What is the BEST Pavement Album?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
- Pavement is probably the most influential indie rock band of the 90's. The band released 5 incredible albums during their short ten year career and today I ranked each album, tier list style!
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Pavement is an indie rock band from the 1990's. Regularly classified as "Slacker Rock", these guys had a very interesting take to music creation that influenced tons of alternative and indie rock bands. Their debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, had a sound that was a little all over the place, but in a good way. With a very lo-fi sound and songs that kind of defied the popular music scene at the time, many people loved this debut from the band. With tracks like Summer Babe - Winter Version and Here becoming fan favorites.
They followed up Slanted and Enchanted with Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. This album featured a more accessible indie rock sound and had hit tracks like Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz and Range Life. This album was a big success and was the closest to critical acclaim that the band has gotten. Which was ironic because Pavement was known as the band that liked to stay away from big labels and popular music trends. So they fought back with their next album, Wowee Zowee. Wowee Zowee featured a much more experimental sound. Reminiscent of Slanted and Enchanted, this album was very much all over the place. And commercially, this album had the opposite effect of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.
Their next two albums, Brighten the Corners and Terror Twilight, had very similar sounds to one another. Opting for a more polished and defined musical style, these two albums are incredible. And unfortunately the band broke up shortly after the release of Terror Twilight. Make their career a short but interesting and definitely influential one.
#KyleReid #Pavement #TierList
Thank you for watching this video! If you want to see more tier lists, check out this playlist - th-cam.com/play/PLihQbzSuCTz0RQ3DEOhM3s0wDHn6sbjw8.html Also, check out our awesome discord community - discord.gg/Mspd8fHFeZ
So refreshing seeing a video about Pavement that wasn't uploaded 13 years ago
The thing with ranking their albums is that the latest Pavement album I've listened to is always my favourite one, because I keep rediscovering the genius of a song, hook or lyric that I've not payed attention to last time.
payeed
@@cl8804 not a native English speaker, sorry for annoying you.
i mean, your english isn't great, but it's not as bad as a native speaker's @@Tr1ploid
They’re all fantastic in their own ways but if I had to pick one (desert island scenario) it would be Brighten The Corners. That one, to me, hits on all levels for the whole album.
That's a great pick!
It's nice to see young people like yourself delve into Pavement's music. I think you'll find that their catalog grows and grows on you over time, it seems to never get old. The impact that Slanted and Enchanted had on 90's indie and lo-fi rock is not to be underestimated. All the albums are great but I'd vote from best on down for: Wowee, Slanted, Brighten, Crooked Rain and Terror Twilight. And don't forget about the EPs and unreleased tracks/demos that hold more clues as to how terrific these guys really were. (And check out Malkmus's solo stuff too).
No. Slanted and Enchanted is not that important at all. If it never existed, I doubt anything big would change. And Malkmus is a total dick too, gawd, he’s so full of himself.
It's also funny to see how completely off some of his takes are in some ways. Like the Built to Spill comparisons. Son, Pavement INVENTED Built to Spill! As for Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain being "vanilla," the thing you won't understand unless you were experiencing it in real time is that Pavement constantly (and probably consciously) did the exact opposite of what people expected of them. After the first EP and album they were pegged as a noisy art rock band in the mold of Sonic Youth or The Fall, so the second is mostly quiet and contemplative, with an almost Neil Young tone. They had a reputation as hipper-than-thou eggheads, so the single from the third album borrows a Led Zeppelin riff, but with lyrics that are so opaque I don't know if even Malkmus knew what he was singing about. And believe me, NO ONE cool liked Led Zeppelin in 1995.
Gentle teasing aside, it is nice to see young people explore one of the best bands of my generation.
Found pavement earlier this year and they have already become one of my favourite bands, love their vibe
fun fact: pavement (tbf the earlier lineup was just steve, spiral, and gary really) recorded a lot of slanted and enchanted without a bass guitar, which explains the dominant, dronier guitar sound in drop d tuning
personally, wowee zowee is pavement at their best
Shady Lane is super underrated, one of my favorites for sure
Definitely!
slowly have become one of my fav bands. crooked rain crooked rain or brighten the corners is prolly their best album
They're a great band!
