My Top 1000 Songs #947: Going To Hell

[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.]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre--twisted genius Anton Newcombe and his revolving cast--are one of those acts with a large and varied catalog of material, ranging from boisterous psychedelic shoegaze to stripped-down garage rock, who have thus far evaded this list. Which doesn't reflect how much I enjoy a lot of their work; I just tend to listen to their albums for overall vibes rather than hearing them on a "this song is particularly great" basis.

One exception is "Going to Hell," off 1998's Strung Out In Heaven--one of their more consistent records--which works surprisingly well as an alt.rock single. It's got a familiar-sounding, unusually jangly hook--definitely reminds me of something else but can't put my finger on it--coupled with an appealing delivery from Newcombe that conjures both the Stones and late 60s Summer of Love folk-rock. I can imagine the song being used as the soundtrack for some 90s youth-centric tv show, playing on the jukebox at the Peach Pit before the 90210 kids head off to the beach. Which doesn't make it any less cool.

Live 2016: