Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #25

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

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? (2003)


What happens when an stable democratic society is taken over by a right-wing, warmongering government that doesn't conscript it's angry young men? For one, you get apathy through the roof, and a sense of prolonged rage that manifests itself in jangled nerves and hopeful skepticism until the next election comes along.

But what happens to the angry young men/punks/rude boys in between? Ted Leo, the de facto successor to Ian MacKaye's indie consciousness, provides something of an answer in "Where Have All The Rude Boys" gone. Musically, the song takes risks—sounding too jammy in a ska-rock song, a genre that became bastardized in the previous decade, would be poison for much lesser musicians.

But Leo injects his Specials homage with a bit of the Cars and a lot of the Clash, and the song ends surpassing genre standard "Rudie Can't Fail." Lyrically, Leo starts off with questioning all the alternatives: killing yourself, killing the bad guys, dancing the night away, taking on the bad guys with music. None of those work. The remainder of the song is a desperate attempt to find the remnants of a tool of social protest that seems to have disappeared. The song's desperate sincerity is pretty much at the heart of the song, and it's the fault of younger musicians that six years later, we're still looking. Without a guaranteed source of income, healthcare, or sustainability, perhaps its understandable why few musicians want to put their neck on the line. But the fact remains that 6 years later, Ted Leo's question remains to be answered.

Labels: 2000s, lists, pop music, songs of the decade, Ted Leo, ted leo and the pharmacists, where have all the rude boys gone?

SONGS OF THE DECADE #60

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

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Me and Mia (2004)


One formula for a great pop song has always been the following: focus on a specific theme, make the lyrics vague enough so that it won't be time sensitive, and have music that matches the lyrics. Ted Leo may have written the best sincere indie anthem since "Waiting Room" with "Me & Mia," a song, that, surprisingly enough, is not about a girl named Mia. A quick look at the lyrics will show that the song about eating disorders, which last time I checked, affected 10 million American women and 11 million Americans, with numbers that are only growing.

Yet, the song works universally as a reflection on self-control, which has always been a fleeting human trait, and ever more so in today's word. Most critics focus on Ted Leo as an album rock artist, and since Shake the Sheets was not his best album, it may never reach the same critical plateau. But it's still a great song, and one that would be a classic if educated Americans weren't afraid to talk about the issues that actually mattered.

Labels: 2000s, lists, me and mia, pop music, songs of the decade, ted leo and the pharmacists