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Syllabus
- Marquee Moon
- Television (band) and Marquee Moon on Wikipedia
- Marquee Moon Lyrics
- Reviews: Christgau, Rolling Stone, P4K’s 10.0 on the re-release
- “Is the scene still alive?”
Don’t have a lot of comments about Television (did like the podcast, though) but I’m listening to the Overthinking It podcast and I’m freaking about the fact that Matt watches Nashville. I’m totally aware of how bad that show can be, but it would be awesome if you guys did a TFT about it. Ryan doesn’t even need to watch it you know, just listen to the songs.
I always thought I hated country, but somehow I’m obsessed with a lot of the soundtrack of that show (except anything that Connie Britton sings, Mrs. Coach is pretty much horrible at it) and I can’t figure out exactly why. Please help me guys!
Yeah, it’s trashy, but remember that TFT started out as a Gossip Girl podcast. To us “trash” is perfect fodder for overthinking.
I’m not really a fan of most commercial country music I hear, but Nashville has enough variety — wouldn’t it be funny if there’s a “one from column A, one from column B” algorithm powering the genres? — that there’s usually something for me.
And don’t hate on Tami Taylor. She sings just fine. :P
Oh, I love Tami Taylor, and when she’s singing on the show she has enough charisma that I don’t even mind. But when I started listening to the soundtrack I just could not bear any of her songs.
And it’s true, the music is pretty varied. I’m not shocked that I like the stuff from Scarlett and Gunnar or Rayna’s kids (so awesome that they are sister for real, btw). I was shocked though, when I started liking Juliette’s songs. And Avery’s songs! I mean, I’m still dumbfounded that I now like Avery.
When talking to Sheely about this offline, we recovered another part of the CBGB anecdote that’s quite relevant to this discussion:
Like Ryan, I remember the feeling that CBGB was more of a historical artifact and less of a “scene center.” This was reflected in the bands performing that night. One in particular was trying VERY hard to channel the Ramones with their music, and I distinctly remember the chorus to one of their songs:
“I’m a prisoner of rock and roll.”
Looking back, it seems like this band was indeed a prisoner, both by their musical predecessors and the historical weight of the venue they were playing in.
All that said, we were glad we had the chance to go there before it shut down. Even in the mid-aughts, with far more gentrification of that neighborhood to come, the place felt like a historical relic, a place that had already run out of time and was counting down the days to its demise.
Since you want comments on Television, allow me to do just that. Television, to me, is the band that comes up periodically on my Pavement station Spotify. When they first came up, I was like, “Oh hey, Television. I’ve heard of them.” So I was interested, but not necessarily enthused. I like “Venus,” and because of that song I now pronounce “Venus De Milo” differently, and I always skip “Marquee Moon” because I usually don’t want to indulge in such a long song. I am not anti-long song, as I am not anti-long movie and I do not understand people who dismiss things on length as if though that is a matter of quality, but I digress. I just usually don’t have the time, as I listen to music in fits and starts, unless, say, I’m listening to a new album like the great new Alvvays album, and even them sometimes it is the same deal.
Anyway, my point is Television is alright. It’s not really in line with a lot of the music I like. It’s not ragged enough to fall in with the likes of The Ramones or The Replacements, but it isn’t lush and production heavy enough to “sound pretty” or what have you. They also seem sort of all over the place in a way I can’t really hook into.