Vs. Champion: Animal vs. Go

[Norah]

I'm obviously in the minority who thinks "Animal" is kind of a nothing song -- a nice riff-groove and some better-than-average Angry Eddie screaming, perfect when I'm in the mood for that sort of thing, which gets rarer with each passing year. But musically this song is as empty underneath all its surface grit as "Pendulum" is under all its sound effects. Vote for "Go" in a landslide.

I'd be hard-pressed to find something I disagreed with more than this sentiment about Animal. It's like saying AC/DC blows b/c it's all "surface grit." Animal is like a sped-up version of that muscular rock, with a Stone-provided funky spin. And like AC/DC, it's all about the intensity and musicianship in the (deceptively simple) playing. Oh, and just one of the great rock vocalists delivering in spades with trademark 1993 charisma and full-throated power.

COME ON MAN!!!!

AC/DC blows because it's all surface grit.

[Norah]

I don't hate Animal the way KD does, but he has a point. It's one of the band's more overrated songs.

[PHATJ]

This is the worst post you've ever made, KD.

Oh, I can't imagine this is true -- surely I've gotten overly precious about some stupid pedantic bullshit, or made some ill-fated attempts at humor, that led to posts far worse than my unpopular but honest and ultimately correct post in this thread. No doubt "Animal" is a powerful performance, and the band is locked into a solid groove, but as someone who generally prizes things like melody, harmony, texture, etc. over these kinds of raw energy songs, "Animal" doesn't really have a lot going on. Happy to entertain discussion to the contrary.

The bold part is very un-KD of you. This tourney is tearing us apart...

Re: melody, harmony, and texture: The song has a terrific melody. It's simple, and it repeats itself as the bass line and chords change against it, creating wonderful tension. There's no harmony to be found, but then neither is there in Go. And texture? Jesus christ, this song has it in spades. The dirty guitar riff, the funky octave diads going on during the chorus, and Ed's vocals that sound simultaneously like a caged animal and a disembodied ghost.

Trag just nailed it.

[epilogue]

This is the worst post you've ever made, KD.

Oh, I can't imagine this is true -- surely I've gotten overly precious about some stupid pedantic bullshit, or made some ill-fated attempts at humor, that led to posts far worse than my unpopular but honest and ultimately correct post in this thread. No doubt "Animal" is a powerful performance, and the band is locked into a solid groove, but as someone who generally prizes things like melody, harmony, texture, etc. over these kinds of raw energy songs, "Animal" doesn't really have a lot going on. Happy to entertain discussion to the contrary.

The bold part is very un-KD of you. This tourney is tearing us apart...

Re: melody, harmony, and texture: The song has a terrific melody. It's simple, and it repeats itself as the bass line and chords change against it, creating wonderful tension. There's no harmony to be found, but then neither is there in Go. And texture? Jesus christ, this song has it in spades. The dirty guitar riff, the funky octave diads going on during the chorus, and Ed's vocals that sound simultaneously like a caged animal and a disembodied ghost.

Kiss me, you fool!

[Kaius]

itt: trag does his best impression of a Pitchfork review.

[tragabigzanda]

This is the worst post you've ever made, KD.

Oh, I can't imagine this is true -- surely I've gotten overly precious about some stupid pedantic bullshit, or made some ill-fated attempts at humor, that led to posts far worse than my unpopular but honest and ultimately correct post in this thread. No doubt "Animal" is a powerful performance, and the band is locked into a solid groove, but as someone who generally prizes things like melody, harmony, texture, etc. over these kinds of raw energy songs, "Animal" doesn't really have a lot going on. Happy to entertain discussion to the contrary.

The bold part is very un-KD of you. This tourney is tearing us apart...

Re: melody, harmony, and texture: The song has a terrific melody. It's simple, and it repeats itself as the bass line and chords change against it, creating wonderful tension. There's no harmony to be found, but then neither is there in Go. And texture? Jesus christ, this song has it in spades. The dirty guitar riff, the funky octave diads going on during the chorus, and Ed's vocals that sound simultaneously like a caged animal and a disembodied ghost.

Kiss me, you fool!

I should probably quit while I'm ahead, but...

After listening again, I think the outro of Animal has some really great melodic ideas going on. As Ed starts to play a bit with the core melody of the hook lyrics, Mike plays his leads in parallel, diving in and out of Ed's phrasing to explore all the places that melody can go.

