My Top 1000 Songs #807: Speeding 72

[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.]

As one of the newest songs on the list, this one's got some heavy lifting to do... but it's up to the task. I totally adored Momma from first listen, a couple young women who sounded like their dads had fed them a steady diet of 90s acts like Pavement and Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins and the Breeders and Nirvana. And, yes, as the father of a daughter about their age, there was something cool about hearing a new generation influenced by and adapting the music of my early adulthood. Still, it wouldn't work if the music was overtly derivative--or, at the very least, it wouldn't have staying power.

But "Speeding 72," off 2002's excellent Household Name, is a track I still love hearing as often as possible two years later. It wasn't the first track that caught my attention when I heard the LP--others felt more immediate--but it's the one that dug in deepest, whether it's that killer off-tuned riff, the enduring imagery of hopping into the car and aimlessly cruising around, Etta & Allegra's jaded yet still wide-eyed intertwined vocals, or even that silly yet perfect name-check of Pavement's "Gold Soundz."

Live 2022: