2000 Great Songs #1229: Foggy Eyes
Beat Happening's 1985 eponymous debut was my introduction to Calvin Johnson and the whole K Records scene, lo-fi recordings of "twee" bedroom pop. Maybe the genre existed previously--I suppose one could count Young Marble Giants ' 1980 album Colossal Youth as a sort of predecessor--but this kinda opened up a whole (mostly Pacific Northwest) new can of worms. And while I was fine with Johnson's rough baritone in small doses, I definitely leaned towards the tracks sung by Heather Lewis, who brought a humble girl-next-door charm to tunes like "Foggy Eyes," a forerunner to acts I've come to love like The Softies and Tiger Trap. Manic Street Preachers cover: Punked-up cover by Seaweed:
