I've mentioned the worst show I ever saw - September 10, 1995, Hartford, CT. Live, with special guests PJ Harvey and Veruca Salt. I didn't have high expectations of the headliner - I was there for the two openers. Veruca Salt were truly disappointing.
I had high expectations of PJ Harvey, and Polly Jean let me down. I'm sure it was an off night, because she had already released three great albums of material and has consistently done so since.
And the show wasn't all bad. She did perform this song and it was the highlight of the show.
This song, her third single ever, came from her second album Rid of Me. It was a huge hit in the UK, but she never got the commercial success stateside that she had enjoyed in Europe. Is it her best song? No. It is a rockabilly punk masterpiece, but she's got better songs lyrically and musically. But it's a FUN song. It's an in-your-face, dick-measuring masterpiece by a woman who previously wrote a song about her childbreaing hips.
I KNOW I caught her on an off night, because this performance, and other songs from this performance, rocks. From 2003, you can see the song isn't hard to play on guitar, but it is simplicity that makes it a masterpiece.
Someday, I am going to stop being surprised at musicians who are still touring 30 years into their careers. This is from 2016, and it STILL rocks. Polly Jean has given up the guitar, but that makes for a more dynamic performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment