My Top 1000 Songs #668: Upside-Down

[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.] 

While Yo La Tengo had started its pivot from "really good college radio band" to "potentially a truly great band" with 1989's President Yo La Tengo, it was on 1992's May I Sing With Me that the band really came into its own as one of indie rock's most important acts (which would be cemented by the amazing 3-LP run that followed). The record offered everything from hushed ballads to raging guitar workouts, all delivered with confidence and sonic punch. And they even came up with arguably their first alt.rock/MTV-friendly killer single in "Upside-Down," a pithy, crunchy rocker with a drop-dead chorus that made fantastic use of Georgia Hubley's gentle vocals amidst Ira Kaplan's more Lou Reed-like edge. It's a perfect noise pop tune, old-school power pop melodicism with a fizzy sonic edge. (Plus, the single initiated their sometime-practice of offering alternate acoustic versions on the b-side.)

Acoustic version:

Live 2011: