Greatest Song Evah 12/20/24

Special

Scotland may have introduced haggis to the world, but it also gave us Shirley Manson, so all is forgiven. A superlative frontwoman, she exudes charisma, and this week’s selection also serves as a mini tribute to one of her predecessors and influences. It is no accident that she ad libs the phrase “talk of the town” in the song’s coda. Even the title “Special” references Chrissie Hynde. In fact, the band asked for Hynde’s approval before recording the song and even offered her a partial songwriting credit. Hynde granted permission and politely refused the credit.

This song was the third single from the second Garbage album. The Pretenders references are only a small part of the song; it is actually a bitter diatribe directed towards a former friend with whom Manson had a falling out. You can practically feel the bile coming out of the grooves as she spits out lines such as “I’ve run out of patience” or “there’s no way in Hell I’ll take you back.”

The true test of a band is how well they follow up on their debut. The first Garbage album was exceptional; the second was an all-time banger. Like many alternative rock bands their commercial fortunes waned in the US as we reached the turn of the century and audiences moved in other directions. They have stuck around, releasing a new album as recently as 3 years ago. Shirley Manson remains awesome; it’s fitting that when she briefly dabbled into acting she was a regular on the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show in which she portrayed a terminator. She always gave the impression that if she wanted to kick your ass you would be dead before you hit the ground.

The Ballot Countdown

Newcomer # 6 Ian Kinsler - It’s unfortunate that when I think of Ian Kinsler the first thing that comes to mind is the comment he made about Team Puerto Rico during the 2007 World Baseball Classic when he implied that their passion and enthusiasm didn’t pass his Play The Game The Right Way Test. It’s quite a feat that he put together an impressive major league career with a stick up his butt, although to be fair the following day he did some damage control and clarified his comments. Still, get over yourself.

Kinsler was the type of player whose career looks a lot better than you might remember when you take a good look at it. None of it adds up to HOF level, but it was one heck of a career. MVP votes in 3 different seasons, 2 Gold Gloves, more than 90 runs scored 9 times, more than 40 doubles 3 times, 5 seasons with bWAR above 5, with 9 seasons overall above 4.

The Hall frequently repeats the fact that only the top 1% of players in the sport’s history are elected. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Kinsler ranks in the top 2-3%. That’s not too shabby. Or to put it another way, he retired with precisely 1999 career hits. He was thiiiiiis close to being special.

Holdover #6 Bobby Abreu - To steal an old saying, Abreu is so underrated that he has become overrated. Abreu is a favorite of the sabermetric crowd, but I personally won’t go that far. He is a prime example of a certain type - a player who does so many things so well but no one particular thing special enough to give him the respect that he deserves. And he was outstanding year after year after year. You could count on a 25 home run, 100 RBI, 25 steal season with an OPS above .900. He was almost a metronome.

For all of that consistency, he never had the one monster season that could have helped him stand out a bit more. This is more a reflection of the fact that voters didn’t appreciate him enough at the time, but it is worth noting that he never once finished in the top 10 of the MVP vote. A more accurate assessment of his value and all around skill is that he had 7 consecutive seasons with a bWAR above 5.

He received a lot of unfair criticism over the fact that he wouldn’t run into walls. OK, maybe that hesitancy cost a run here or there. You know what’s more important? He played in more than 150 games for 13 consecutive seasons. I’ll take that reliability coupled with that production any day. As good as he was, he’s not a Hall of Famer for me. Circling back to what I said above about Ian Kinsler, Abreu was likely in the top 1.5% of dudes to have ever played the game, just shy of clearing the bar. Close, but no cigar.

You Really Are The Most Devious Bastard In All Of New York Cit-Ay!

As I have mentioned more than once, the series finale of What We Do In the Shadows aired Monday night. I have an affinity for finales, and the better ones will always have special places in my heart. At the same time I don’t get too bothered by bad finales. It’s about the journey, not the destination, so even when a show has an unsatisfying wrap-up, it’s not enough to ruin my past enjoyment of the show. Not even the How I Met Your Mother finale tarnished the show’s legacy too much.

