By amylee
Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!
Crowd: [in unison] Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
Crowd: [in unison] Yes, we are all different!
Man in crowd: I'm not...
Crowd: Shhh!
Taylor Swift, JJ Barnes, and Little Anthony are on the outside but want in. Staind is looking in from the outside and doesn't seem to want back in. Suede and Franz Ferdinand have tales about pairs of outsiders. Paranoid Visions takes pride in still being outsider artists. But the Ramones are outside of everything. And he's disturbed about that.
The Ramones – Outsider
But it's not like we don't have predecessors or kindred spirits. Johnny Cash wears black in mourning for all of the outcast lives that could have been. Dogs d'Amour namechecks all of the oddball musicians who came to tragic ends, Van the Man counts up the exiles, GLOSS stomps for the outcasts, and Okkervil River finds kindred spirits in artists who had tracheotomies.
If you happen to read the art rag dailies, you'd have to notice that older (ok, elderly, or dead even) female artists (and artists of colour) are having a bit of a moment after languishing in obscurity for a couple of decades. Back in '99 Le Tigre namechecked a litany of female artists.
Le Tigre – Hot Topic
Some highly evolved and enlightened individuals actually prefer partners who don't fit the template. Joni loves a strange boy, Deep Purple loves a strange kind of woman, Cameo likes them strange, the Husker's Grant Hart is charmed by a science nerd, the Pixies have the hots for a weirdo, and the Lewis Sisters love their oddball guy.
Lewis Sisters – He's An Oddball
It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. Elvis finds you can't really go home again, as he feels like a stranger in his own hometown. The Barenaked Ladies return to Canada after success and find the neighbours unimpressed and that they no longer fit in. The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton will long outlive you. Johnny Cash's folk singer doesn't belong anywhere anymore. Pulp wants the homes and the lives of the wealthy folks who won't let them into town, and they'll use their minds to get it. The Stratford Mercenaries think their neighbours' lily white lives could use a bit of bloody atmosphere. Beck has the neighbours from hell. Arcade Fire's Alex, the black sheep of the family, sets out on an adventure, only to have to die for the good of the neighbourhood.
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
So how does one respond to an encounter with the outsider, or the other? One theory is that everyone you meet is a mirror of yourself. The Blockheads make sure that those that sneer at blockheads realise that they're blockheads too. Selves included (too meta?). If you're Jonathan Richman, you welcome the Martians and offer them an ice-cream cone. If you're the Cure, in Robert Smith's interpretation of Albert Camus' L'Etranger, you kill the other only to find that the real stranger is actually yourself. Bunny Wailer was taught as a child to fear the Blackheart Man, only to find as an adult that he's feared and humiliated and suffers the same afflictions as the Blackheart man in his own youth.
The Cure – Killing an Arab
Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man
A recent study showed that 47% of Americans wouldn't be able to come up with $400 if a financial disaster struck. Wages have been flatlined while the costs of housing and healthcare have skyrocketed, we have a raging opioid crisis. No mystery how we got to the point where we have record numbers of homeless citizens. Seems to be a common subject for musicians, and I have to wonder how many did time on the streets or in squats before they became successful. Jennie Anderson's photos of homeless people on the Thames Embankment inspired an entire album for Jethro Tull. Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon wrote a song after seeing a homeless man scratching faces out of newspaper photos.
The homeless person you encounter could be Kevin Rowland's friend. Skynard's friend Curtis Lowe was the finest picker to ever play the blues. Arrested Development trades money for wisdom from Mr. Wendal. The Strawbs encounter with the man who called himself Jesus may well have been the real McCoy. The Beasties' Local alcoholic Johnny Ryall has a rockabilly past.
And when they're gone? Todd Rundgren tells himself that the bag lady is maybe only sleeping. Steely Dan's remorse after swindling Charlie Freak and possibly helping to cause his death has some surprising consequences. (RIP Walter).
Blind Melon – Paper Scratcher
Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall
Syd Barrett, Kevin Ayers, William Blake, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Nietzsche, Joan of Arc, Barney, Happy Jack, Uncle Jack, Big Louise, Lou Reed, Dani California, the Jean Genie – we have tunes about all of these characters and more, real or imagined.
Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter for the Pirates against the Padres on LSD, despite being unable to feel the ball or see the batter or catcher. He claimed to have never pitched a game without the use of drugs.
Blur's Tracy Jacks apparently got tired of a normal life and a normal job as a civil servant, and ran naked on the beach and later bulldozed his house. A sketch by Coxon may imply that the dude now looks like a lady.
This unidentified girl in Chumbawamba's sketch loves to be the odd one out, but it seems to be an excuse for something more toxic altogether. (The Mischief Brew cover is great as well.)
Sometimes people see things. The Tindersticks' blind sister sees colors more beautiful than her sighted brother looking out the window. Moddi's Joseph of the many colors has dreams and visions. (Probably safe to say the Stranglers do too.) Jackie Leven's Jim O'Windygates sees ghosts – of the bartenders who serve him, the miners whose lives cracked, and their sons who buy smack and die in bleeding tracks. Brilliant and beautiful tune.
Barbara Manning – Dock Ellis
Blur – Tracy Jacks
Chumbawamba – This Girl
Jackie Leven – Jim O'Windygates
Julian Cope was locked out of the studio while his bandmate was recording for their final record. Demoralised by tensions with bandmates and disagreements about musical direction, he finally quit the band after their last tour. Newly married, he moved near his childhood home for a long period of seclusion to lick his wounds and amass a large collection of toys. Written off as an acid casualty, his solo work showed that the lights were still on, and that somebody actually was at home. Still, Head Hang Low seems to show him maybe lonely and wishing for a friend, or possibly just a new drug buddy.
Julian Cope – Head Hang Low
I suppose we could just make a list of what's left of Hunky Dory (and maybe even toss in what remains on the carcass of Ziggy). Has to be easier than picking out ust one tune, right? As it happens, this was the easiest pick of the whole set. I'll take the one about where the aliens, kids, and outsiders take over the whole world. As we should. La-da-da-da-da.
David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
The Come Outside A-List Playlist:
The Ramones - Outsider
Le Tigre – Hot Topic
The Lewis Sisters – He's An Oddball
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2
The Cure – Killing An Arab
Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man
Blind Melon – Paper Scratcher
Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall
Barbara Manning – Dock Ellis
Blur – Tracy Jacks
Chumbawamba – This Girl
Jackie Leven – Jim O'Windygates
Julian Cope – Head Hang Low
David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
The Be Very, Very Different B-List Playlist:
The Charlatans – Weirdo
The Shins – Know Your Onion
Barenaked Ladies – Pinch Me
Mitski – Your Best American Girl
The Strawbs – The Man Who Called Himself Jesus
Dexy's Midnight Runners – I'll Show You
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dani California
Betty Davis – They Say I'm Different
Was (Not Was) – Here Comes the Freaks
Cameo – She's Strange
Ian Dury and the Blockheads – Blockheads
The Fall – Carry Bag Man
Stratford Mercenaries – Sunday Morning Neighbors
Okkervil River – Famous Tracheotomies
Joni Mitchell – A Strange Boy
Todd Rundgren – Bag Lady
Susan McKeown – The Lass of Angrim
Belle & Sebastian – The State I'm In
Oddities Playlist: An Extra Grab Bag of Tunes that Should Be Heard
Guru's Wildcard Picks:
Beck - Qué Onda Guero
Soundgarden - Spoonman
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Let them all in: songs about oddballs, outcasts and outsiders. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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