High – Feeder
One of the least complicated songs you’re ever likely to hear. The message is pretty clear: “I’m going out for a while, so I can get high with my friends.” And there you go. Though I suppose there’s an undercurrent of nostalgia and the deep bonds of friendship.
This song has always struck me as being part of the cottage industry of Bends-knockoffs that sprung up just as Radiohead themselves were radically altering their sound. And while I’m slowly starting to come around on post-Bends Radiohead, I still can’t help but think that songs like this show just how much room still remained in this kind of grandiose soft/loud waves-of-guitar rock.
It was also featured in Can’t Hardly Wait, which was a veritable Who’s Who of 90’s alt-rock bands. I haven’t seen the film in over a decade—and I’m sure it doesn’t hold up all that well (as most John Hughes knock-offs from the 90’s don’t)—but I can still remember the music from it quite clearly.
One way to spice up “Can’t Hardly Wait” (I saw it only a few years ago): drink every time someone who was in a “Buffy” episode makes a cameo (drink thrice when Amber Benson shows up). You’ll get pretty sloshed.
I guess you went out for a while…