My Top 1000 Songs #957: Sometimes

[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 Firehose's 1986 debut was pretty solid, their second LP--1987's If'n--confirmed that they were a legit great indie band in their own right, far more than simply the remnants of the Minutemen soldiering on without their legendary frontman. The lead-off track, "Sometimes," feels like a lived-in classic rock chestnut, something that you could imagine becoming an FM-dial staple in an alternate universe where Firehose were swapped with the Steve Miller Band or Creedence Clearwater Revival. The verse's basic three-chord motif borrows from The Who, while the jangly chorus is endlessly amiable, something that should've made it more of a break-out single if college radio weren't so ghettoized in the pre-alternative-rock 80s. And drummer George Huntley takes the opportunity to remind everyone that he was the not-so-secret weapon of both Minutemen & Firehose.

Live: