Pavement vs. Royal Trux

"weird opinions" otm, and nothing wrong with that, but the reductive "tuneless noise" take is so misguided and anyone who writes Royal Trux off as that is cheating herself out of some of the best rawk of that era

US Maple was great but they did their own thing (which, DGAF as it may have sounded, was revealed to be tight and calculated as hell if you ever saw them live) and Trux did theirs.

― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, May 21, 2018 12:37 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag

Harry Pussy were like this, too. That Beefheart thing of "you think it's random unstructured noise but watch them repeat exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, and now behold a level of obsession almost too insane to be believed"

i'm not trying to troll here but people who don't like pavement are dumb.

Although they made it sound effortless, it seemed like they were definitely trying to be this or that on every record.

This might be why I'm not as fond of the later records. But I don't think it's true of the third, fourth, and fifth albums, when they just sounded like a band to me. A band with a pretty wide scope.

Or even the super early records like the first album or those tracks on the ROIR tape - I don't see those as being one thing.

What Is Royal Trux?

they were a rock band

You guys keep mispelling Trucks, it's imbarrassing.

there isn't a single song by Royal Trux that comes close to "Grounded" but overall I gotta go with them.

Hmm. Might actually agree with that post.

(Rather, plenty of Trux songs come close to 'Grounded' but I'm trying to think of some/any that top it in my esteem.)

Trux at their best were dynamite. "Fear Strikes Out" is dynamite.

what's that song that has its own thread on the noize board?

Oh neat ROYAL TRUX are on spotify now! Thanks thread for eeminding about them last time I checked they weren’t there.

It’s missing some of their best albums though :/

Honestly I agree there’s really not much connecting both bands sound-wise to warrant a face off.

Don’t know about the noize board, but here’s a Trux song with its own ILM thread:

Royal Trux - "The United States vs One 1974 Cadillac El Dorado Sedan"

that song - and the '3 song ep' that is came from is just about my favourite RT

on this question though - i just find that Royal Trux has so much more long term value - so many nooks and crannies and new things to discover - Pavement seems less opaque and more like a fun good time that is easier to wear out

well RTX discography is probably what 4 times the size of Pavement's (including post-Trux solo work)

dis one
shockwave rider

That title is from a john brunner book

are the stoners cooler than the nerds

maybe, maybe not, but here I will go with the jocks

(gbv)

I think u mean alcoholics

that too

both bands were stoned as shit

Yeah malkmus was def a stoner during pavement

Pavement could be far more chill, and easy to vibe with. Everything through BTC is just great. Terror Twilight had some great b-sides, "No More Tan Lines" etc. those little eps for Major Leagues and Shady Lane.. Trigger Cut b-sides are sweet, too. RTX was just ramped up, on another level.. I'm still discovering them.

ftr i started this thread cuz i saw something about JH dissing Pavement recently. also i wanted to read people talk about royal trux vs pavement. and na was also otm

it feels like the purpose of this thread is to make old people feel cool for voting for royal trux over pavement. which is a purpose i support. i pick royal trux.

― na (NA), Monday, May 21, 2018 4:33 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like pavement a lot but don't care for malkmus solo. i guess a better poll would have been hagerty vs. malkmus? or even better a single bump to the neil michael hagerty thread reading "good stuff"

Solo Malk and Hag have basically nothing to do with their old bands (aesthetically), and even less to do with each other than Pavement & Trux had in common (which was purely circumstantial, not aesthetic)

Jennifer doesn’t like pavement FYI

― Right column Leftist (sunny successor), Saturday, May 19, 2018 3:05 PM

So, to flesh out whitehallunity's impressive collection of interview excerpts upthread:

Drug habits notwithstanding, Royal Trux managed to stay prolific throughout the early 90s while garnering interest from majors, including their eventual label Virgin, stumbling to find the next Nirvana. Hagerty points towards Herrema opposite: "Do you remember what they said to us? They told us, 'We already have The Rolling Stones, but we want THE NEW Rolling Stones'. I was crying with joy inside when they said that, but I was trying to be cool. I was trying to be that 90s version of cool. What was that called again?"

"Slacker?" I blurt out, feeling I've set myself up for a bad joke.

"Oh yeah?" Hagerty ripostes pokerfaced. "You mean like Pavement?" Herrema buries her head in her hands at the mere mention of the titans of smarty-pants indie, groaning, "They suck!"

"See?" Hagerty prods, pushing his seat back. "She said that shit! Not me!" He says the last line with a glint in his eyes, like a kid who just goaded his little sister into uttering a swear word.

-- The Wire 399 (May 2017)

Were you a jerk? In a Stereogum oral history, you said people may have thought you were aloof.

I don’t think I was so bad then. Still, no one liked me. There were some definite role models of jerkdom back then, like [the producer] Steve Albini. The whole fanzine culture, Gerard Cosloy [the editor of Conflict], was snarky and sarcastic, like Mad Magazine gone hipster, with music. And there were really bitchy bands, like Royal Trux.

-- NY Times (May 14, 2018)

(That second one is Malkmus, btw)

I knew about those two but wasn't able to find them when I was pulling the others in here, so thanks.

NP... future generations will judge ours by how thoroughly we had documented these exchanges!

I saw both bands and RT was always weird, shambling, inscrutable onstage. Pavement, the music was easier to get a handle on but rarely has band so hugely infuriated me live, I walked out of a show cuz no one seemed to know how to play the songs and Malkmus was so aloof & seemingly bored.

It is interesting to read his take on his stage demeanor now...at the time he seemed to me at least, listening to the records & standing in the crowd, very prickly.

Both bands discogs have aged much better then I would have expected.

Oh neat ROYAL TRUX are on spotify now! Thanks thread for eeminding about them last time I checked they weren’t there.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 21, 2018 4:24 PM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It’s missing some of their best albums though :/

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 21, 2018 4:25 PM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they're in the process of adding them, they seem to be doing three albums each month. they're all going to be up there eventually

was there ever a drag city announcement re: spotify or did they just quietly start putting stuff up there

My dirty secret as a Pavement fan is that I often found Bob N.’s onstage “contributions” to be irritating/extraneous, and wished he wasn’t there... :/

(Although he was great at Lollapalooza, running around the stage and taunting mud-throwers in the crowd.)

there was a drag city announcement; however, the royal trux stuff is coming from fat possum where they're signed now

My dirty secret as a Pavement fan is that I often found Bob N.’s onstage “contributions” to be irritating/extraneous, and wished he wasn’t there... :/

kinda feel this... but he's such a great dude I can't help but like him in any context

He seemed to be the "heart & soul" of the band, for sure!

he was like the bosstones dude or the happy mondays acid gremlin, right? yeah, these people are always annoying.

i never cared about seeing them live though. the records were all i needed.

i thought they were pretty terrible at pitchfork

Were Royal Trux a great live experience? Never saw em. I looked all the Pavement gigs I saw but they weren't really an essential live act

liked

Trux could be "variable," I guess -- but when they were "on," there was no one better!