Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #33

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

Mission of Burma - Good, Not Great (2006)



Mission of Burma, a band that was hugely significant to a few important people in 1983, didn't get proper recognition outside that group until Our Band Could Be Your Life came out in 2001. As the Pixies launched a sold-out reunion tour in 2004, MoB probably figured they could get in on it too. They didn't make as much money as the Pixies. Why? Because, musically, in the '80s, Mission of Burma was extremely good punk, but not necessarily great music.

Eventually, however, punk became the only kind of rock music that focused more on being good than popular. To castigate the culture that welcomed you back with open arms could have backfired, but MoB's skepticism towards the latest trends, and with 20 years of on-the-job experience at it, turned this good band into a great one. They were old enough and bitter enough to ram that fact through your ear drums. However, they were not bitter enough to forget what mattered: war, apathy, hatred, violence, self-righteousness. As voices from the past, it was their job to reorient a generation that's all about "me me me me me me me" to get their heads out of the sand.

With "Good, Not Great," Mission of Burma pretty much cemented their roles as indie rock's elder statesman of social criticism. None of the reunited punk bands came even close to producing as much significant new work this decade. If you're looking for a song that fully expresses the caveats of the Pitchfork generation, look to this two-minute track with no melody, structure, or sympathy for an age group with no compassion. It's less a defining song of a generation and more "Synecdoche, Rock and Roll," showing what a generation raised on hardcore punk nihilism has wrought.

Labels: 2000s, good not great, lists, mission of burma, pop music, songs of the decade

SONGS OF THE DECADE #81


Mission of Burma - Nicotine Bomb (2004)


No matter what breakthrough Mission of Burma is famous for making, and no matter what they accomplished afterwards, reunion attendees would demand to hear "(That's When) I Reached For My Revolver," the indie equivalent of shouting "Freebird." "Nicotine Bomb" helped MoB sidestep this problem by providing a song closer to pop than "Revolver," but also happened to be a better Mission of Burma song. Unlike Flaming Lips fans who have no idea of what came before "Do You Realize?", obsessing on "Nicotine Bomb" is beneficial to Mission of Burma, the bands original fans, critics, and new fans alike. A successful Mission of Burma reunion in the studio was miraculous enough: the rarity of producing consensus in the subculture wars is arguably even more so.

Labels: 2000s, lists, mission of burma, nicotine bomb, pop music, songs of the decade