I need to listen to them more, they're tragically underrated
I wish I started listening to them sooner. This was my first time listening to their discography!
Underrted?
not even close to underrated. theyre indie royalty lmao
Ummm, Pavement is overrated if anything. I would argue that they dont age well at all, but I understand some folks would disagree
My ranking:
1. Wowee Zowee
2. Slanted and Enchanted
3. Brighten the Corners
4. Terror Twilight
5. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Wow that's quite a ranking having Crooked Rain at the bottom hahahaha. But my ranking would put Slanted at the bottom so mine would be just as controversial. I do agree however Wowee Zowee is by far their best.
Great ranking!
Agreed with all that you said about Brighten the Corners. I used to think it was meh! but for me it's probably their best now with Wowee Zowee...and sad that Terror Twilight doesn't get more love
Brighten the Corners and Terror Twilight just hit my ears in the right way, I don't know how to describe it! It is sad to see that Terror Twilight doesn't hit people the same way
Now rank every album
Holy shit that's genius
underrated video and creator
Thank you!
Cmon man, saying that crooked rain is their weakest album is heresy. The scruture songs of the songs is amazing, stop breathin with that post rock ending, Hit the plane down is a post punk great inspired song, 5-4 is also a incredible smooth song. I think in crooked rain Pavement came with their iconic inteligent song scrutures, anyway, I love that record.
Good video btw, your editing is pretty funny.
Idk I just like their other stuff more. I get why people enjoy that record though. I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)
I agree with him doe
1. slanted and enchanted
2. wowee zowee
3. terror twilight
4. brighten the corners
5. crooked rain
Built to spill definitely influenced by pavement lol
Ayyyy Pavement video, didn't see this coming. They're one of the bands that I got into when I started digging into what influenced Anco the most (Along with CAN, and the Sun City girls)
I fell HARD for Pavement after finally listening to Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for the first time last September. My love was only heightened after they announced their reunion tour not too long after, and now they're one of my top favorite bands. My ranking would be :
- Wowee Zowee
- Brighten the Corners
- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
- Slanted and Enchanted
Haven't heard Terror Twilight in full yet
woohoo my comment was made into a video! thanks man :)
Thank you for the idea! This was my first time checking out their whole discography and I loved it. They have had such an interesting progression as a band
it was fun to check out what u think of what used to be my favorite rock band.
as a teenage hip hop head in the 90s, it was malkmus’ wordplay & poetic sensibility that drew me in. i saw Pave in 1999. i spoke to malkmus before the White Stripes (!!) opened for them & told him that i heard his lyrics on BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS as rap bars occasionally. he later got onstage & lied, saying i called him a better rapper than Beck (lol, not quite!)
haha. cut ur hair wasn’t “ubiquitous” in the 90s. i remember that it was used in the brady bunch remake movie, which boosted its commercial success. (maybe it was getting play on college radio airwaves, but i was strictly rap when the album dropped, but i NEVER heard Pave on terrestrial alt-rock radio in the 90s).
regarding wowee: to me, it has joints on it -it was the first 3 SIDED album i owned: on vinyl it comes as 2 records, so one has SIDE A & SIDE B, the other record has SIDE C, with the other side blank lol. classic pave❤
ive read hella pave interviews over the years. malkmus mentioned that how the song’s were sequenced for wowee’s tracklist was influenced by the prevalence of CD players mostly having SHUFFLE MODEs by the time that album dropped. before that, with vinyl & cassettes, that shit didnt exist (can u imagine ?). i think malk was just memeing on how random the songs sound as a collection of music.
also, some of Pave (mark ibold? bobby n i think?) were into BUTTHOLE SURFERS. imo, wowee sounds very BUTTHOLE-INSPIRED. for me, ButtSurf is a hard band to get into. on paper, theyre very similar, but in reality, nah. bith voclista sound like theyre trying to be clever. but when malkmus is poetic and sarcastic, Butthole lyrics often sound goody and tacky, like they get off on weirding-out normies, but cant craft songs (in any kinda tame impala sorta way)
crooked & modest mouse’s LONESOME CROWDED were the firat albums i got into that had undeniable COUNTRY MUSIC INFLUENCES 🥳. as a black teenager raised to hate white culture, embracing those albums was huge for me (mom couldnt stand it lmao😂)
placing TERROR TWILIGHT as S-tier. wow.
