17. "How's It Going to Be" (Third Eye Blind)
Third Eye Blind is agruably one of the most forgettable bands of the late-90s, however, I will never be able to utter the phrase, "I despise everything Third Eye Blind has ever recorded." To say this would be hypocritical since 1997's "How's It Going to Be" is one of the greatest songs ever written EVER. What can I say, man. It got me through some rough shit, i.e. one of the many, many break-ups I experienced with my high school girlfriend the summer before our college experiences. I distinctly remember listening to "How's It Going to Be" on repeat, singing along with Stephan Jenkins--the only person who understood my pain--and weeping. OK, maybe I wasn't weeping, but I was misty-eyed.
"How's It Going to Be" is a song I wish I wrote because, quite frankly, for years I've wanted nothing more than to show up at some coffee shop on Open Mic night and perform it in front of a sparse crowd of slightly-annoyed college students trying to study for an exam. Alas, this will never be, because Third Eye Blind is lame. I live too far away from any hip coffee shops anyway.
"How's It Going to Be" Fun Fact: In May of last year, I performed Third Eye Blind's "How's It Going to Be" at the Karaoke All-Stars show on a cruise ship that shall remain nameless. My father said it was "one of the best three performances of the night."
18. "Nothing Better" (The Postal Service)
We all know that High School Matt dealt with heartbreak by shouting along with Stephan Jenkins in his bedroom when his family was out, but how did Post-College Under-Employed Matt deal with the end of a relationship? If you guess "cried like a toddler" you're only half right. He (or I) turned once again to Sweet Lady Music for comfort. I used to lay on the moldy old mattress in the spare room and listen to Morrissey albums for hours on end. Surprisingly, this made it possible for me to leave my house and interact with human beings on a semi-daily basis. At least there was one person on this planet more miserable than me.
Sometimes though I wanted nothing more than to wallow in my sadness and cry myself stupid. For that I simply fired up Give Up and flipped to track #4, "Nothing Better." The first time this happened it was an accident. I didn't know what was happening. I was listening to Ben Gibbard beg his girlfriend not to leave, going as far as blocking the exits ("I will block the door like a goalie tending the net in the third quarter of a time game rivalary") and promising to make the appropriate changes to his personality ("I swear I'll do my best to comply"). Somewhere around the middle of the song, I realized I was crying. But not just crying. Sobbing. It was disconcerting, but cathartic as hell.
Today I can listen to "Nothing Better," my favorite on an album filled with favorites, and keep my composure. In fact, when listened to out of the context of a faulty relationship on it's last legs, "Nothing Better" is kind of sappy and overly emotional, but I still total buy it.
My favorite lyrics (Boy): "Will someone please call a surgeon who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart that you're deserting for better company"
My favorite lyrics (Girl): "Don't you feed me lines about some idealistic future. Your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures."
19. "Meantime" (The Futureheads)
Let's keep this bitter train rolling, shall we? Somewhere between getting dumped before a Pixies concert and meeting my wife in person for the first time, I proclaimed this anti-social anthem my personal mission statement. "Why do we say hello?" I asked myself. "It truly is a fashion that we follow that we should be forgetting, but here I am doing it again." "Meantime" is three minutes of sneering, foot-stomping snark. Plus, it's got a beat you can dance to (i.e. insanely thrash about to in the confines of your cramped, musty bedroom when you're feeling particularly low).
Favorite lyrics #1: "It's not interesting to have false conversations. You've stolen all your stories, and I don't have the patience."
Futureheads Fun Fact: GEP's own Jonathan and I celebrated our first night in our new apartment by taking in a Futurehead's show at the Lincoln Theater. It was pretty great from what I remember.
Favorite lyrics #2: "It's easy...to try...it's easy...anytime...we can talk...if you like..but let's forget it for the meantime."
20. "This Friendly World" (Andy Kaufman)
I'm sick of moping. Let's brighten things up a bit.
I am obsessed with Andy Kaufman. I have read and re-read Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman by Bill Zehme and Andy Kaufman Revealed! by Bob Zmuda several times; I own a supremely shitty VHS copy of Kaufman's '77 television special for ABC which I have viewed into deeper shittiness; and I even enjoyed the ho-hum biopic based on a version of his life starring Jim Carrey. Kaufman was a true genius and he remains one of my personal heroes.
I love this song! It just makes me smile.
"This Friendly World" Fun Fact: At their first, and only, New Year's Eve show, Charlotte's own Moe Need's Glasses performed "This Friendly World" for a gym full of disinterested teenagers. They also performed a Kaufman-inspired song entitled "No Kittens Were Hurt in the Civl War" written by singer/rhythm guitarist Matthew Lawson.
