Medialoper

Certain Songs #2577: Supergrass – “Alright”

March 22, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: I Should Coco
Year: 1995

. . .

Unlike their Britpop peers like Blur, Oasis or even The Verve, Supergrass never came close to having a fluke U.S. hit, even as they were utterly massive over in their native U.K. I was going to do a whole thing about comparing them to The Kinks versus Oasis and Blur being the Beatles and The Stones, but it didn’t quite scan properly, for any number of reasons, so just know this: between 1992-1998, Supergrass had eight straight singles in the U.K. top 20, which is most certainly something.

Certain Songs #2576: Superchunk – “If You’re Not Dark”

March 21, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Wild Loneliness
Year: 2022

. . .

The last song on the most recent Superchunk album kinda really sums things up in a lot of ways. Fading in with a picked acoustic guitar circling around some controlled feedback, it seems like it’s going to be a quiet slow reflective one.

Certain Songs #2575: Superchunk – “Endless Summer”

March 20, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Wild Loneliness
Year: 2022

. . .

Somehow, we’re three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, but I still often think about how billions of lives and trillions of plans got derailed by it, even if I focus on all of the things I never got to experience in 2020 and 2021 because of it, especially when it came to my band, Sedan Delivery, who recorded an album in late 2019 and was just about to get it mastered for release when the world shut down.

Certain Songs #2574: Superchunk – “Reagan Youth”

March 17, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: What A Time To Be Alive
Year: 2018

. . .

One of the slyer songs on 2018’s angry What A Time to Be Alive harkened back to the 1980s, when we were all young and railing against the presidency of one Ronald Reagan, who — perhaps starting when the Dead Kennedys rewrote their Jerry Brown satire “California Uber Alles” as “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now” — was such a target for hardcore that my friends The Miss Alans jokingly did a song called “Reagan Sucks” that was basically four bars of speedy noise and them yelling “Reagan Sucks!!!” one time.

Certain Songs #2573: Superchunk – “Erasure”

March 16, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: What a Time To Be Alive
Year: 2018

. . .

If you’re one of those people who follows Superchunk’s official Twitter account, then you know that Mac — who runs it — wears his political heart on his sleeve. And I might be projecting a bit, but he’s a clearly a fire-breathing lefty, who isn’t afraid to engage with the world, record sales be damned. And more power to him.

Certain Songs #2572: Superchunk – “FOH”

March 15, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: I Hate Music
Year: 2013

. . .

By the time 2013 rolled around, the basic lineup of Superchunk had been in place for twenty years, which is an incredibly long time for any line-up of any band to stay together, but in 2013 Superchunk bassist Laura Ballance announced that due to a hearing condition, she wouldn’t be touring with the band anymore.

Certain Songs #2571: Superchunk – “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo”

March 14, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: I Hate Music
Year: 2013

. . .

It took Superchunk a bit of time to follow-up on Majesty Shredding. But when they did, with 2013’s I Hate Music, it was well worth the wait, as it was almost as good as its predecessor.

And of course, I couldn’t be the only Replacements fan who chuckled at Superchunk titling an album I Hate Music, given that there’s a pretty great song from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash with that title. But given that the ‘mats titled their greatest album Let It Be, they better have chuckled instead of grumbled.

Certain Songs #2570: Superchunk – “Everything At Once”

March 13, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Majesty Shredding
Year: 2010

. . .

In retrospect, the thing about Majesty Shredding was that it was full of — how you say? — bangers. From start to finish, as a matter of fact. Which, given that they’d been around for 20 years and were all well into their forties, wasn’t necessarily a given. We’ve already talked about “Digging For Something,” and “Crossed Wires,” but there was also “Slow Drip,” “Learned to Surf” and “Winter Games.”

Certain Songs #2569: Superchunk – “Crossed Wires”

March 8, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Majesty Shredding
Year: 2010

. . .

While how much I loved Majesty Shredding was a bit of a surprise, the album itself really wasn’t, as Superchunk had actually released some music in 2009, most notably the Leaves in the Gutter EP, which featured “Learned to Surf” and some other songs that didn’t make Majesty Shredding.

I grabbed that one from eMusic, but I totally missed “Crossed Wires” which came out as a 7″ single. But both those releases go to one of the reasons I loved Majesty Shredding: it wasn’t released because of contractual obligation or even the need to put out another record: instead, it was released because they had all of these great songs. Or at least that’s how it came across to me.

Certain Songs #2568: Superchunk – “Digging For Something”

March 7, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Majesty Shredding
Year: 2010

Superchunk put out just a single album after the turn of the century, 2001’s (un?)ironically-titled Here’s To Shutting Up before taking an extended break that felt for all the world like they were breaking up, even if they released live albums and compilations throughout much of the 2000s.

And it wasn’t like the band members totally faded into the woodwork, either. Mac McCaughan continued to release his solo albums under the Portastatic moniker and drummer Jon Wurster not only became a radio star from his work on The Best Show on WFMU — just as I only know him from his drumming (sorry gang, I don’t have unlimited time for everything I would love), other folks probably only know him from The Best Show — he also became the full-time drummer for both The Mountain Goats and the Bob Mould band and a shitton of other great great artists.