"Burn Baby Burn" by Ash

I first heard "Burn Baby Burn" on MTV2's 120 Minutes about 3 weeks into my stint at Phuqued Firm. The video for the single had cheerleaders, which kept me from switching the channel. Then the the sharp guitar hooks wormed its way into my subconscious and I found myself hitting the rewind on TiVo just to hear that melody and that energy. I hadn't been that addicted to a guitar hook since The Foo Fighters' "Learning to Fly."

Two guitars, one bass, one drummer, the sorta average male vocals propelled by simple power chords and an obligatory guitar riff - it was the archtypal pop rock formula. But despite its simplicity, so many bands seem to fuck it up. Sum 41, Blink 182, Good Charlotte - everytime I begin to hear one of their songs on the radio, I end up switching the station because they either smack of effort or they try to hit you over the head with a brick. It seems like these groups equate energy with stupidity - "How many people wanna kick some ass"? Well, I do, and it's yours after hearing that lyric.

So why have I decided on "Burn Baby Burn" as a song entry? I mean, I can mention it's the type of song that makes you wanna move out to Los Angeles, roll down all the car windows to let the California sun in while you whip down the Pacific Highway, the blue ocean next to you, the blood in your veins making you feel giddy and dangerous as you hit 80 miles per hours on those curves. The melody with the guitars sounds like the Sex Pistols doing a Beach Boys song (which Ash no doubt knows as they give a shout out to Brian Wilson in "Pacific Palisades" off the same album, Free All Angels).

When you first listen to "Burn Baby Burn", it's no surprise that you'll probably think it's just a catchy piece of punk-pop. "Oh, it's probably about summer love or rock'n' roll" you'll probably think. Then, as you try to sing to it, and you will because the melody is so damn catchy (they don't call it a hook for nuthin'), you'll surprise yourself midway through the chorus (which is accompanied with a female harmony) by singing "Oh this is slow suicide". Then you start going hmmm as you sing "something inside had died."

When you actually listen to the lyrics, "Burn Baby Burn" is the most melodically upbeat song about a destructive dead-end relationship from which you can't escap that you've ever heard. "Vicious bitter words / Becoming more and more cruel / But you always take me back / And let me lick your wounds" are lyrics that sound more comfortably in a NIN song. And yet the lyrics work perfectly with the melody. Even stranger, the chorus is, dare I say, poetic. "Tumbling like the leaves / Yeah we are spiraling on the breeze" - most aspiring writers would chop off a finger to create a verse with so much imagery packed in two lines, and maybe a hand to have the imagery fit with so well with the rest of the work.

If there were some sort of music lesson to be learned here, I guess it would be something to the effect of simplicity does not mean stupidity. One can craft a layered intelligent work that is also simple. But that's not why I've written an entry about this.

Sometimes, you hit a synchronicity between a song and a moment of your life. I heard this song just as I was beginning to realize I hated my chosen career. "Burn Baby Burn" nailed this sentiment to a tee. Yeah, even the "golden hair and pale blue eyes" part - the law was just a proxy for that, the promise of a big income and huge respect was the career equivalent of the hot blonde chick. And the more I practiced the law, the more I hated my life, but I felt that I couldn't leave.

"Burn Baby Burn" is the closest song to ever match a moment of my life.