Collector's Edition

Collector's Edition is a show about music, written and presented by two certified broken pop obsessives. Pop history lessons, personal essays and live music come together to help make sense of some of pop music's most tangled subjects.

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Collector's Edition: The Lost Essays

Upstairs Gallery | Chicago, IL | 8/8/14

For his final Collector's Edition piece at Upstairs Gallery, Rick talks about his favorite song of all time.

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Alright, this is the last piece I'll be presenting up here, so I just want to take a second to tell you about my favorite song, my very favorite song.  It's not How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees, it's not Coyote by Joni Mitchell, it's not God Only Knows by the Beach Boys.  My favorite song of all time is by Janet Jackson and it's called Together Again. Together Again was the big #1 hit from The Velvet Rope, the only Top 10 hit off this amazing album, my favorite album of all time, and when I was 14 years old I didn't understand why that was.  I had only just began to pull myself away from all the rap rock and nu metal I listened to in middle school, and Janet Jackson songs like “Go Deep” and “I Get Lonely” had a particular draw.  These songs were sexy and moody and stylish and edgy, qualities of pop music that were totally new to me at the time.  But when I heard “Together Again,”  I didn’t get it.  It felt flat to me.  I kept thinking it sounded like a Disney song - the beat was so pleasant, Janet Jackson sounds happy the entire time, and like many 14-year-old boys who attend karate tournaments in malls, I just didn't trust pop songs like that.  I always assumed the smile was put on.  At age 14, I didn’t think songs like that couldn't truly be about anything.

But I was wrong.  The liner notes to The Velvet Rope reveal that Together Again was written and dedicated to the friends that Janet lost to AIDS-related complications.  But the song doesn’t mention AIDS at all.  She names her friends in the liner notes, but not in the lyrics.  Janet’s just smiling and singing and dancing like she always has.  So what’s this song even about?

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First we have to step back a bit and get some context.  We’re all aware of HIV/AIDS, and pop culture has taken a strong voice promoting this awareness - we’ve all seen the charities, the billboards, the celebrity ad campaigns.  We’ve all seen Rent.  

Despite this, HIV/AIDS is virtually invisible in popular music.  There have been several charity singles released to benefit AIDS foundations, but none of them were actually about the disease or the people living with it.  In fact, most of these singles were new recordings of songs written before anyone knew what HIV/AIDS was.

Songwriters have written about AIDS, sure - Lou Reed, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Pet Shop Boys all have album tracks about AIDS.  But these are album tracks, these songs weren’t released as singles for a popular audience.  What’s more, these songs are miserable.  They aren’t about coping with AIDS, they’re about coping with someone who’s dying from AIDS.  Here are the opening lyrics to “The Last Song” by Elton John:

Yesterday you came to lift me up As light as straw and brittle as a bird Today I weigh less than a shadow on the wall Just one more whisper of a voice unheard

So just think about this for a second: at the height of the AIDS crisis there weren't any popular songs that were actually about AIDS.  Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" got some extra airplay because people interpreted it to be about disease, and that’s as close as it got.  There may have been songs about AIDS, but there weren’t songs for people living with it.

Exactly two songs have ever entered the American Billboard top 10 that have anything to do with AIDS - “Together Again” by Janet Jackson and “Waterfalls” by TLC.  These are the only charting singles whose content makes any kind of reference to AIDS, and it's worth noting that they're both performed by black women, the demographic with the highest HIV infection rate.

I know that statistic because I like to read about HIV.  I know this because I like to talk to doctors about sexual health, I get tested regularly and I think of new questions to ask every time I go in.  I like feeling informed, and for a guy just sharing articles on Facebook I do pretty well.  I actually enjoy learning about HIV/AIDS, and there’s a lot to keep up with.  Treatment and preventative measures have advanced rapidly over the past several years, and these days it feels like there’s more good news every other week.  Medicine has advanced.  But medicine can’t fight the true evil of HIV/AIDS:  This is a disease that preys on love and trust, and is spread by uncertainty.

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I learned that a friend tested positive for HIV, and I was fine with that.  I knew we had been safe together.  I could look back at my behavior, I could compare what I did to know, and I felt fine.  I went to a clinic that same day, I smiled when I told the receptionist that I’d like to get tested for HIV.  I took my clipboard and I sat down, and I felt very calm, but I felt it, right here, it was a lump in my back of my head, and I tried to ignore it, but I knew it was fear.  Not of the disease:  I wasn’t scared of having to work a little harder to maintain my health.  I was scared of the assumptions that would be made, I was scared of having three dates at a time, I was scared of people apologizing to me for nothing for the rest of my life.

