slint -- _spiderland_: classic or dud

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(i mean the email prefix name handle thingy part)

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:19 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks, gygax! (blushes)

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

i really like spiderland
it was one of those albums that i had heard so much about that at first it seemed a little underwhelming,because i had heard about it in relation to bands who had since expanded upon the ideas,but eventually i grew to really like it
the same thing happened with the jesus and mary chain
i was listening to a fair bit of post rock when i got it though,whereas i haven't really listened to much along those lines in the last year
i've been meaning to give spiderland another listen though,to see if i still like it...

― robin (robin), Monday, 10 March 2003 21:13 (twenty-three years ago)

it's great. i love the whispered "help" on Good Morning Captain. And the "I MISS YOU"'s at the end are as moving as music gets. it's worthy of the fuss...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 10 March 2003 22:33 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/2000_05_28_hated.html#285562

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:02 (twenty-three years ago)

b-b-but..."good morning captain" is great BECAUSE it's a sappy tear-jerker. there's nothing complex about the end, but it's so brutal and beautiful. i couldn't give a wanking goat about funny time signatures, or anything...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

tanya does not like music therefore any of her 'opinions' do not count.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 12:19 (twenty-three years ago)

I always found the echo whisper part in "Good Morning, My Captain" to be embarassingly bad. Gimme the BRUTALITY of _Tweez_ or the s/t 10"over _Spiderland_ anyday. Still a worthwhile album.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:02 (twenty-three years ago)

i love the whispered "help" on Good Morning Captain. And the "I MISS YOU"'s at the end are as moving as music gets

I always found the echo whisper part in "Good Morning, My Captain" to be embarassingly bad

How would you say this compares with Ozzy on "Black Sabbath" singing "No NO! Please God Help me!!"? I find them both neither moving nor embarassing. They're both just really effective performances in the context of the songs.

Anyway, the Slint album is a definite classic. All the imitators are duds. The thing is as great is Slint were, there is no real point to all the regurgitation. That album was delivered at the perfect time, and they themselves had the good sense to stop.

(ok, maybe when I was a kid I got goosebumps w/ Ozzy, but I'm talking about now)

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 09:08 (twenty-three years ago)

eleven months pass...

How about some new For Carnation stuff? (too lazy to start a separate thread)

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Also..what happened to Brian Mcmahan's plans to produce "a modern R&B album"?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought I posted to this thread but searched for my name and didn't find it - hell no I'm not gonna read the thread. It's a total Dud, and made me realize that I don't care about indie rock anymore. Boring, boring, boring.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Two classic songs ("Washer" and "Good Morning Captain") and the rest are terribly boring. I love the cover though!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 23 February 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, I love when people who are "too lazy to start a new thread" aren't too lazy to search through the archives to find just the right thread to revive.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it actaully translates to "More people will click on a thread about Slint than a thread about For Carnation, so..."

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 23 February 2004 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i have come back around to liking spiderland a lot again, probably not coincidentally at the point where i dont feel the remotest need to give a fuck about it in a public opinion sense.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, I love when people who are "too lazy to start a new thread" aren't too lazy to search through the archives to find just the right thread to revive.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic!!! I love it forever!!!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

i.e. i was sympathetic to tom's points for a very long time, even though i liked the record and he didnt. all the stuff which followed in slint's wake i find uniformly blah-to-bad now (notable exceptions: the first and third tortoise records and some of the singles, the first papa m lp...i'm not sure if palace or smog really count at all here). i mean...rodan? june of 44? life is way too short. also there was a real feeling among a lot of people i knew circa 96-01 that the chi-town and related axis was responsible for way more bad ("killing" [classicist] indie rock, making stereolab boring, displacing the attention that should have gone to all the original uk post-rock acts), and slint seemed like the "logical" starting point. with hindsight now, though, they just seem like an indie rock band now. (lack of vibes and feel-good jazz chops probably for starters.)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:49 (twenty-two years ago)

fuck all that stuff that came after it. Spiderland is classic all the way!!!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

the for carnation wrote one really genius song ("alfredo's welcome" which sounds like church music slowed down to 33rpm), and a whole mess of other songs i couldn't pick out with 100 guesses.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 February 2004 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

that stuff is okay if you are having trouble sleeping.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"Back when _Spiderland_ came out, folks around the college station I worked at made much merry over it. I think I played something from it once. The end. I have it in my collection somewhere and there it sits, staring at me. Yet I ignore it, really.
-- Ned Raggett"

I find this shocking and disturbing.

― Stupid (Stupid), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I found Spiderland one of those legendary records that actually lived up to my expectations once I heard it.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

(psssst, stupid. ned is heavily medicated.sometimes it impairs his hearing.it's sad really.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm embarrassed about everything I posted more than six months or so ago. Anyway, I listened to GMC and "Washer" some time ago just to make sure or something. Search: the guitar lines; Destroy: the vocals, the production. It's not horrendous or anything if you don't have people shoving it in your face all the time. Was Calla influenced by this? If so, the album is responsible for one good thing.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:34 (twenty-two years ago)

spiderland... the first two songs are totally underrated. classic.

the for carnation - search:

how i beat the devil
get and stay march
on the swing [note: became my favorite song for a week about two years ago]
i wear the gold
winter lair
salo
preparing to receive you
alfredo's welcome

the touch and go album is really good. he (they) played a secret show a month before it was released at bruno's in SF which was incredible.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm guessing Brian's not really doing the For Carnation anymore, though I haven't heard anything to confirm that. Kind of a shame, I think that band had some great moments and a lot of further potential.

― hstencil, Monday, 23 February 2004 05:53 (twenty-two years ago)

last i heard he was still in LA... ???

