My Top 1000 Songs #191: Everyone Wants To Live Forever

Kinda unwieldy title, and that's just the half of it! (It's listed on the Flaming Lips' 1992 LP Hit To Death In The Future Head as "Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)," but since it's the parenthetical that makes it into the chorus, I'll go with that.)

In contrast to the band's later lush, sophisticated proggy-pop higher up the list, this one comes from the band's earlier, noisier, harder-rocking era. Hit To Death saw the band starting to temper the acid-tinged garage rock or its earliest days with a more nuanced indie noise-pop bent, and "Everyone" walks that line perfectly--it's a raging, upbeat anthem that demands room-shaking volume, yet with a killer sing-along chorus that's built for alternative rock radio. You've got the classic Lips weirdness going on--that bass voice "ooh-wop-wop" refrain is pretty damn creepy--yet the blend of jangly and crunchy guitars and straightforward melody is mixtape-ready; it's got a little something for everyone!

Plus a truly awesome video to boot.

Stripped-down and almost mellow in '95:

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