Why It Matters

I may have reduced a short story to smouldering rubble, but we’re prone to dive bomb all aspects of our lives: careers, relationships, health. Lately our government has been particularly adept at burning down the house, but what do they know? They’re just a bunch of talking heads.

If you feel that urge to tear your playhouse down pretty soon, give it some serious thought first. But if you’re sure you want to ruin your good thing, you may as well do it to a soundtrack:

“Mass Destruction,” Faithless.  Fear is a weapon of mass destruction. Damn straight. This is a great cut from 2004 that I swear came out last week. Who sped up the clock?

“Symphony of Destruction,” Megadeth.  This cut earned a second life a few years ago thanks to Guitar Hero. Here’s a tasty acoustic version.

“Destroyer,” The Kinks. Speaking of second lives, L-O-L-A grabbed another fifteen minutes of fame in the early eighties.  This cut has a WIM story to accompany it. You can read it here.

“Search and Destroy,” The Stooges. One of my all-time favorite songs. Absolute perfection.

“Death and Destruction,” Weezer. Fun fact: I didn’t even know that I owned any Weezer until I found this in my stacks. That might be the first sign of a record buying problem.

“The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty),” David Bowie. From Outside, which I put up there with the best of his output. Not all Bowie-philes (and even fewer critics) agree with that assessment, but it is what it is. The band he had behind him at that time was simply amazing. Pick up the album and decide for yourself.

“I Wanna Destroy You,” The Soft Boys. Rock solid post-punk from the band that gave birth to both Robyn Hitchcock and Katrina and the Waves of “Walking on Sunshine” fame. That ought to win you a bar bet. You’re welcome.

“Mr. Self Destruct,” Nine Inch Nails. You’d think as mopey as Why It Matters can be I’d be a Nine Inch Nails devotee, but I’m not. “March of the Pigs” is in my rotation, and Trent Reznor is responsible for Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” so there’s two great reasons to love him.

A few years ago I went to see them (or him, I guess) in all their moody glory.  The band was great, Trent was great, the show itself was great. Everybody left satisfied, except Trent. He jumped on his tour bus and wrote a blog post about what a shitty show it was, what a terrible crowd we were, and how he couldn’t get out of our city fast enough.

With a few short sentences he stole from his own audience a great night out that he created. I felt like an asshole for wasting my time and money.

“Destroy the Dancefloor,” Skindred. And on the other hand, we have Skindred. I took my son to see Disturbed when he was in the midst of his metal phase. These guys opened and they tore it up. It was one of those “the openers blew them off the stage” nights, and then Benji and the boys made their way out to the lobby and shook hands and signed autographs.

My son’s photo with Benji still hangs in his bedroom, and even though the boy is now a diehard jazz fan, he still keeps Skindred in his rotation.

So there you go: from Trent destroying his audience to Benji Webbe tearing down the wall separating him from his audience. What do you listen to when you want to tear this damn place up? I’m listening.

***SUPER LUX BONUS TRACK***