My name was called, I took the test, and as we waited for the results, the doctor asked me:  If you were to test positive today, do you have friends to talk to?  Do you have support?

That question has always stuck with me.  But I’m here to tell you about my favorite song. (radio edit version)

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Together Again is a disco song.  It’s important to consider this:  Disco is a genre built by radical queers and ethnic minorities.  Disco was created as proof that, when cornered by a public that thinks people like you are dangerous, that think you're sick, you can still create the most joyous dance floor in town.  Disco music uses joy as an act of rebellion.  The sad irony of the AIDS epidemic is that it was declared in 1981, just a few years after disco "died," and could you imagine how different things could have been if those afflicted had disco music to listen to?

There may have been songs about AIDS, but Together Again is a song for people with AIDS and for the people they love.  I can’t tell you if Janet intentionally chose disco as the backdrop for this song, but she nails the attitude with deceptive ease.  On The Velvet Rope, before this song comes on, there’s a brief interlude where Janet delivers this line:  

You don’t have to hold on to the pain to hold on to the memory.

When I was 14 I didn’t think this song was about anything, and god, I was so wrong.  Janet lost her friends Dominic, George, Derek, Bobby, Dominic, Victor and Jose to one of the greatest evils on this earth, so she wrote a disco song for them.  Janet faces a fear that, for me, for anyone who has gotten that long text message, for every songwriter before her who has tried to write about this, has been impossible to truly overcome.  She faces this fear and crowds it out completely with a disco beat that refuses to slow down, with unrelenting positivity.  You don’t have to hold on to the pain to hold on to the memory.  This is one of the absolute most difficult things to do in life, and Janet demonstrates it, for five minutes and one second, without ever breaking her smile, without a single mournful aside.  That’s incredible.  Let me be clear, that’s incredible.  That’s a super power.

To answer the doctor’s question, I have a lot of fantastic friends that I could talk to if I needed support.  A lot of them are here tonight.  But this is a kind of wisdom and outlook that you can only acquire with your own strength, and this song is about equipping people to do that.

That’s why Together Again by Janet Jackson is my favorite song, thanks.

[collectorseditionchicago]

Visit Original Link

Tonight, at A Jangleheart Circus, we're sharing everything we love about Foo Fighters in 20 minutes.

See you there!

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Sean on James Taylor from Women of Heart and Mind: Collector's Edition (July 2014)

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So can we take a look at this man for a moment? (james1) Hmm. ("Sweet Baby James" starts to play) Ahhhh. (james2) Hmmm. (james3) Ok, ahh there we go. I'm starting to feel it now.

So in case you didn’t know, that’s young James Taylor, probably the most prominent male singer-songwriter of the early 1970s. I wanted to talk about James tonight, one because he’s so strongly connected with many of the other artists we’ve talked about tonight. But also because I’ve been kind of vocal about not liking James Taylor all that much in the past? Which FEELS like a big deal, because my mom, my girlfriend and one of my closest friends all like his music alot. But preparing for this show, I realized that I honestly have never sat down and listened to an entire James Taylor record! Which isn't really fair to poor old James.

So I decided to three of James Taylor's most popular records: Sweet Baby James, its equally popular follow up Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, and his slicker 1977 hit JT. I felt like this would give me a pretty fair cross-section of James's most popular work, and after listening to them I've decided to list my various feelings about his records. I'm gonna call it a Sean Rose Inventory of Feelings. (james4)

1) His voice is too nice. (james5) Let's listen to the original version of "You've Got A Friend," written and performed by Carole King. (Carole King-”You’ve Got a Friend”) That's so so good. OK, here's the same version, sung by James Taylor right around the same time. (James Taylor - “You’ve Got A Friend”) 

You feel the difference there? In the Carole King version, you get the feeling that this is a SERIOUS, heartfelt affirmation.When James sings it, there's a sense of smug self-satisfaction. Like he's singing this song about being your friend, and he KNOWS he's being a good person. It's like those folks who tweet pictures of themselves giving homeless people food, smirking, saying "man I'm gonna get some good KARMA out of this!" (jamesfood) That's what James's voice feels like to me.

