1001 Songs Challenge #923: Slob (2002)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

Weezer – Slob (2002)

 

 

We’re remaining in the US today, dear reader, but leaving New York and making our way over to Los Angeles. Weezer were formed in 1992 and gained early traction with songs such as Buddy Holly (1994). When we join them in 2002 the band has had a hiatus (1998-2000) but are now onto their fourth album, Maladroit, which began as an experiment. Weezer recorded demos and released them online for their fans to give feedback. The process did not work out but one song did survive and make it onto the album thanks to the fans’ insistence and that was Slob. 

Slob was first demoed and performed live back in 2000 by Weezer and fans remembered it fondly by the time of Maladroit’s gestation. The song itself sounds like a conflict between parents and their son. Said son is not living the life that their parents and indeed society may expect of them. They are not married, they have no children, possibly no job, but they do have a dream. This dream is dismissed by their peers and they are told to stop being the slob of the title and sort their life out. You can imagine this was something Weezer themselves may have faced from family and friends when they were first starting out.

My knowledge of Weezer is limited to Buddy Holly and I am really not sure why I haven’t explored their material further. Slob is a short but catchy track and there is a universal element here for all of us who may have aspirations of that dream job, whatever it may be, but pressure from family and friends or the weight of expectation from society in general may steer us down a survival path, but not necessarily the road we hoped for. If given the chance to live the lives we truly wanted then I am sure many of us would make changes. Slob is a testament to that pressure of chasing the dream and continuing to do so no matter how unlikely it may be.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (1994)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)