Songs
Stylistically, the album shows Paul Westerberg's diverse influences, including Alex Chilton's Big Star on "Hold My Life," Roy Orbison and Duane Eddy on "Swingin' Party" and Chuck Berry and Nick Lowe on "Kiss Me on the Bus". Lyrically, the album is typical of Westerberg's style. The songs are an assortment of alienated narratives from a motley crew of low-lifes and losers, often tragically unable to function as responsible adults. The song, "Can't Hardly Wait", was originally recorded for Tim, but was not included in the release. It appears later on Pleased to Meet Me with one of the original guitar parts changed to a horn part.
The album also contains the song "Bastards of Young", which was given a now famous black and white video, consisting of mostly a single unbroken shot of a speaker. At the end of the song, the speaker is kicked in by the person who was listening to the song. Similar videos were also made for "Hold My Life" (in color) and "Left of the Dial" (minus the speaker-bashing).
"Left of the Dial" is a reference to college radio stations which were usually on the left side of a radio dial. More than 20 years after the album's release, the song remains popular as a college radio anthem.
The band performed "Bastards of Young" and "Kiss Me on the Bus" on Saturday Night Live on January 18, 1986. It was the most television exposure the band had received up to that time, but the band's behavior on the show, including swearing during the broadcast, resulted in a lifetime ban from Saturday Night Live. However, Westerberg would later perform on the show as a solo artist.
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Famous quotes containing the word songs:
“Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Heaven has a Sea of Glass on which angels go sliding every afternoon. There are many golden streets, but the principal thoroughfares are Amen Street and Hallelujah Avenue, which intersect in front of the Throne. These streets play tunes when walked on, and all shoes have songs in them.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
The air is full of children, statues, roofs
And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)