At the same time, I understand why his version of "You've Got A Friend" was so popular. It's quieter, less emotional and dramatic than Carole’s. He understands that you've already been through some rough stuff, and the LAST thing you want is more emotion. It's like you're lying on the couch with a wet towel on your head, and James is sitting on a beanbag chair next to you, playing only to you. Who am I to deny the appeal of that? Carole's version will make you cry, and James's version will help you dry your tears.

2) But he seems like kind of an asshole. (james6) Let’s listen to "Love Has Brought Me Around,”: (James Taylor - "Love Has Brought Me Around") Those lyrics again: "Don't come to me with your sorrows anymore / I don't need to know how bad you're feelin today!" This is the song RIGHT before "You've Got A Friend” on Mud Slide Slim, by the way. Jesus James, how do you REALLY feel about me? (james7)

But there’s more. Let's hear a bit of "Steamroller": (exceprt: "I'm a cement mixer for you baby / A churnin urn of burnin funk") Oh goodness. He has another song near the end of the album called "Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me." (excerpt plays: "Don't you loose your lip on poor old lovin man JT.") Oh.. oh jeez. James! I thought you were supposed to be nice! (james8)

It’s worth mentioning that James was romantically linked with a couple of the other singers we’ve talked about tonight. He dated Joni Mitchell for a few years before dumping her, and several songs on her album “Blue” are about him. (james9) He then married Carly Simon, who he wrote this song about: (play clip of "Your Smiling Face") So they seemed happy, until Carly felt like he was touring too much and told him if he didn't spend more time with his family, she would divorce him. He responded by recording an album with this title: (james10) And then they got divorced.

3) Suite For 20G Fucking Rules. (james11) Play, it Adam. (“Suite for 20G” plays, I dance around a bit)

4) “Fire And Rain” is a good as hell song.  (james12) It's a perfect encapsulation of the appeal of James Taylor. 

James didn't have the easiest life before he became a sensation. When he was only a teenager he suffered from serious cases of depression, back in a time when they treated depression like a mental illness. He committed himself to the Mclean Hospital at age 17 and avoided getting drafted in Vietnam because he was viewed as too mentally unstable. After starting a rock band called the Flying Machine, he fell hard into a heroin addiction that took him years to kick. When he recorded “Fire and Rain” at age 21, he had already been through the entire rock star arc of excess. He'd earned the right to be mellow and quiet and friendly and understanding in his music. "I've seen fire and I've seen rain," he sings that line and you believe him. You could tell that he had come to hell and back and was still alive to tell the tale. And for so many survivors of the 60s, this was comforting, even inspiring.

5) He was the guy who convinced Carole King to perform her own songs, and that’s cool. (james13) That’s really cool!

(james14) 6) But oh jeez, ok, he’s the part of James’s version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, sung with Natalie Cole. 

And that’s it. (james15) Thanks everyone!

[collectorseditionchicago]

Rick on Carly Simon from Women of Heart and Mind: Collector's Edition (July 2012) -

So let's talk about Carly Simon.  [Tyler plays] Carly Simon is great!  She is also my mom's favorite.  Carly Simon is also responsible for one of the greatest mysteries in pop music history.

One of the most important developments of the singer-songwriter era was the way that songs became more personal, more authentic.  Songwriters were writing about the same emotions and the same problems as girl groups of the 60's, but now it was easier to tell that these stories came from reality.  Instead of just singing about a guy named Johnny all the time, women were starting to sing about men from their actual lives.  Women were writing more songs like Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, and now there were often names to hold accountable to the story:  you had Richards and Daniels and Davids and Robins, real people to attach to the stories these singers were writing about.  Women could tell stories they often weren't allowed to tell before, which is great, but it also exposed them to a new set of problems.

So you all know "You're So Vain", right?  

[tyler plays the chorus, you sing and everyone will join you of course]

You're so vain, I you prob'ly think this song is about you You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you Don't you? Don't you?

Wow!  What a great song!  You're So Vain was a huge hit, it's instantly recognizable.  But there's a mystery that surrounds "You're So Vain" that persists to this day:  Who is Carly Simon singing about?  Who is this vain man she speaks of?  

This question has been debated since the day the song was released and has never gone away, you can find writing on this subject as recently as this year, so I think it's time we settle the matter.  We're gonna go deep, everyone.  We're going to investigate the lyrics of You're So Vain together and we're gonna close this case.

