“Frontwards” – PAVEMENT
Stephen Malkmus summed up this early song’s appeal – as well as Pavement’s, more generally – when he told Newsweek, “The Fall has been eradicated. It’s a little more song-y…Oasis could have used those chords, as far as I’m concerned. They’re that good.” In other words, the band has sanded away just enough of their abstract edges to make something hummable, while still being weird enough to appeal to the kind of alienated slackers Malkmus considered his brethren.
The lyrics reinforce that feeling, with their jaundiced observations of late-70s Stockton, CA youth, and Malkmus’ insistence that he’s different: “I’ve got style/miles and miles/so much style that it’s wasted.”
As choruses go, that one may not be as catchy as required to get on the same radio stations Oasis conquered, but it’s sharp enough to serve as a rallying cry for a generation of outsiders who don’t mean to be smug – we just can’t help it, sometimes.