Some shows lend themselves to the potential for a neat conclusion better than others. WWDITS is one that presents a challenge. After all, these characters have existed for hundreds of years before the premiere and will continue to exist for hundreds afterwards. How do you complete their story? The creators did a wonderful job of doing so, recognizing that the primary relationship of the show is the one between Nandor and Guillermo and it is there that closure can be found.

The catalytic event in the finale was the revelation that the documentary crew that had been following them around finally had enough footage and they were shutting the production down. The vampires were non-plussed - in the highlight it was revealed that this wasn’t even the first documentary crew to follow the vamps. They showed scenes from an unreleased 1950’s B&W doc (directed by the Maysles Brothers!) in which they were having the exact same tedious conversations that they continued to have decades later. As a bonus the old footage gave us an opportunity to see Jackie Daytona one last time.

The ending of the doc gave Colin Robinson a chance to get meta, and it freaked Guillermo out to no end. This led to the emotional highlights you wish for in a finale, along with an extended Usual Suspects homage. There is even bonus footage available on Hulu; click on the “extra hypnosis features” tab and there are more alternate endings. As a whole, this show gave us 6 seasons and 61 episodes of some of most consistently LOL comedy of any era. Now, one last time, “bat!”

The Critics Have Their Say

When I was a teen I made a couple of personal vows in response to the way that older generations constantly criticized the music that my generation listened to. I promised that that would never be me. I kind of understood that I would eventually age out of the target demographic, but that didn’t mean that I needed to devolve into full “what is this crap that kids are listening to? In my day, we had real music” grouchiness. I would not be the Kevin Kline character in The Big Chill, refusing to acknowledge that any good music came out after his youth. I’ve largely succeeded in sticking to that. Even if I’m sometimes puzzled by what I hear on Top 40 radio, I remind myself that it’s not meant to be for me. And that’s OK.

I’ve been less successful in following my other vow. I promised myself that I would remain fully attuned to the current musical scene no matter how old I get. I honestly try, but there are only so many hours in the day. Which is why I take a close look at annual year end critics polls. Every year I find at least a few worthy artists who might have escaped my radar otherwise.

RIP to the old Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll. Now, instead of consulting that one-stop shopping list I have to look through a few different surveys. From what I could gather the critical consensus is that it truly was a Brat summer. Charli XCX came in at #1 on Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Stereogum, as well as finishing near the top on several other polls. Among the other albums that consistently finished near the top of multiple lists were albums by Kendrick Lamar (I suspect he would have done even better had his album dropped earlier), Cindy Lee, MJ Lenderman, Mannequin Pussy, Jessica Pratt, Tyler, the Creator, and Waxahatchee. I’ve got some listening I will need to catch up on in the coming weeks.

Slim

Former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap died this week. He joined the band in 1987 following the dismissal of original guitarist Bob Stinson. Dunlap did not become a member of the group in time to play on the Pleased To Meet Me album, but he was in the band as that tour began, which was the one time that I saw The ‘Mats in concert. I lucked out; only a few days before the show that I attended they had one of their more notorious drunken debacle shows. The night that I saw them they were tight and in good shape.

I don’t know how accurate it is to call him a calming influence on the rest of the band, but he did seem to be the adult in the room, and not just because he was several years older than his band mates. He shunned the spotlight; he was happiest simply being a professional musician, and his presence in the later albums was a signal that the band was now a much more polished ensemble.

Following The Replacements’ inevitable dissolution, he maintained a steady presence in the Minneapolis rock scene, releasing a couple of low profile solo albums along with local session work and live gigs. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 2012, which led the other members to briefly reunite for an EP called Songs For Slim that helped raise funds to pay off his medical bills. Dunlap succumbed to complications from that stroke. He was 73.