So let's start with the very first lyric:

"You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht"

Okay, so we immediately know that this guy is an asshole.  You're So Vain spends most of its time profiling a man.  This guy is flashy, he's an opportunist, he's a liar, and Carly Simon uses the full power of her lyricism to paint a detailed, unforgiving portrayal.  This verse goes on to rhyme the word "yacht" with "apricot" and "gavotte".  Carly Simon is a great lyricist!  So anyway, Yacht, apricot, gavotte, you know this guy SUCKS, but the verse still ends with this line:

"And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner"

We all know someone like this!  We've all met this guy at a party, but we don't get the time to think about that, because we go straight into the chorus

[sing it again]

Wow!  Moving on.

Like I was saying earlier, this lyric has generated speculation for decades.  You're So Vain contains so many details about this mystery man that when she confronts him directly to say "Don't you, don't you?" the listener can only wonder who could be the target of this much scorn.  In 1973 Rolling Stone asked her if it was about James Taylor.  In 1983 The Washington Post asked her if it was about Mick Jagger.  Diane Sawyer asked her in 1990.  Regis Philbin asked her in 2004!  To which she said "I've given out two letters already, and "A" and an "E". But I'm going to add one to it. I'm going to add an "R", in honor of you."

So we have E, A and R to go on.  After much deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that "You're So Vain" was written about Kanye Rest.

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When people speculate about You're So Vain they claim that they're trying to discover *who* the song is about.  They piece the lyrics together looking for clues, as if Carly Simon wrote a riddle instead of a song.  Did I mention that the album this song is off of is called No Secrets?  "You're So Vain" is not a riddle, it's a song, and it's not about some fancy dude at a party.  Let's go to the next verse.

Oh, you had me several years ago When I was still quite naive Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair And that you would never leave But you gave away the things you loved And one of them was me

This!! See, the most important part of You're So Vain isn't the chorus [Tyler tries to play again, stop him] no, Tyler!!  The chorus of “You’re So Vain” is clever, but it still makes logical sense.  This song isn’t about him.  The most important part of You're So Vain is this verse.  Carly saw something in this guy at one time, just like the other girls at the party, but he hurt her.  She's grown from that, she's moved on, but he hasn't.  This isn't some mystery game daring you to figure out who Carly Simon slept with, it's a song about overcoming a pain that you didn't deserve, and every time some shitty dude listens to this and desperately tries to figure out who laid Carly Simon in 1960-whatever, he becomes the dude in the song.  You're So Vain is about Carly Simon, just like You Oughta Know is about Alanis Morrissette and Rolling In The Deep is about Adele.  Those songs are empowering, and they have Carly Simon to thank, because songs like this mark time when women started using music to hold men accountable for their actions.

Especially if one of those actions is "la gavotte"  Who gavottes at a party?  Seriously, this guy sounds horrible.

[collectorseditionchicago]

Last night's show was a great time, thanks for coming out!  See you next month.

[collectorseditionchicago]

Thanks for joining us at last week!  We talked about pop megahit songwriter Max Martin, some of our favorite songs from his career and what they mean to us.

Sean isolated the "formula" that Max Martin songs tend to feature - simple, restrained verses setting up the tee for massive, soaring choruses.  But we didn't have time to talk about his most recent hit, Katy Perry's "Dark Horse", which shakes that trend in an interesting way.

But first, I gotta talk about Max Martin and Usher:

Max Martin wrote "Scream" for Usher's 2012 album, Looking 4 Myself.  It's a fantastic song true to Max's usual style:  Focused, beat-driven and absolutely massive.  I can't overstate how huge this song is, you have to listen to it to understand, this song really goes after it, even for the guy who wrote "Since U Been Gone" and "Blow". 

It was even bigger in comparison to "Climax", the previous single off of Looking 4 Myself.  "Climax" goes in the opposite direction;  Where "Scream" races to get to the next gigantic chorus, "Climax" takes its time, slipping through and never really giving you much of a hook, except the entire song is a hook?  It's like the tension and relief of turning a Snapple bottle cap that never tightens, over and over.  

That's a brief description, but I really think that "Climax" is a pretty brilliant track.  Everything it tries to do works, and people noticed: the song received much well deserved praise, and was hands-down the standout track off of Looking 4 Myself, even if it wasn't as big of a chart success.

