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September 25, 2005
The Agony and The Irony?
Harvey Danger lives! And they hate playing "Flagpole Sitta"!
Of all the mid-90s-one-hit-wonder-alterna-pop songs that were permanently carved into my brain while schlepping Chinese food in college, "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger was definitely among the least offensive. That is, I'm able to listen "Flagpole Sitta" today without gnawing my thumbs until they bleed; I might even sing along.
A bit of context: I worked as a food-delivery dude for four years in college. Said job involved driving around central New Jersey from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. ferrying food from local restaurants to campus dorm rooms. At this point, the car I was driving had the sort of tape deck that ejected the tape every time you started the car. And since delivering food means you're starting your car every couple minutes, using the tape deck wasn't an option. So I listened to the radio. A lot.
The problem with that plan was that there weren't very many radio options in central New Jersey. In fact, there were really only two palatable stations -- the college radio station (which you couldn't count on to be decent every night) and 97.5 PST. PST (which has since changed formats) had just this awful Top 40 thing going that featured around eleven bubblegum alterna-pop songs in constant rotation. There were nights where I heard "Glycerine" by Bush no fewer than three times in a three-hour shift. But it was the only game in town, and so I was a regular listener.
There are certain songs that I recall from those hours in the car that still make me cringe. "Closing Time" by Semisonic. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something. The title theme from Friends. And some other ones whose titles I don't know but which I will occasionally wordlessly bellow if I'm in the right mood.
But I always had a soft spot for "Flagpole Sitta," by Harvey Danger. It just had excellent sing-along-ability (I especially enjoyed "And I don't even own a TV" and "Only stupid people are breeding"). So you can imagine my surprise/ delight when I realized that (a) Harvey Danger still existed and (b) they would be playing a show at the Oktoberfest beer/ concert thingie down the street from my place in Seattle. Perhaps!
After hearing Harvey Danger, I'm not terribly surprised that they never hit it big. Their set was less than impressive, and the guys in the band didn't have a ton of charisma. They were actually pretty nerdy-looking, and not in a funky, hipster way; more in an obese-desk-worker sort of way. After about two songs, I went into Homer-Simpson-at-the-BTO-concert mode ("Play 'Takin Care of Business!' Play 'Takin Care of Business!'").
Inevitably, they closed with "Flagpole Sitta." The crowd surged toward the stage as soon as they played the first couple bars, prompting a sarcastic "Oh sure, now you all want to dance" from the lead singer.
I can appreciate the plight of the one-hit-wonder band that has been playing the same song AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN for the past ten years. I imagine it doesn't do wonders for one's self-esteem. All that said, you're professional musicians, and when people pay to hear your music, they expect that you're going to give an honest performance. Harvey Danger did not give such a performance. These guys completely half-assed it. Though I noted above that "Flagpole Sitta" has excellent sing-along-ability, that doesn't mean that you should point the microphone at the crowd for an entire verse and look away in disgust. It's just not very charming. Also, no one knew the words to that verse (it wasn't the one with "Only stupid people are breeding", it was the one with "And rage against the machine").
This is all just a long way of saying that Harvey Danger was lame, and they didn't even do a proper job with the one song I wanted to hear (though I hummed the song the whole way home -- "And I don't even own a TV!").
Speaking of concerts, I saw Lyrics Born earlier in the week and he RAWKED. Hip-hop meets soul with an amazing funk band. Seriously, it was great. He's touring right now and you're cheating yourself if you don't check this out. The band was brilliant (they were all virtuoso soloists, even the drummer; that is, they actually had good drum solos) and Lyrics Born is pretty captivating as an MC. And, unlike Harvey Danger, he worked up a sweat, lost his voice, and generally put on a professional show. Treat yourself and go check this guy out.
Posted by thatkid at September 25, 2005 2:03 PM under
Stuff To Buy
Comments
If you're bored then you're boring, Harvey Danger.
Also, remember that song by Eve6? I think it was called "Inside Out." Something about putting my tender heart in a blender. Same era as "Flagpole Sitta."
Posted by: screwsan at September 26, 2005 10:34 AM
Chris' former band The Stonecutters used to play that Eve6 song that Screwsan mentions.
Also very catchy. "Tie me to the bedpost!"
PST format change to The Hawk: how could you omit mention that The Hawk features Eagles O-lineman Hank Fraley on Monday nights? That would have made Tiger Food deliveries more enjoyable on that one night.
Posted by: Thorles at September 26, 2005 1:01 PM
PST's not gone, just migrated down the dial to 94.5, where you can here the same craptastic songs time and time and time again.
Posted by: Jonah at September 28, 2005 6:04 PM
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