Yea, I like Go and all, but it will always strike me as a warmup for the superior Animal.
Not For You is worn, ragged vitriol. It's the perhaps the best example (or maybe I Got Shit) of a particular type of song that, at the age of 14, I could've sworn was written specifically for me -- and its power hasn't lessened at all 21 years later.
I think this is exactly how I feel, but for me, I think about 'Go' in that regard.
Pearl Jam has better songs than 'Go' but I'm not sure they ever did that particular kind of song better.
"Not For You" always pretty easily makes it to this point in the competition, and at this point in the competition I always vote it out for the same reason: Musically, it's fucking boring. In the beginning, when its going up against lesser songs, its sense of gathering rage and brooding drone carry it, but for some reason, once it really starts to face off against songs that truly fire on all cylinders, I begin to zero in on this weakness. If that weird chorale-like bridge accounted for more of the song's character, maybe I'd feel differently, but as it stands, five minutes of Eddie's three-chord-plod is no match for the high-speed lightning in a bottle that is "Go."
Kevin Davis wrote:"Not For You" always pretty easily makes it to this point in the competition, and at this point in the competition I always vote it out for the same reason: Musically, it's fucking boring. In the beginning, when its going up against lesser songs, its sense of gathering rage and brooding drone carry it, but for some reason, once it really starts to face off against songs that truly fire on all cylinders, I begin to zero in on this weakness. If that weird chorale-like bridge accounted for more of the song's character, maybe I'd feel differently, but as it stands, five minutes of Eddie's three-chord-plod is no match for the high-speed lightning in a bottle that is "Go."