Okay, heads up, this next part is complete speculation, especially when you consider his "Swedish sense of modesty", but I think:  Max Martin was not happy about this.  This is Max Martin, Max Martin. His songs are the standout songs on an album, and one of the biggest songs he's ever written just got overshadowed by a song without a chorus.

If you listen to "Climax" you'll notice that a lot of the song's atmosphere has as much to do with its structure as its production;  You never really know if you're listening to a verse or a bridge, if a line is beginning or ending.

I couldn't guess his motivation, but I'm somewhat convinced that Max Martin paid attention to this.  Perhaps, when Katy Perry told him that she was looking for a, uh, "witchy, spell-y kind of black magic-y" vibe, he saw an opportunity to try it out for himself.  Much like "Cimax," "Dark Horse" teases a payoff that never actually comes.  Katy Perry sings "are you ready for a perfect storm?" and then it's right back to the tiny beat that the song started on.  Since when does Max Martin not give you the giant chorus he's alway promised?  I can only imagine the tension is worse for him than for us.

[collectorseditionchicago]

And just for future reference

[collectorseditionchicago]

Thanks for indulging us last night!  We said goodbye to Conor in a way that's true to the friendship we've built over the years.

Mark you calendars for March 14th!  Sean and Rick are putting together a show about pop mastermind MAX MARTIN, it's going to be a real treat!

[collectorseditionchicago]

Thanks for a great show last night, everyone!  That was one of our favorites.

[collectorseditionchicago]

Friday!  Collector's Edition is gonna bring you our 2013 in review.  It's gonna be a real fun show, one of the few where we don't mention The Beatles at all.  Friday!  Upstairs Gallery!  Free!  BYOB!  Go!

My own 2013 posts will be coming back just in time for this show.  A panel I co-hosted at a video game convention got in the way of the last few, so keep checking back for the rest!  

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

Drake - Nothing Was The Same

Confessional rap is what they call Drake records.  Rapping about feelings?  We’ve finally found a way to collectively describe rap music that doesn't include all the scary street stories.

That’s a bit unfair of me, but the term “confessional rap” is a label for a nonexistent trend, one that only seems necessary to me if you’re talking to people who still have a lot of hangups about their perception of rap music.  And hey, that’s not unfair either;  In 2007 my idea of great rap music was Aesop Rock, and now I think Kendrick Lamar should be taught in schools.  I’m by no means qualified to write critically about rap music, but I still consider that progress.

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

FKA Twigs - EP2

Only the very coolest people I know are into FKA Twigs, which is probably what it was like back in the olden days when trip-hop was discovered for the first time.

That's not to say that FKA Twigs is just good for buzz bin off-singles.  EP2 slows you down.  These songs feel weighty and amorphous, heavy enough that you feel sympathy for FKA Twigs carrying them on her own, but fluid enough that they'd slip though anyone else's fingers.

[collectorseditionchicago]

Collector’s Edition’s Favorite Albums of 2013 Check-In

We’re nearing the home stretch!  I’ve already written about a lot of great albums in my quest to post about one album for each day in December, and I have a few more to talk about before the year’s over.  Here’s the latest:

Iceage are the new saviors of punk, but they’re too young to name their band Drinkingage.  I’m so sorry

Hunx & His Punx will give you a slice of pizza if you can guess how many tubes of lipstick are stuck under their mattress.

Haim are my write-in vote for whatever elected office Shania Twain used to hold.

Arianna Grande doesn’t mind the drive thru, that’s why I got her album.

Francis and the Lights wins the award for most magical front man of the year.

I’m having such a great time listening back through all this stuff, 2013 was a great time.  We’re getting there, folks.  Please share if you see something you like!

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

Francis and the Lights - Like a Dream EP

This is not the first time Francis and the Lights have released a creative, visually gorgeous single-shot music video for an equally gorgeous song.  Watch this video, watch the video I just linked to, you must.  It’s far too inviting to treat these videos as a metaphor for the kind of music that Francis Farewell Starlite (I KNOW right??) creates, so I’m going to give in and do just that:

Krystle and I watched this video together on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner.  We watched closely, but we still can’t figure out the dance.  Like A Dream is a calm, patient record with a slow complexity.  Like watching ~Francis Farewell Starlite~ dance in a straight line, the music here sticks to a few small, lovely ideas and lets them play out for you.  It’s easy to give the songs your full attention for a while, but they hold up to your concentration;  Francis has a way of finding grace and drama in small, playful moves and sounds, stuff that could seem a bit awkward if he didn’t motivate it with so much goddamn heart.  

