Premier Rock Forum

rsmurphy wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 4:25 pm To my ears Sebadoh registers more earnest than Pavement. I'm into early Pavement a ton but, like, sometimes I imagine pushing Malkmus into a bush.

seBADoh

I want to be pushed into a bush. Doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me.

Cannot stand much Pavement, they've got a song or two per record that are ~intriguing, I guess. Until they go full Grateful Dead at the end there.


Sebadoh's best shit was early on, bigger hit/miss ratio but the good songs were incredible. They settle nicely into a bass-heavy, kinda boring indie band on Bakesale.

My vote is for Superchunk.

Jason alone makes Pavement look silly.



Add to that the fact that the same guy is behind the vocal on "Happily Divided"?

Yeah, gimme a break with that Pavement nonsense.

(Never min that Sebaoh just plain smoked Pavement as a live band...)

Past that...

The biggest issue with Pavement is simple.

Malkawhatever ain't committed to the bit on vocals.

While I can get that folks take one look at 16 Horsepower, and say "Dude, I just can't...."?

No one can question buddy's committed to the bit.

Pavement was pretty fucking great as long as they were trying to rock. Pretty much everything from the first singles through crooked rain, crooked rain I can still go back to and really like. The problem is that the later output is so self-aware and almost a pastiche. Too much irony and a little condescension that it really put me off. At least that’s how I read it.

Sebadoh’s got some bangers, but they don’t have near the consistent output that pavement did in the beginning.

I can’t listen to either of them now anyway,

pavement wins.

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 6:15 pm Jason alone makes Pavement look silly.

Oh come on! Judging Sebadoh based on Jason's material is like basing judgement on Pavement based on Spiral Stairs material!

Also I'd rather hear Malkmus's "don't give a shit what I'm singing about" shit than Barlow's "wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, oh whatever whiny oh that fucker J Mascis is a dickhead" shit.

And you can't get me on this "oh you haven't heard their b-side from their third single" shit this time. I know both bands really fucking well.

Pavement > Sebadoh

(meant to be playful, not actually mad at you)

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 6:15 pm Jason alone makes Pavement look silly.

Oh yeah, that's that good-good.

Sebadoh, sure.

^ Came back to say... that's the best you got re: Sebadoh?!

Biggest crime with live Pavement is that SM's screams are WAY BETTER than Bobby N's screams. But at least post 1993, SM didn't do any screaming live.

jfv wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 6:43 pm

numberthirty wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 6:15 pm Jason alone makes Pavement look silly.

Oh come on! Judging Sebadoh based on Jason's material is like basing judgement on Pavement based on Spiral Stairs material!

Also I'd rather hear Malkmus's "don't give a shit what I'm singing about" shit than Barlow's "wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, oh whatever whiny oh that fucker J Mascis is a dickhead" shit.

And you can't get me on this "oh you haven't heard their b-side from their third single" shit this time. I know both bands really fucking well.

Pavement > Sebadoh

(meant to be playful, not actually mad at you)

(Politely....)

No.

It is "This one guy's contribution bests the entirety of the other band..."

Which it does. Easily.

Past that?

Gimme a goofball vocal that comes within a mile of this....

(Never mind the band's performance...)

Some Pavement songs, much like, say, Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth, is part of a groovy soundtrack to a certain part of my life. Bits of those songs are stuck in my head and bubble to the surface every now and again in a nice way, but I don 't feel much need to actively listen to the albums. I've never really listed to Sebadoh so I guess I can't vote.