Sweet "Youth Decay"

I was kicking-it with the MP3 player on shuffle today, driving the suburban and rural landscapes that lay themselves down for our great southern highways and interstates, when I was suddenly, and most unexpectedly, straight-up accosted by the ladies of Sleater-Kinney and their kick-ass song "Youth Decay." Could a rock song be any more bombs than this?

Sometimes, it's so much more about the attitude than anything else, and this track's got enough attitude to blow up even the most heavy-duty set of studio headphones. Its cool and loud in a way that only girls could lay to wax. This trio surely brings it like few others can, and if you don't know, then the fourth track on their 2000 album All Hands on the Bad One, "Youth Decay," will surely make a believer out of you.

As set-ups go, it's a fairly simple arrangement. Vocals and backing vocals, two guitars, drums.

"What about the bass player?" you ask the band.

"F++k 'em, we don't need one" would be the probable response.

…..and they truly don't. Corin Tucker plays a baritone guitar, Carrie Brownstein tunes her guitar one step down, and drummer Janet Weiss (I can just hear Tim Curry telling her to "Wise Up") does an excellent job of forcing the average listener to 'hang on for dear life.'

So much for the bass player, but hello "Youth Decay!"

This song just starts off rocking and doesn't let up until you're dizzy from smashing your head on the punk rock. The quick-revolving guitar riff falls all over itself (in a good way), and the no-frills rhythm guitar that it overlays drives 8th notes with a muddy crunch that gives the drums every oportunity to just keep drilling and overturning until they finally blow-up in the chorus's final reprise, never quite giving you a chance to compose yourself and say "ok, ok…… it's just a song."

Throw in the vocals, and you've got a real classic on yer hands; they grab you from the get and don't let go, beginning with a sing-song type melody that ends up in a Sing Sing style shouting match as they explode into the emphatically disturbing chorus "Am I running out? / Daddy says I've got my mamma's mouth…..."

Holy Christmas, that's rock music.