its hard for me to listen to most of the songs on there. it extends feel like pacement-they sound closer to what Malkmus would do as a solo artist & with his next band. when this record came out, i got sad and listened to AMERICAN WATER by the SILVER JEWS more deeply. pave wqs my favorite rock band, but i had to accept that they were gone.
thanks for making this vid.! today, heres how id rank them:
WATERY DOMESTIC: s
BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS: a
CROOKED RAIN: -a
SLANTED & ENCHANTED: b
WOWEE ZOWEE: -c
TERROR TWILIGHT: +d
it's an interesting thing to discover pavement in the 21st century as a teenager. At first, you immediately take to the clean polished sounding albums : BTC and Terror Twilight. The songs on them are more straightforward and "modern" sounding. However, if you stick with the band for long enough, you understand what makes the first 3 so special. In the context of the era they came up in, those albums were legendary.
i have that shirt wtf
Hahaha It's one of my favorite shirts
my list would go
1 - slanted & enchanted
2 - wowee zowee
3 - crooked rain
4 - brighten the corners
5 - terror twilight
Good list! It's like the complete opposite of mine hahaha
@@KyleReidMu I was going to say that your ranking of their records is inverted from mine :-) 🤣
Yeah I could vote for this !
Well, young hashtag Kyle, that is quite an eloquent review of the discography of said band Pavement. I have never seen Pavement reviewed like that. With Slanted & Enchanted, on a song like Zurich is Stained, I kind of thought about the singer sitting in high school world history class and wondering why the teacher was mad about the Swiss.
The future Pavement trailblazer was like, I got things to do, and the gold standard of yesterday is telling me nothing! Just a thought. A portion of your perceptions is comparable to how I feel regarding this band's CDs, assuming I can utilize a shortened form of days of old.
Although, when it was the nineties, I was most likely doing nineties' sort things, I didn't especially feel it was the nineties (even though I may have been delayed in figuring it out). Grounded, Half a Canyon, yeah. In the day, I can tell you, I think some people were like, now, isn't Terror Twilight really Pavement without Pavement, although I wouldn't swear to it.
Last, I think the story with the Slanted tour, but don't quote me, is that something happened like the singer's girlfriend broke up with him on the phone or something, and he had a hard time getting over it. Oftentimes he sounds depressed on live recordings of the day, but he brightens when he performs. So, thanks, Kyle.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for sharing all these fun details about the band and your memories with the band. I had a fun time reading your comment :)
I would rank terror twilight first, wowee zowee, second and between the corners third. I love indie rock and 1990s pop culture and appreciate the slacker sort of angsty sound in rock music i normally do not like screaming but when pavement (and nirvana) do it I absolutely love it. The reason the other albums are not mentioned is I like them but do not love them so there was no need for a worst album compilation. Really enjoyed the fantastic video 😂😃🤣and hope that your dad joins you in a future video for the Reid family business
That's a great list. While their first two albums are really good, I feel like their last three outshine them. I'm glad you enjoyed the video! My dad seems excited about the idea so it'll probably happen soon haha
Sorry to be that guy (i.e. burned out late Gen-xer) but it’s Brighten The Corners….. Someone had to say it and interesting you place Terror Twilight at the top, that’s my least favorite of the catalogue but that’s the beauty in music…..