[Chris_H_2]

Can someone post Stone's demo of Animal if they have it? You'll realize pretty quickly whether KD or Trag has a point.

[Jammer XCI]

Animal is badass

[Kevin Davis]

I don't hate Animal the way KD does, but he has a point. It's one of the band's more overrated songs.

I don't hate it -- it has its place, and it's okay for a song to be somewhat compositionally bereft and get by on all energy and volume. But I think the idea that it represents one of this band's great achievements is ludicrious. It should be out of the tournament by now.

Here is what I said about "Animal" last year, maybe this gets my point across better:

"Animal" is a very one-note song -- it does what it does well and right, but in the end it doesn't do much. Crowning it the greatest song in Pearl Jam's catalog would be like calling Bill Laimbeer the greatest player in the history of the NBA -- his sheer brawn and raw agression is great as long as he is surrounded by other players who can do other things, but when it comes time to give out the MVP trophy, a Michael or a Magic (a "Brain of J" or "Last Exit," if you will) can summon power when necessary but is also quicker, more precise, and overall better-rounded.

Trag, I just don't hear any of the musicianship in the song that you describe. To me this is a cathartic, primal, but relatively boneheaded hard rock song.

[stip]

KD, how is Go more compositionally interesting? this is a genuine question.

[tragabigzanda]

KD, how is Go more compositionally interesting? this is a genuine question.

Yea, I guess this is my biggest problem too. If you're not feeling Animal, ok, whatever. But I fail to hear anything in Go that sounds some compositionally more advanced than Animal.

[LetMeSleep]

PJ songs written by drummers are always cooler. Dorks.

[The Argonaut]

This is like asking me to choose my favorite twin son.

spot on

[Kevin Davis]

KD, how is Go more compositionally interesting? this is a genuine question.

To me, it's down to the variation in the musical sections and the way they play off each other. Not factoring in the little warm-up section, "Go" starts off with those crashing, alternating minor-second power chords, which always makes me think of a racecar peeling out at the start of a race, and leads directly into that driving verse/main riff, coasting but with a brooding sense of urgency. But when it explodes back into that opening sequence, something cool happens -- it restates that original opening two-chord sequence, but it then extends it, adding three more notes/power chords that completely alter the musical character of the sequence. Where the first two chords by themselves (as they appear in the intro) give this very tense, unresolved dissonance, the way the next part of the song fills out the riff gives it a perfectly complete resolution -- if you were to sit down hammer out that melody on a piano, most people would probably say it sounds "happy" -- and the fact that they so effortlessly fit this into "Go," a song virtually no one would describe this way, is a neat trick. Finally, there is a wonderful release when the song moves into its "chorus" section (the "don't go on me" part); it turns from this furious, heavily syncopated banging to this very desperate, pleading refrain. I don't mean to suggest that the song is more academically sophisticated, like it uses fancier jazz chords or anything like that, but I do think the musical sections interlock in a more gripping way (though, one could argue I suppose, one which is equally in tune with what the song is trying to accomplish), and I feel like it takes me on a greater journey as a result. No doubt "Go" still thrives on that circa-'93 PJ adrenaline, but its mix of urgency, anger, and desperation taps into something for me that "Animal"'s more primal roar does not.

All that said, I think -- very broadly speaking -- that PJ's first two records are generally fairly weak from a compositional standpoint, and that "Animal" is not alone in being more a perfect storm of emotion and riffery than a piece of greatly composed music. Nothing wrong with that (I've been listening to and enjoying these albums for over 2/3 of my life), but the stuff they got into on later albums scratches that music-school itch for me in addition to hitting me on an emotional level that rings truer to me than the stuff Eddie was getting out of his system in the early days.

[stip]

Thanks . i need to listen to go to try and identify/follow those moments now

[darth_vedder]

Whoa, I don't disagree often with KD, but yikes, he's just plain wrong about Animal. It's topshelf PJ. This was reaffirmed hearing Vegas 93 and the raw energy the band once had. Having said that, Go is damn good too and also top tier PJ. Hearing both on that '93 boot was a treat. This is one of the toughest matches thus far, but I'm going with Animal.

[wease]

PJ songs written by drummers are always cooler. Dorks.