It Feels Good

One of the kids from Fall Out Boy, ooh felt a bit of my soul die just typing that, interviewed his "idol" and fellow hairstylist victim Robert Smith for this week's Entertainment Weekly. High points include the revelation that Smith initially had no Gothic pretensions preferring just to be in a pop group and that he has found after a tour "making a sandwich becomes really, really intense." Perhaps that is how he's acquired the nickname "Fat Bob" in recent years. Smith also confirms my theory that artists, in particular established ones, have no idea what their strengths are:

We did an album in '96 [Wild Mood Swings] and we had a song on there called ''Mint Car'' — it was the single, and I thought it was a better song than ''Friday.'' But it did absolutely nothing because we weren't the band at that time. The zeitgeist wasn't right. It taught me that sometimes there's a tipping point, and if you're the band, you're the band, even if you don't want to be, and there's nothing you can do about it.

: So "Mint Car" is a better song than "Friday I'm In Love". Let's take a listen to both:





: You tell me which song just sits there and which one brings a smile to your face. Obviously Smith has never thought much of "Friday" saying that it was "just a stupid pop song" when the single was released, but it is also a fun tune with some energy and clever lyrics behind it even if they are less than mind blowing in their depth. As I discussed with friends at the time "Mint Car" sounded like he was going back to rewrite the same song, or at least revisit the same "silly" vibe with a similar guitar riff, but it came across as a mix of trying too hard and just tired. It's almost as if he was saying if you thought that piece of crap was something than listen to what I can do when I try to make crap. If he wanted to play up better songwriting from when the "zeitgeist wasn't right" for The Cure he should be talking up The 13th. Now there's a song that is different and stays with you.