Music

This ain't no disco
In pop music, the crown of the post-apocalypse sits most comfortably on Talking Heads, they of the spastic paranoia and irrestistable hooks. Few TH songs address apocalyptic matter directly, but they are frequently cut with David Byrne's droll sense of doom. The songs that do embrace the end are marked with what might only be called autistic glee.

Talking Heads, Life During Wartime, 1:00, Lyrics

Talking Heads, (Nothing But) Flowers, 1:00, Lyrics

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Flavor of the end -- songs that embrace the spirit, if not the letter, of the genre

Some of R.E.M.'s music evinces either a vague sense of cultural collapse or a barely constrained panic. Think of "Welcome to the Occupation" or "Disturbance at the Heron Hourse." Of course, are we ever going to really know what Stipe meant by Hang your collar up inside / Hang your freedom higher? The most familiar in this vein, is undoubtedly "The End of the World as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)." While not so so much a narrative of the post-apolcalypse as it is a montage of topical crises, its combination of cultural flashpoints and relentless rhythm impart a definite acceleration toward oblivion. It's the Year in Revew soundtrack for the year When Worlds Collide.

Elvis Costello was invoking a sense of electric dread inside a darkened subway train when he penned Waiting for the End of the World.

R.E.M. - It's the End of the World ...
Costello - Waiting for the End of the World
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper

04/22/2007 - 13:40

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