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:57 (twenty-two years ago)

possibly, for all I know?!? Although something makes me think he moved back to Louisville. Haven't seen him since the last time the For Carnation toured, which was ages ago.

― hstencil, Monday, 23 February 2004 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

for @d@m: britt walford drummed on a song on the touch & go record.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Re: the vocals on Spiderland (which I happen to like, like a lot) - the original vinyl pressing of Tweez came with little flyers inside advertising for a female vocalist for the band. Wonder how things would've turned out had they found a girl singer...

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 23 February 2004 10:51 (twenty-two years ago)

**Re: the vocals on Spiderland (which I happen to like, like a lot) - the original vinyl pressing of Tweez came with little flyers inside advertising for a female vocalist for the band. Wonder how things would've turned out had they found a girl singer... **

Did you know that one of the people who replied to the advert for female vocalists was one Polly Jean Harvey? Now there's a pretty cool thought... PJ singing for Slint...

― Mog, Monday, 23 February 2004 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

There also persists this rumour that they all checked themselves into a home for the bewildered, or similar, on completion of the album. I've always assumed this to be scurrilous bollocks, but I did wonder if anyone on here knew either way.

As for Spiderland itself, basically what Jess said, although the proper (2000's) For Carnation album is still one of the most fundamentally *moving* records I own. A great deal of the stuff that followed it was only really impressive on a very superficial level, although I haven't been disappointed by very much of Dave Pajo's stuff.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 23 February 2004 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't been disappointed by very much of Dave Pajo's stuff

There speaks a man who never paid out good money for a King Kong album. Me, I'm still bitter...

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 23 February 2004 12:22 (twenty-two years ago)

psssst, stupid. ned is heavily medicated.sometimes it impairs his hearing.it's sad really

Shameless lies!

I think seeing this thread revived was the first time I'd even thought about Slint for a couple of years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

But Ned, the album is still staring at you, thinking about you constantly. It feels so alone.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

The huge amount of Smashing Pumpkins discs nearby in the CD rack ensures it is not alone, since members of both groups eventually joined another one. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I co-interviewed McMahan several years ago, and at the time, he was bouncing back and forth between L.A., New York, and Louisville... so, that's probably still the case for all I know.. (add similar question marks and exclamation points here too).

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

As for For Carnation, I really enjoy the s/t album. Moonbeams is definitely my favourite track by these guys.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

the papa m album live from a shark cage is amazing,i wish my copy of it wasn't scratched to fuck
i never really felt too compelled to listen to the next album much though

― robin (robin), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

the best david pajo solo stuff were the two drag city singles with the stove covers on them... wedding songs i think they were called.

one featured a pretty neat cover of "last caress".

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The most informative thing I got from that McMahan interview above, by the way, was that "Good Morning, Captain" is still possibly, to this day, used without permission on the Kids soundtrack, even though the band members are/were sent royalty checks for its use, regardless. (This was certainly the case up until 1999 or so).

Apparently McMahan and someone else who was in Slint was flown in by A&M (?) before the release of Kids to discuss their inclusion of that song in the soundtrack and wanted the two to sign the big contract to allow use of the song. The two were enthusiastic but didn't want to sign just yet, and wanted to reconvene with the other ex-Slint folks to talk about first, see the movie, etc. and then decide if this is what they wanted. Well, anyway, one day, one of the guys saw the soundtrack in the stores with their song in it, much to his surprise -- no contract ever haven been signed or anything. But they apparently got mailed their royalty checks while the soundtrack was moving units in the stores... so hey.

Good ol' music industry for ya.

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:59 (twenty-two years ago)

aerial m / papa m >> "spiderland"

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

search: the Ah Club song that samples "GMC"

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:01 (twenty-two years ago)

esoj = cracksmoker

apparently, lou barlow supervised the KIDS soundtrack. not sure if he had the final say on slint (although sebadoh had an b-side titled "slintstrumental").

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Mogwai sampled "GMC" on a david holmes remix.
some dj (i think her name was sage) i saw about 7-8 years ago sampled the drum bit during one of the more tribal parts of the set.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, that was hardly the greatest scandal regarding Kids. Apparently MCA went after Folk Implosion for those Silver Apples samples.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:04 (twenty-two years ago)

*changes mind about sampling silver apples*

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

the song isn't actually used in the movie, but is on the soundtrack, and yeah it's Lou Barlow's fault.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 494 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Looool

― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Friday, 17 October 2025 19:35 (eight months ago)

― nxd, Friday, 17 October 2025 19:37 (eight months ago)

made me smile :)

― ava (aiva), Saturday, 18 October 2025 08:28 (eight months ago)

six months pass...

https://www.courier-journal.com/obituaries/psbn1440856

late to this but RIP

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 6 May 2026 06:00 (one month ago)

geoblocked outside the US but managed to read it using a vpn. RIP Britt's dad.

― bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Wednesday, 6 May 2026 08:24 (one month ago)

with apologies to our global partners:

https://i.ibb.co/HLHF2zxM/Screenshot-2026-05-06-at-10-17-04-AM.png

encouraged his son to play piano, guitar, sing (and drums) from a very young age
let all his son's bands practice in their basement
would sometimes join in via piano upstairs to various tweez tracks
eponymous opening salvo on tweez ("the book" on tweethan)
owner of the home addressed on the back of spiderland

https://i.ibb.co/sG3yCXT/Screenshot-2026-05-06-at-10-12-30-AM.png

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 6 May 2026 17:19 (one month ago)

legendary appearance in the documentary saying “slint songs” in quite the southern accent.

seems like he did a lot of good in his professional life too.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 6 May 2026 18:07 (one month ago)

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