March 28, 2007

YouTube Rodeo: The Pop Of P.I.L.'s "Pop Tones"



We're still just about halfway through Simon Reynolds' excellent book "Rip It Up And Start Again." The book begins with a discussion of Public Image Ltd., and it would seem it begins a second half by proclaiming P.I.L.'s Metal Box the pinnacle of post-punk music. Reynolds offers a little editorial on each of the set's tracks and we realized we couldn't remember what "Pop Tones" sounded like. So we headed to YouTube and found it right quick, and the clip is linked atop this item. The song, despite its morbid narrative, can be a pleasant respite from the band's monochromatic, rhythmic slabs like "Death Disco" and "Memories."

Awesome things about this performance clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test:

1) Red coat.
2) White parallelogram guitar.
3) This more about the song than the clip, but we love how busy the bass playing is on this song, and how it goes out of key sometimes.

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