My Top 1000 Songs #444: Gold Soundz

[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.]

Pavement's second full-length, 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, offered a few stabs at moving their distinctly indie sound into an almost alt.rock-radio-friendly space. "Cut Your Hair" was one obvious effort; "Gold Soundz" similarly added a veneer of approachable pop without abandoning the unique iconoclasm that made them the Most! Important! Band! of the 90s. It's ridiculously catchy, an invitation to all obsessive rock nerds to sing along, yet packed with delightful Malkmus phrases that creep up on you unexpectedly 30 years later. "You can never quarantine the past." "The trial's over, the weapon's found." "You're the kind of girl I like, 'cuz you're empty, and I'm empty."

Plus, I'm a sucker for the shortlist of songs that announce right there in the lyrics that "they're coming to the chorus now!" (See also, e.g., Wire's "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W.")

I don't know what it means. And I'm probably singing half the lyrics wrong. But I know how it makes me feel.

Live 2010:

San Francisco rockers The She's give it a great spin:

Another cover, this one by Ray & Remora:

One of my favorite newer bands, Momma, pay tribute to "Gold Soundz" in their own "Speeding '72":