We initially ran this in 08 with the Shins domestic violence scandal, but considering that Rihanna and Chris Brown are in the news AGAIN, and that we are waiting patiently for the Policy opening photos to arrive, we figured we'd rerun it, comments and all-ed
The other day The Shins' frontman Marty Crandall (yeah, I know he's not James Mercer, but have you seen them live? He's totally the frontman) and his girlfriend, model Elyse Sewell, were both arrested for beating each other up. Now domestic violence is no laughing matter (unless it's white trash on Cops or The Honeymooners I guess) but this whole ordeal seemed a bit silly with Elyse casually blogging about it with pictures of her bruises and stuff. More info here.
Svet was like - you should do a playlist to commemorate this bizarre news story/gossip! Like break up songs or Love Is A Battlefield and stuff. But instead I actually put together a bunch of songs about domestic violence. Which was kinda a creepy ordeal, but a lot of these are really really good. Ok, so here goes.
1. Antony & The Johnsons - Cripple and the Starfish
If this song doesn't make you cry, you have no soul
2. Sonic Youth - Shoot
Intense Kim.
3. Miranda Lambert - Gunpowder & Lead
My indie cred doesn't quite allow me to enjoy this tune, but if you're only going to listen to one top 40 country track this year, this should probably be it.
4. The Beatles - Getting Better, Run For Your Life
The double whammy one two punch Beatles domestic violence classics!
5. Mr Bungle - Violenza Domestica
I have no idea what this song is about, but it's one of my all time favorite Mike Patton creations.
6. Johnny Cash - Delia's Gone
I guess this is supposed to be funny, but that shit is really fucked up.
7. New Order - 1963
Producer Stephen Hague has referred to the song as "the only song about domestic violence you can dance to". And I always thought it was about JFK...
8. Chills - The Make Monster From the Id
Violent pop goodness.
9. Loretta Lynn - Fist City
Ok, so not really a domestic violence song per se, but I'm guessing Loretta kicks her man's ass on a regular basis as well. The way she sings "my man", get's me every time.
10. Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow
Hooray for the murder ballad!
11. The Shins - Split Needles (Alt Version)
And we'll close with the (superior) alternate version of Split Needles off the Phantom Limb single.
Ok, I can't think of anything else. There has gotta be a Steely Dan song though. Feel free to contribute in the comments.
And here I leave you with The Prodigy.
God loves a cheerful giver.
let's not forget "can't do nuttin' for ya, man" by public enemy
and also "she's a jar" or better "via chicago" by wilco
i obviously have nothing to do today
i drunkenly kissed that dude in the red room after their show about 4 years ago.
btw, i'm a boy.
FYI, he beat her up. she fought back in self defense. he is a tool, so he pressed charges against her. they were dropped today. his are still pending, but like many victims (or survivors), she doesn't really want to take it too far. sigh.
and yeah, she LJed about it, but i don't know if that means she was being casual about it. she claimed on a comment that she wanted something to remind her not to go back to him.
sorry to get all serious. back to the bizarro playlist!
Billy Bragg "Levi Stubb's Tears" is heartbreakingly bleak right down to the bitter end.
Whipping Boy "We Don't Need Nobody Else" grabs you immediately with the "I hit you for the first time today..." line. Big hit in the UK in the mid 90s.
The Wilco ones already mentioned unnerve me as well.
Was looking for Levi Stubb’s Tears last night but couldn't find it!
Lorretta Lynn is a fucking NINJA
mr. bungle huh? awesome.
i offered marty crandall blow one time at the black cat.....that's all i got.
more than any of us can handle:
http://creativefolk.com/abusesongs.html
and I am sure there is some Dolly Parton song out there on this topic just waiting to make me cry.
Sometimes I feel a little mad
But don't you know that no one alive
Can always be an angel
When things go wrong I seem to be bad
I love the Chills! more flying nun things anytime.
Weird, when I was in college my friends and I made up a list of "Songs To Beat Up Your Indie Rock Girlfriend To."
I think Weezer's "I want a girl who laughs at no one else, when I'm away she puts her makeup on the shelf, when I'm away she never leaves the house, I want a girl who laughs for no one else."
Also, "When We Two Parted" by the Afghan Whigs. "If I inflict the pain, then baby only I can comfort you." Thanks Greg!
And of course there's the ubiquitous Pearl Jam chart topper, "Better Man."
If this news bit pissed you off enough to want to do something about it, go to dcsafe.org and volunteer some of your time to helping women in the DC area who are dealing with these very same issues.
J - where do men who are the victims of domestic violence go? Just Curious.
The National Institute of Justice and the Center for Disease Control estimates that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are the victims of domestic violence each year.There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. What does this mean? Every 21 seconds, somewhere in America a woman is battered. And every 38 seconds, somewhere in America a man is battered.
chris brown is trailer trash.
he's spoken about seeing him stepfather beat his mother, so why didn't he rise above it if it hurt him so badly. i just don't understand why he hasn't taken his situation and made a point to be better than what he came from.