I sing really low and deep. But eventually we played more live shows, and the songs I sang that were sort of higher and freakier, people would be so freaked out. That tension and that craziness is what I always wanted to create. I worked really hard to sing like that."
1997 was quite a year for music! Besides this album, it was the year of OK Computer and Biggie's Life After Death and Either/Or by Elliot Smith and, yes, Third Eye Blind's self-titled debut. I could have been listening to this album too the whole time? I fucked up.
Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Yes, yes, yes.
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