SNL Preview

I suspect a lot of people are surprised that Martin Short isn’t a Five Timer already. But it’s true, even though he has made his share of cameo appearances over the years, he has only been an actual host or co-host 4 times until this weekend. I wish I could remember who came up with this line so that I could give them the proper credit, but I had once heard Short referred to as The Last Of the Old Time Hams. That’s meant as a compliment; he has the rare ability to play big without getting overly exhausting. He could have easily fit into any era in which he had been born. It’s easy to imagine him working vaudeville, trading yuks with Bob Hope, or appearing regularly on the Dean Martin roasts. Instead, he came up during the glory days of the Toronto Second City troupe, and he has been a comedy legend ever since. All of which is to say that he is a perfect choice to host this season’s pre-Christmas episode. As shaky as this year has been, I fully expect this week’s show to be a delight.

Non-Peak TV - The Bradys

The Brady Bunch has had quite the history, especially when it comes to exploiting that IP. There was the standard stuff; a Saturday morning cartoon show along with a long run in syndication, as well as reunion movies and spin-off series. Nothing was as bats*** crazy as the Brady Bunch variety show, but the 1990 revival came awfully close.

This show came in the wake of a highly rated TV movie called A Very Brady Christmas. The programming wizards at CBS decided to bring the gang back for a weekly show, but with a twist. How about making it a serious drama? It would deal with issues considerably more dramatic than cursed Tiki idols or Jim Backus licking the family in an old-timey jail cell, and cynics snarkily referred to the show as bradysomething. The problem? The actors who portrayed the children were cute kids, but there’s a good reason why most of them didn’t find much non-Brady acting work. Trying to tackle serious drama was beyond their capabilities. The one exception was Eve Plumb. She actually has solid bona fides; she had a good run in the 70’s with starring roles in a batch of serious TV movies. She played a whole bunch of alcoholics, or teen prostitutes, or alcoholic teen prostitutes.

To be fair, when I did a quick refresher on this show I found that the only episode I watched was the third. I clearly missed out on some crucial exposition that would have enhanced my enjoyment. But what I saw was a train wreck, and the only Brady who escaped this with dignity still intact was Maureen McCormick, who did not appear in this revival and was replaced with a faux Marcia. Side note - I had no reason to know this at the time, but I just learned that Greg’s son was portrayed by none other than Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

The chief plot in the episode I saw involved a new highway that was built to run directly through the Brady backyard. The family had no recourse but to have the house physically moved to a new piece of property, but it inspired Mike to take a stand for the little guy and he ran for a seat on City Council. This all occurred while Alice was away on her honeymoon. Yep, she finally married Sam the butcher. But, she was unaware of the news so she returned to work to find a vacant lot where the Brady home once stood. Cue classic Alice double take.

As I mentioned the Brady kids were given material that was far out of their wheelhouses. Bobby was a professional race car driver and in one of the earlier episodes he suffered a spinal injury in a racing accident. Try to picture a gritty Mike Lookinland determined to get out of that wheelchair. But there’s more. The actress portraying his wife? Martha Quinn! The writers weren’t quite as cruel to Susan Olsen. Cindy had grown up to become the morning drive DJ at Los Angeles’s biggest top 40 station. She was dating a widowed father of two young daughters. The older, a tween, was so excited to meet her favorite DJ until she learned that she was dating her father. The youngster screamed “I hate you!” at Cindy, but Olsen was incapable of responding to that with a believable facial reaction.

The show was both a critical and rating disaster. It only ran for 6 episodes, and it essentially placed a stake in the heart of that iteration of the Brady Bunch. To be sure, Brady nostalgia is eternal. A kitschy stage show as well as the Gary Cole/Shelley Long movies were yet to come, but any further appearances from the original 6 Brady children have come in the form of reality programming. (Things have been particularly bad for the youngest one in curls. Susan Olsen has made a series of homophobic comments over the years that eventually cost her a radio job. She alleges that her MAGA views are the reason that CBS pulled the plug on a proposed revival of the show last year.)

Closing Laughs

That will do it for yet another week. Have a great weekend everyone, and we will talk again on Monday. See ya!