There’s something naive and fun about this song - set to a Stalag riddim and featuring a Yellowman sample - that always edged out “Down” for me. It was recorded at the band's small house in Van Nuys. And this song was a pretty great prediction: The band would go on to achieve a huge grassroots following, like a pothead Dave Matthews Band. “Grassroots” is a perfect 311 song, because it hits at least four genres in as many minutes. It was a different time and all that jazz. After 15 or so years of Auto-Tune, I don’t hate hearing flat vocals as they are here (and on much of their work). They’re all about getting ripped, which I guess is also another big draw to the band. “Do You Right” is one of dozens - possibly hundreds - of 311 songs about weed. It feels both like a Booker T & the M.G.’s track and the five-piece at their jam bandiest. In many ways this is the most on-the-nose 311 song title there could possibly be. Critics mostly were very not into this album, the follow-up to 311's mainstream breakthrough “Blue Album,” but I think it has aged better than any of the others.īy this point you’re probably noticing a trend: I’m leaning much more heavily on the less aggro tracks. I’m pretty sure this is not a consensus favorite, but it’s one of several weird cuts on 1997's Transistor, which is overflowing with bizarre little passages and experimental asides. I still stand by it, despite my better sense. This lost Red Hot Chili Peppers song is, like much of the 311 oeuvre, earnest as fuck. So here are my favorite 311 songs, and the ones I think have aged the best. And enough time has passed with most of these records that I miss them now. The newer albums feel pretty lean and scrubbed of a lot of the weirder elements that made their earlier records so appealing in the first place. I can’t say their most recent albums are that engaging or that a lot of their work has aged well. And Nick Hexum’s flat vocal stylings are actually quite charming for me, though this is a matter of taste. I’m curious what they would make if they were just an instrumental jazz fusion/prog trio. P-Nut on bass, Chad Sexton on drums and Tim Mahoney on guitar are the talented musical spine of the group. Musically, though, I think they have an underrated depth. But it seems as if they know their lyrics are ridiculous? That's what I think, at least, but it’s a tough barrier to get over. A lot of their lyrics (and general ethos) are extremely earnest, somewhere between late-period RCHP, emo and pop punk, which has always been the No. So I re-listened to every 311 album and found myself surprised at how weird and interesting some of the compositions are, even though many of the lyrics are still hard to swallow if you sit down and consciously pay attention to them. They have a solid, loyal fan base that shockingly doesn't have a cute nickname. They've sustained a three-decade career despite mostly avoiding MTV and college radio and without breaking up in dramatic rock star fashion or any other major controversies. When they emerged, 311 were a proto–nu-metal jam band for potheads. They go for so many different styles and genres that they feel like one of those restaurants with a 20-page menu. They’re cannabis advocates who became known for their goofy-but-conscious raps, splicing all the genres, with some heavy jazz and dancehall influence thrown in there. born in the early ’80s) and overlapped with a lot of predominantly white acts who were following in the Beasties’ wake. 311 are a five-piece from Omaha, Nebraska, who ended up in their spiritual home of Southern California in the ’90s. If you missed 311, it was very much a thing for old millennials (i.e. Their live show was the closest thing to a jam band I could engage with, and their logo (still an all-time great one) was practiced on many a Mead notebook cover. Over the next three or four years, I was “that guy.” I saw 311 a good seven or eight times, which is, to this day, still a lot of times to see a band. It was their first proper album, Music, and I was 11. However it happened, I had discovered this bootleg tape. Someone’s older brother passed me a tape or something like that. I don’t remember how I came across them originally, because it wasn’t MTV or The Box or via radio. As an adult who has written a decent amount about music over the past few years, I’ve found it deeply embarrassing to admit what a 311 stan I was as a teenager.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |