Every f*#ker needs a home....

Desert Island ranh ("ranh ranh", for the unitiated, more or less means "aggressive music, esp. with loud guitars", and was my wife's pejorative for music that hurt her Indigo Girl-swaddled ears...until The Strokes sparked an appreciation for ranh-ranh that has only snowballed to this day)? This is not easy.

I cannot pick one song, but the band that came to mind were Supergrass. Their first record has so much energy, so much melody, and such great musicianship that it is the closest thing I know to a guaranteed mood elevator. If I were stuck on a desert island, I would want 1) a mood elevator 2) music rich and well-played enough to allow you to switch out air instruments frequently, to help avoid boredom 3) a sturdy boat stocked with flares and plenty of food, water, and Cadburys. The first Supergrass album fits two of these criteria.

To wit: Lenny and Strange Ones.

I like Weezer OK -- my favorite song of theirs is I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams, which is brilliant -- but ultimately I have to consider them underachievers. They can bring the ranh though.

Lots of potential avenues to explore -- the qualities of ranh ranh music, possibly a diversion into list songs, what gives someone the Listen To Me gene (I agree Conor Oberst has it, although I don't always like what he does with it). Where to go, where to go....

MP3: Supergrass -- Lenny
MP3: Supergrass -- Strange Ones