Nice post brother
You didn't mention Westing by Musket and Sextant their funny lo-fi noise album made from the three eps before they release slanted and enchanted, shows their roots in noise acts like sonic youth, the fall, swell maps, etc. but this album also shows their songwriting prowess was on point from the start with great songs like 'Box Elder' and 'Debris Slide' (both have great lyrics and hooks) hidden in amongst noisy jam songs. I'd only recommend for those into slanted and enchanted and wowee zowee as it lacks a lot of polish. I've gone through the whole pavement discography (yes all the demos and bonus tracks too) and I'm still quite unsure where to place albums which honestly I really enjoy because then I enjoy all of their project than hating on specific ones (probably wowee zowee then slanted, crooked, westing, brighten, terror twilight. I enjoyed this video a lot because I do think they get overlooked and I think they're a great band to obsess over and learn about (youtube footage and documetories are so fun to watch)
p.s. some people already mentioned the watery domestic ep and I have to say that ep is like 10/10 brilliant, one of my favourite eps ever, never took eps seriously before but now i'm glad i've been forced to reconsider :)
made from the three eps the released before slanted and enchanted*
heck yeah, a Pavement tier list
ours would go like this:
Wowee Zowee
Brighten The Corners
Crooked Rain
Slanted & Enchanted
Terror Twilight
My favorite is Wowie Zowie, it’s all over the place most of the time but idk, I like the feel of it. Feels very organic and I enjoy the sound of it
Your top two are my bottom two. Still decent albums tho. Wowee Zowee is my fav! Still addicted to that thing. Thanks for sharing!
Great video. I'd prbobaly rank them like this:
1. Crooked rain, crooked rain
2. Terror Twilight
3. Brighten the Corners
4. Wowee Zowee
5. Slanted and Enchanted
Damn you skipped over the Watery Domestic Ep, that’s definitely my favorite Pavement release even if it’s just 4 tracks long.
OMLL, Gold Soundz supremacy
the answer is yes....as in all 4 of their major albums are best to me....slanted, crooked, wowee all helped make me who I am....and i agree brighten tightened things up withotu selling out and terror twilight was a strong farewell.... they are playing live and its absoultely amazing....i am crossing my fingers but not holding m breath they tour more....thanks for posting this and love malkmus and pavemnt SJOCR
I would say…
1. Wowie Zowie
2. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
3. Terror Twilight
4. Slanted and Enchanted
5. Brighten the Corners
But just my POV
1) Crooked Rain
2.) Wowee Zowee
3.) Brighten The Corners
4.) Slanted
5.) Terror Twilight
Yeah, I’m along the same lines as you when it comes to Pavement. I like all of the albums, but here’s my ranking!:
1. Brighten the Corners (1997)
2. Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
3. Wowee Zowee (1995)
4. Terror Twilight (1999)
5. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
Me watching this video without having heard a single pavement song: mm yes I agree
LMAO
I always trip in the parking lot I hate pavement ):
I'm so sorry to hear that Jade. I hope this video didn't bring back any bad memories
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen someone misinterpret so many songs so badly before
im a massive fan of slanted and enchanted
Great video, I mostly agree. But tbh I fuckin hate Built to Spill and I have no idea how you could compare them to the awesomeness that is Pavement
My ranking
1. Terror twilight
2. Brighten the corners
3. Crooked rain
4. Slanted & enchanted
5. Wowee zowee
My personal ranking :
Wowee zowee
Slanted & enchanted
Crooked rain
Brighten the corners
Terror Twilight
I should maybe specify that I'm 44, and grew up with Pavement (and also I have a bias, most of the time my favourites albums of any band are the early ones). 😊
Who are all those bands at 0:08 that were influenced by Pavement?
Blur, built to spill, modest mouse, car seat headrest, alex g, animal collective and one other that I don't remember
Cool thanks ✅
Crooked Rain is definitely their weakest album, but Silence Kit (Kid) is a great opener.
My pavement playlist:
Trigger Cut
Zurich is Stained
Loretta's Scars
Here (Fav song)
Frontwards (3rd Fav)
Shoot the Singer
Silence Kit
Stop Breathin
Gold Soundz
Strings of Nashville
We Dance
Black Out
Grounded
AT&T
Transport is Arranged
We are Underused
Fin
Harness Your Hopes
Spit on a Stranger
You Are a Light
Speak, See, Remember (2nd fav)
Very heavy on the early stuff... I like it
Awesome video dude, I reckon my tier list would be:
Brighten the Corners
Wowee Zoweee
Terror Twilight
Slanted and Enchanted
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
-
- I love em all but never really vibed much with Crooked and I love the songwriting on Brighten :)
Great list! I agree with Crooked Rain. It just doesn't really click with me
never forgiving you for skipping newark wilder
i haven’t listened to a single pavement album, i just really really really like watery, domestic :D
I actually haven't listened to that EP! I need to
@@KyleReidMu it’s essentially the precursor to crooked rain crooked rain, as it shows the band with a much more clean guitar sound and less raw. also frontwards is said by a lot to be pavements best song of all time
bro you're scaring me
I cannot imagine hearing and properly appreciating Watery, Domestic then deciding to purposely avoid the rest of the band's music...
