My Top 1000 Songs #362: Friends Of P.

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Is this another one from the Guilty Pleasures file? I suppose it can be cast aside as a lightweight one-hit wonder that, for better and worse, encapsulates the sound of mid-90s alternative rock radio... but, fuck it, a great pop song is a great pop song.

Weezer bassist Matt Sharp set out on his own after that band's first couple records, helming the Rentals on and off ever since with a revolving cast of bandmates (and releasing plenty of solid tunes that didn't make the same splash but hold up well). "Friends of P.," off their 1995 debut Return of the Rentals, is a dense, fizzy wall of distorted guitars and Moog, deadpan and silly and utterly charming. Of course, that derives in large part from the endearing Woo-Hoo-Hoos provided by sisters Petra and Rachel Haden, on loan from their own fantastic band, That Dog.

The song was apparently named in honor of supermodel Paulina Porizkova, wife of late Cars frontman Ric Ocasek (who had produced Weezer's debut); but no context is needed to enjoy this silly yet agonizingly infectious little alt.rock gem.

Live: