My Top 1000 Songs #755: Here It Is Tomorrow

[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.] 

Another one of those tracks that helps define my mid-80s college radio DJ'ing days, a song way off the radar for most of the known universe but has always held lingering joy for me.

My prior Game Theory selections on the list captured the band's Paisley Underground gentle jangle-pop vibe, pretty and poppy; but "Here It Is Tomorrow," the opening cut on 1986's Big Shot Chronicles, is both more complex and slams a little harder. It starts off as a jagged post-punk rocker, but then slides into a relentlessly infectious power-pop hook at the bridge/chorus combo. It kinda accentuates the band's strengths and weaknesses--the late Scott Miller had an undeniable genius for the perfect hook, which could sometimes be overshadowed by the fussiness of the songs, the need to pack way too many ideas into a 3-minute pop song. But it works here, the pivot from angular rock to gleeful pop unfailingly smile-inducing.

Poorly recorded but still wonderful live footage from 1988: