Day After Day #233: Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) (1992)

Smartasses of the world, unite! There are certain people in this world who have an incessant need to crack wise at any opportunity, regardless of whether the situation calls for it. 

I should know, I'm one of them. Somewhere in my basement, I have a report card from fourth grade in which my teacher Mr. Grummett writes, "Jay is a good student, but he needs to learn to keep his remarks to himself." My parents weren't thrilled, but I took it as a badge of honor. It's the reason I gravitated toward the works of David Letterman, Bill Murray and SCTV. Fortunately, I learned to tone it down after college. Being on like that 100% can be pretty goddamn annoying to everyone in your general vicinity.

Anyhoo, I can appreciate smartassery in music as well. David Lowery always brought that attitude to his music, whether in Camper Van Beethoven or in his next band, Cracker. Lowery and his childhood friend Johnny Hickman formed Cracker in 1990, just after CVB split up. They recorded a demo tape, added Davey Faragher on bass and Go Weatherford on drums and started touring. The following year, the band signed a deal with Virgin Records and using session drummers including the great Jim Keltner, they recorded their self-titled debut, which came out in 1992. 

Musically, the band was a little more straightforward than CVB, playing guitar-driven, Stonesy alt-rock adorned with Lowery's decidedly unserious lyrics. But Cracker was no joke. The band could play, from Hickman's hot lead guitar to its undeniably catchy choruses. The album featured great songs like "Happy Birthday to Me," "St. Cajetan" and "Don't Fuck Me Up (With Peace and Love)," but Cracker's lead single was a great mission statement.

"Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" has just the right combination of snark and rock (snark rock, if you will) and it really stood out in the midst of all the oh-so-serious grunge moaning and groaning that was all the rage (hey, I dug that stuff, too). I was a fan of Camper Van Beethoven, so when I was watching 120 Minutes late one night and they premiered a new song from Lowery, I was already sold.

The song is fairly uptempo and right off the bat, Lowery's poking fun at those serious bands.

"I don't know what the world needs now/But I'm sure as hell that it starts with me/And that's a wisdom I have laughed at/I don't know what the world may want/But a good stiff drink it surely don't/So I think I'll go and fix myself a tall one/'Cause what the world needs now is a new kind of tension/'Cause the old one just bores me to death/'Cause what the world needs now is another folk singer/Like I need a hole in my head."

The songs picks up speed as Lowery continues to expound on what the world needs now.

"I don't know what the world may need/And I'll never grasp your complexities/I'd be happy just to get your attention/I don't know what the world may want/But your long sweet body lying next to mine/Could certainly raise my spirits/'Cause what the world needs now is a new Frank Sinatra/So I can get you in bed/What the world needs now is another folk singer/Like I need a hole in my head."

In a 2010 blog post, Lowery explained how the song, originally called "Folk Singer," came together. They played it for CVB producer Dennis Herring and he asked why they were wasting a song on not liking Tracy Chapman, and they explained that wasn't what it was about. Lowery then realized he needed to get to the point.

"I got it then. I had to make the words less subtle. It was never about not liking folk singers. It was about wanting to rock, and wanting to rock for the sole purpose of getting a girl's attention. Or even better, to get her in bed. I unwound the song into three neat little verses. Two misdirects about cars and drinking. Finally in the third verse, we get the truth."

"Teen Angst" resonated with listeners, going to #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #27 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (what's the difference between the two? Beats the hell outta me). The album didn't crack the Billboard 200, but the next Cracker album, 1993's Kerosene Hat, got up to #59, thanks mainly to lead single "Low." The song was all over the radio that summer and for years to come, and the video (in which Lowery is a boxer fighting comedian Sandra Bernhard and getting knocked out) got heavy play on MTV. The song made it to #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a signature '90s alt-rock classic. 

Cracker has continued on, releasing seven more studio albums since 1996. Lowery reformed Camper Van Beethoven in 1999 and has played in both bands since, often touring both bands together. I saw Cracker at the height of their fame in 1994 and then several times since, often with CVB. Cracker actually played last night down the highway in Gloucester, but I wasn't able to go.

Lowery has been lecturer in the University of Georgia's music business program. In recent years, Lowery has been an outspoken critic of Spotify, filing a $200 million class action suit against the streaming giant accusing it of knowingly distributing copyrighted songs without paying for mechanical licenses. Singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick filed a similar lawsuit against Spotify and the two suits were consolidated in 2016. Spotify settled the suit, setting up a fund worth over $40 million to compensate songwriters and publishers affected. 

Even with all that serious stuff going on, Lowery remains a smartass. Kudos to you, sir.

Day After Day #117: Ambiguity Song

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Ambiguity Song (1985)

I can only imagine how strange it was to be a fan of punk and indie music in 1985, used to seeing bands like Black Flag and the Minutemen and R.E.M. and Husker Du and then you come across Camper Van Beethoven. The group of college friends led by singer-guitarist David Lowery were the polar opposite of super-serious bands like Black Flag, playing a goofy combination of garage rock, ska, punk, folk, alt-country and world music. 

