Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #11

[For more info, read the Ground Rules of The Song of The Decade List]

Grinderman - No Pussy Blues (2007)



Spoiler alert! Despite my previous inclusions of less-praised LCD Soundsystem tracks, "All My Friends does not make this list." For the reason why I haven't chosen the decade's best song about being in your 30s, look no further than "No Pussy Blues," a song by Nick Cave's side project Grinderman. Against all odds, Cave reached the golden anniversary of being born around the same time "All My Friends" was topping polls.

With a song that took to the oldest trope in art like salt takes to a slug, the pope of trash rock proved, beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, that he was the smartest man working in pop music today. It’s one thing to be smart enough to knows that old habits (misery, sex, jealousy, aging) die hard; it takes something closer to the divine to know when to pounce on a culture in dire need of a leader. No wonder Cave conceived of this song like something of a mad prophet. After a handful of soft-spoken albums, Cave turned back to his nastier, scarier roots just as rock was starting to forget why those roots mattered. In one song, Cave tries every trick he knows, including mocking contemporary purse Chihuahuas, citie classical poets, violence, and good husbandry. None of them work. At 50, Cave has stuck to his guns, however pointless the whole endeavor may have been 30 years ago. Yet somehow, he’s as popular now as he ever was. In 2007, Grinderman nearly started a Stravinsky riot in Madison Square Garden opening for the White Stripes. A year later, Cave was headlining the same venue. If music was religion, I think Nick Cave's work in this decade's latter three years would be enough to earn him sainthood.

Labels: 2000s, grinderman, lists, Nick Cave, no pussy blues, pop music, songs of the decade