Do you hate yourself or something?
Slanted is their seminal album regarded to be their definitive record, but for me Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is their best.
Its genuinely sad how many people dont have brighten the corners at the top
Actually, my favorite indie rock band wasn't influenced by pavement, but pavement was influenced by them
While not my favorite, I think Terror Twilight is super important, especially the Nigel Godrich version that ended with Spit on a Stranger. I think that the more produced sound signified that the band had matured past the noisy style of their older albums, and this is encapsulated in the album ending with a more mellow, conventional song like Stranger (although I still love Carrot Rope as a finale too)
Well... wait for a few years, and it will be very modfied. ; )
Pavement were a mainstay at the Reading festival, oh man, 95’ Mudhoney, Pavement, Soundgarden then Neil Young! Too good to be true. I’ve never stood in one place for such a long time. However, I do remember going to see Nirvana in 92’ and hearing Pavement for the first time and being like, ‘hell yeah they were good but Pavement…
Then in 94’ they cemented themselves as just adorably chaotic and inventive. Bty that also had Jeff Buckley in the Melody Maker tent, I think it was the last day, and oh my god! Yeah, that’s all I can say about that
Here's my list :)
1) brighten the corners
2) slanted and enchanted
3) terror twilight
4) crooked rain
5) wowee zowee
Wowee Zowee=Slanted & Enchanted>Crooked Rain Crooked Rain>Brighten The Corners>Terror Twilight for me. Terror Twilight's such an absolute mess as an album, has some of their best pop cuts but also a lot of their blandest songs and furthest off the mark experiments.
This breaks my heart to read 😢 haha that's totally understandable though
Hard disagree. An album doesn’t need to be hooky to be good. Terror Twilight is their most progressive album, and it fucking rules!
Exact same ranking !
Calls "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" "typical indie rock of the 90s". This is like calling "Sitcky Fingers" a "typical British blues rock album of the late 60s". Calls "Slanted and Enchanted" "sloppy". Yeah dude, kinda the point. Also, that's their best album IMO.
But..but I agree with him doe
Westing By Musket and Sexton (while not an album was the best thing they ever did)
finally someone else who thinks terror twilight is s tier
The riff in only in dreams sounds like the riff in major league s
no thoughts or opinions on at&t off wowee zowee ,?????¿🤠🤨 manifesting a video ranking every built to spill album btw 🧘♀️
Good tier list but its upside down for some reason
Stephen Malkmus's first solo album is also great. To me it's like another Pavement album.
Most TT fans: :BTC is the worst Pave albhm
Me who love BTC: No TT is the worst
This kid here: They're both S-tier, end of argument
Wowee Zowee.
westing by musket and sextant??
I mean this with all the respect I can give via online text, but what?! What?! Built to spill has a refined three guitar part in a BUNCH OF SONGS. and Pavement even at their most professional sound like they couldn't care less. I'm just not sure where you draw the similarities. If you could give some people some examples I would love to feel surprised and wrong about my opinion as it stands
4:56 wait is that you???? what is this from lmao
Yup hahaha It's a music video I made back in 2019. You can find it on the channel if you scroll back far enough
Wowee Zowee or Westing
You literally ranked all the albums backwards.
Yes, because music is subjective and people have different opinions.
My ranking would be:
1. Terror Twilight
2. Slanted and Enchanted
3. Brighten the Corners
4. Wowee Zowee
5. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
My favourite Pavement album is Terror Twilight. Don’t kill me.
Terror Twilight is good!
@@KyleReidMu I love it, but it seems to be largely rated as their worst album by many fans and critics
It’s their weakest but it’s not bad
@@flyingpig5622 I personally think Brighten the Corners is their worst album.
@@sanfordcurtis8242 I think Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is their weakest album!
flip that chart and put watery domestic on the throne
also bts has never reached the heights of summer babe in my eyes, good video brother keep at it
You pronounce Newark like you’re from Delaware