Album: Dirty
Year: 1991
. . .
I mean, I guess that I could have picked the songs on Dirty that weren’t full of sadness and/or anger, but here we are.
At the very end of 1991, just as Nevermind was beginning to conquer the world, Henry Rollins and his roommate and friend Joe Cole were coming home from a Hole concert at the Whisky-A-Go-Go were accosted by armed men outside of their apartment in Venice Beach, CA.
Always cost a pair of hose
Faces pressed together rose
Arms around each other’s back
You know that I liked you jack
Than all the other boys who pose
A silent dance in the woods
In the silver light that shone
Another can of Coca-Cola
Don’t you ever call me mom
Freckled dance ain’t in the plan
The air’s so thin, it weighs a ton
As far as you can see is fun
You’re nothing but a history
A second here and then you’re gone
The men wanted money, as men with guns often do, but Cole or Rollins had $50 total on them — ad I’m thinking that was more than I ever took to a show back then, much less came home with — so they were ordered to get some from inside of their place, but as Rollins did that, Cole was shot in the face at close range and instantly killed. Because men with guns will do that if you disappoint them.
Quicksand, quicksand all around
Turn the corner just beyond
The shadows move and change the groove
And something tells me not to brood
Turn and run and that’s a shove
You’re walking through my heart once more
Don’t forget to close the door
I’m not certain what you found
I’ll remember the charm you wore
Like a crowd followed you
Rollins, of course, escaped somehow and contacted the police, and honored his Cole’s memory with dedications, articles, stories and posthumous publishing of his writing. Prior to all of that Cole had introduced Kim Gordon & Thurston to Hole, which led to Kim Gordon co-producing Hole’s debut, Pretty on the Inside. (Live Through This is also dedicated to Cole.). He clearly seemed like one of those glue guys who helped keep a scene together.
Sunny skies and angel’s pleas
Floating down upon my knees
That wasn’t how it’s supposed to be
Clear blue eyes, justice tries
The wind is busy blowing dizzy
You’re dreams were shot like a star
Exploding in a mind somewhere
Doing something on a dare
Pulling a trigger like breathing air
A sun-kissed boy that gave no thought
To what he’d made while others saved
Cole’s murder shook Sonic Youth to the core, and both Thurston and Kim wrote tributes to him. Thurston’s riff-rocking “100%” led off Dirty, and became their highest-charting song on the Alternative Airplay charts, making it to #4, maybe because of the skateboarding-heavy Jason Lee-featuring video by Spike Jonze, or maybe not.
Ocean spray the candle said
It’s dripping in my hand, you’re dead
Little brother reminding me
The moments tick forever tree
You can see as far as sin
Don’t you know the shape I’m in
You’re walking through my heart once more
Don’t forget to close the door
Kim’s was different, a slow sad tone poem that was more impressionistic than straightforward. If “100%” was about the anger they felt, then “JC” was their grief manifested. Even the guitars sound like they were fighting back tears as they supported Kim’s recitation over a steady beat.
After Kim was done with the words, Steve Shelly slowly drifted from the song and it’s just the guitars making gorgeously sad noise until the fade.
“JC”
“JC” Live in 1992
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