The band's debut song, "Take the Skinheads Bowling," wasn't officially released as a single but it became popular thanks to airplay on KROQ and BBC Radio 2 and the Dr. Demento Show. The song was on CVB's debut album Telephone Free Landslide Victory, which was released on Independent Project Records. 

The album is heavy on the quirk, but the band has the chops to back it up. Lowery's sarcastic lyrics set the tone, but the musical variety also helped CVB stand out right from the start. In addition to a country take on Black Flag's "Wasted," the album features standout tracks such as "Border Ska," "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon," "Where the Hell is Bill?" and "Balalaika Gap." The band combines instrumentals and catchy slacker anthems to full effect.

The album closer is "Ambiguity Song," which is a pretty relatable song for the Cold War days of the mid-'80s right through the pandemic era of the 2020s.

"Everything seems to be up in the air at this time/Everything seems to be up in the air at this time/One day soon, it'll all settle down/Everything seems to be up in the air at this time."

Lowery said in an interview a decade ago that the band's members was too young to sing about serious topics, so they kept things light. "With 'Ambiguity Song,' it's just simple observations. Asking questions without having answers seemed to fit the spirit of the band. We did realize pretty quickly that we're punkers living in this idyllic world. Like, 'What do we have to complain about?' We didn't."

"All across the nation, people are gettin' together/From many ideas they form a single goal/Some people are gonna benefit/And others gotta sacrifice/But everything seems to be up in the air at this time/I got some certain special feelings for you/I got some special feelings for you/I don't know if they're good or bad/But I just might give you a call/Everything seems to be up in the air at this time."

Jonathan Segel's violin weaves in and out as the song jangles along, ending the album on a pleasant (and ambiguous) note.

Camper Van released two more indie albums before signing to Virgin Records in 1987 and releasing two more albums, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie, that got them some more rock radio airplay. Their cover of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" was as close to a hit as they got. They split up in 1990 and Lowery formed Cracker; other members played in Counting Crows, Dieselhed and Sparklehorse. Cracker scored hits with "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" and "Low" and was a '90s FM rock staple. 

Lowery reunited with Camper Van Beethoven in 1999 and the group has released three studio albums and a re-recording of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk album. CVB and Cracker have also toured together several times; I saw a few of those shows in Cambridge, Mass. 

All these years later, CVB was right about one thing: Everything still seems to be up in the air at this time.

Get Off This

It's rare that Deb and I get out to see a rock show together these days. She's usually exhausted from the work week and is more content to stay in or do something a little earlier in the evening, as opposed to standing in a crowded rock club until the wee hours. But last weekend, taking advantage of the MLK Day holiday, she suggested we go to the Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven show at the Middle East Downstairs on Sunday night.

David Lowery brings his two bands to the Middle East every year on that weekend (and has since 2005), and it just so happened that the last show we went to was these two bands playing here two years ago, also while the Patriots were playing in the AFC championship game. And like that year, the Patriots lost hideously on this night, so we were glad to forget about it for a while with some American good rock.

CVB came on first and played an excellent 70-minute set. We watched the third quarter of the Pats game upstairs at the Middle East and then went downstairs when we head the band start up at 9 p.m. We went up by the bar TV and the Ravens scored almost immediately to put the Pats down by two touchdowns, so we decided to head down closer to the stage. Of course, we had some big drunk doofuses in front of us that annoyed Deb to no end, but she's not used to that shit like I am. CVB was a five-piece and sounded sharp, playing some songs from its new album, La Costa Perdida, which I've listened to on Spotify and like very much. "Northern California Girls" and "Too High for the Love In" fit nicely in with the rest of the CVB catalog. Lowery once again used his laptop to trigger instrumental samples. Violinist-guitarist Jonathan Segel was a standout, adding that multi-instrumental feel that sets CVB apart on songs like "Pictures of Matchstick Men," "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and "Sad Lovers Waltz." The band rocked magnificently on "Eye of Fatima, parts 1 and 2," which was the song that really got me into them back in the late '80s.

After CVB's set, Lowery returned with his four-piece country rock outfit Cracker, which shares drummer Frank Funaro with CVB. Johnny Hickman has been with Cracker since the band started in the early '90s and they wasted no time by starting their set with their biggest hit, "Low." The band ripped through 16 songs (although we missed the last during the encore), highlighted by "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)," crowd favorite "Eurotrash Girl" and the Hickman-sung "Another Song About the Rain." Although I would have rather seen more CVB than Cracker, it seemed right that Cracker played last because their sound has more appeal for drunk folks, of which there were many this night.

As they did two years earlier, CVB and Cracker provided plenty of entertainment for a club full of bummed out football fans.