To hell with good song title intentions

Play it: McLusky McLuskyism
Play it: Songs that don't live up to their titles

It's been over a year since the Welsh noise rock trio McLusky broke up, and last month a greatest hits compilation was released called McLuskyism. To be exact, two were released, one a single-disc greatest-hits-only comp, and a three-disc one that also contained b-sides and rarities. For those unitiated, I'd recommend the first as it's chock full of everything to love (and hate) about McLusky, from the lower-fi beginnings to the Albini produced powerhouses. For the fans, the three-disc set is great if for no other reason then the fact you have that many more song titles to chuckle at.

Speaking of song titles, Stylus just listed their Top Ten Songs That Don’t Live Up To Their Titles list. I've done my own, which includes a couple of Stylus' list (My List.) Part of the premise here is that a a song title can be so powerful or f*cking clever that it's nearly impossible for the actual song to live up to it. I like all of these songs, but it can be said that they are overshadowed by the might of their titles. McLusky had one in the Stylus list, which is fine, but I had to include three, if for no other reason then I'm profiling their damn compilation. One song in there of note is the Robert Pollard/Richard Meltzer collaboration "Kerouac Never Drove, So He Never Drove Alone" (from the recent addition to Rhapsody, Completed Soundtrack For The Tropic Of Nipples, Play it,) which illustrates that while Robert Pollard has written a lot of interesting (and off the wall) song titles, the only one that makes this list was a collaborative effort with a writer.

Taking a look at the tracklists for both these playlists, you'll note that you could just leave the McLuskyism comp up there for both and not be far off the mark.

Previously:
The World Loved Them and was Their Bitch (McLusky RIP)

tags: playlist, indie rock, music, rhapsody, mclusky, robert pollard, richard meltzer