And just mouth the words to yourself:  Francis Farewell Starlite.  You almost expect him to float in through the window.  Feel the magic.

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

Arianna Grande - Yours Truly

Coordinated fanning?  Rap solos about being in love?  Everyone pick up your fans, we're gonna have a good time.

Arianna Grande is killing it, this album has consumed entire weeks of my life.  No memory, entire days lost, I couldn't tell you what happened but if you played "The Way" I would involuntarily recite every word.  Arianna claims that Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are among her major influences, and she has the chops to draw from the best of their respective catalogs.  I would have been fanning myself anyway.

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

Haim - Days Are Gone

A steady growth of socially acceptable pop hits, patiently sprouting up like unattended weeds, suddenly you look around and they're everywhere and the once-solid concrete under your feet is starting to crack from the pressure.  It's time to jump to one side.

If you use the divisive conversation surrounding Haim to take the temperature of the music-consuming public, it seems like people are burning hot for - or over - REAL musicians that use REAL instruments to make unabashedly hook-oriented music.  This is something that people need to talk about right now?  Poptimism.  Poptimists?  People who dare to think that hooks are okay,  I guess this is a new thing, I don't know.  The invisible threat has shown its face, and that face has three faces, and they are sisters.

Haim is fine.  They are very good!  "The Wire" is great, though I still think that it was ghostwritten by Shania Twain (which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it).  Nothing about this band is controversial.  They drew some hype with early singles, recorded a good album with a hot producer and broke out just like they deserve to.  

It's a familiar, fast-paced career arc driven by excellent music, but Haim's breakout has been breaking point for some folks who suspect that this pop-forward stuff is some kind of trend.  Poptimism is at its peak, and Haim has become the focal point of a debate about a shift in pop music politics.  Poplitics?  Populism?  Politipop?  God, someone kill me.  Anyone.  How about you, Jim DeRogatis?

Has indie-rock seriously gotten so twee and “poptimistic” that it can hail as a buzz band a California trio aiming at a modern update of Fleetwood Mac but barely achieving a less polished version of Wilson Phillips? Really?

DUMB AND MEAN.  I'm sorry that you don't enjoy LA-bred pop bands that hock the 70's, Jim DeRogatis.  How's Foxygen treating you?  They're in your top-five albums of the year?  Ah.

Movements in pop music often seem to have a light relationship to events in mainstream politics - boy bands are a sign of a strengthening economy, everyone's a punk when we have a conservative president, we always need a top-10 ballad after a national tragedy.  I won't venture a guess as to what Haim's controversial success means for America, but I'll say this:  if this is POPLITCAL, and if you're in the party that can't handle a catchy tune that blew up too quickly to earn your approval:  Shut up.  You're the person people need a conversation plan to talk to at Thanksgiving.  We don't want your vote.

[collectorseditionchicago]

(I’m Rick of Collector’s Edition, and I’m writing about my favorite albums of 2013 throughout December)

Hunx & His Punx - Street Punk

My remedial punk education left me unprepared for Iceage, but I know exactly what to do with stuff like this.  Hunx…

I love Hunx & His Punx.  Watch this video, how can you not love this?  I root for everything this guy does, whether it’s a new song or just instagrams of t-shirts for sale.

Bratty gay punk music makes too much logical sense, we need more of it, it’s not like it hasn’t been done but I don’t understand why it’s not everywhere.  I wish I had bands like this to listen to when I was younger.  I wish I had a backlog of 20 shitty gay punk bands to listen through at any given time (if you know 20 gay punk bands TELL ME).

But in the meantime I’m cool just listening to lots and lots of Hunx.  Hunx & His Punx are stylish and funny and you feel like you’re peeking into a little bedroom hangout party every time you listen to them, and it’s easy to forget that this stuff is actually very true to the 70’s punk that informs its sound:  Hunx & His Punx records are scrappy, pouty, trashy and a little gross, fast stupid tunes with a charisma and simplicity that masks a very intuitive sense of song.  Please, Hunx, never stop writing songs about stealing boyfriends.  The world needs you.