GRANDADDY

Next month, the Modesto, CA band Grandaddy will release their final album and move on into the twilight, roping broken down computers and spraypainting pretty sunsets on the doors of rogue trucks broken down under the western freeway.

I've got three Grandaddy albums. They're uneven but reassuring with their lazy smirking post-apocalyptic lyrics, sugary melodies and synthesizers. I've never considered them a favorite band, but they've made some moments that have stuck with me for ages: The guitar hook on 'Crystal Lake', the 'do-do-doos' on 'El Caminos in the West' are good examples. The first song off their Y2K-themed 'Sophtware Slump' (He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot) is gorgeous, and the synth hook on AM 180 is the catchiest thing I've ever heard. I first heard it 8 years ago and I haven't been able to stop listening to it since. (It's the song played during the montage in 28 Days Later when the non-zombies hit the empty grocery store.)

More than their music, I've always loved their spirit. They've written the prettiest song ever recorded about a robot who writes poetry, and come up with titles like 'Broken Household Appliance National Forest'. When Strikes Again! signed up for myspace, they were the first band with a myspace account I found, and after they accepted our request, I firmly believed they were our friends, like we could show up at their front door and they'd find some space for us to crash.

My favorite moment in their career is between their first and second major label releases. Facing the usual pressure to re-deliver a shinier version of the record that helped break them, Grandaddy responded by writing, recording and sequencing an entire fake album and delivering it to their record company. In later interviews, they claim it was to lower expectations, which is fantastic. They pull out fake English accents, go over the top with the synths, and reference 2 Live Crew. Jason Lytle, Grandaddy's singer, sequences the record perfectly so that the first few songs sound like they could be serious Grandaddy submissions, but after 4-5 songs, you realize the thing's a well-crafted joke.

I don't know the whole story, but after the joke was delivered, they gave it the fake band name 'Arm of Roger' and album title 'The Ham and It's Lily', and released it under the fake record imprint 'Sweat of the Alps'. They made it available on CD Baby. I remember reading about this in the music rags back when it happened, but I was reminded by the Onion AV Club's new Random Rules feature, where Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse references it.

I love the album through and through. It's so easy to listen to from the perspective of a label suit and imagining them freaking out progressively as each track comes up. Track four (One Time They Called And Asked For Freddy) lampoons 'The Joker' and then goes into a three minute loop:

"some people call me a free-range jackass
some people call me a son of a bitch
some people call me and ask for people who don't live here
I'm going to blame all the zeroes in my phone number

One time they called and asked for (Rodney, Helen, Shauna, FREDDY, Melissa, etc.) "

I wish more artists would play jokes on the industry.

The album ends with "The Pussy Song", which is in my Top 10 of funniest songs ever recorded. (I will upload this song as soon as I figure out how.)

Goodnight, Grandaddy.

UPDATE:

Let me know if this link works.