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Bands' absolute imperial moments

ThirstyDog [Edit] [Delete] 60 replies 10:20 March 19th, 2013

You know, those one or two songs when a band/artist is at their absolute peak, performing with a real swagger, knowing how absolutely fucking great they are right now, & everything just comes together perfectly.

Some starters:
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
New Order - Perfect Kiss
Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla
MBV - Only Shallow
Stones - Brown Sugar

More suggestions please.

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if i wasnt at work i would be able to link to

the 'this is music' video by The Verve

freddiehubbard | 19 Mar '13, 10:30 | X | ^ This | Reply

ThirstyDog this'd this
- Yep, what a tune
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgsPAsno4OU
  
  DriftingSkeleton @freddiehubbard | 19 Mar '13, 18:44 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - that is "swagger"
    
    kostenurky @DriftingSkeleton | 20 Mar '13, 08:34 | X | ^ This | Reply
QOTSA - Rated R

okay a whole album, but the sheer number of people involved, all of whom were just totally killing it at the time, created something that will never be equalled no matter how long they will keep on trying.

Fuzzy_Dunlop | 19 Mar '13, 10:30 | X | ^ This | Reply

bowiecokemirror this'd this
- I find Rated R a bit boring and unfocussed.
  
  I doubt they'll top Songs For The Deaf.
  
  keith @Fuzzy_Dunlop | 19 Mar '13, 16:24 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - nonsense
    
    self-titled is also better than sftd.
    
    pendereckiesque @keith | 19 Mar '13, 19:17 | X | ^ This | Reply
    
    bowiecokemirror, stanstubbs, Wasted_Opportunity, Epimer, spiritofjazz, and anal_schwarzenegger this'd this
swagger lol

alcxxk | 19 Mar '13, 10:31 | X | ^ This | Reply
Nick Cave - Do You Love Me

ThirstyDog | 19 Mar '13, 10:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
Is this a different thing from 'best song'?

Royter-Hatfood | 19 Mar '13, 10:45 | X | ^ This | Reply

thewarn this'd this
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound

midnightpunk | 19 Mar '13, 10:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
Don't Look Back Into The Sun

IrishMagpie | 19 Mar '13, 18:22 | X | ^ This | Reply
pavement - grounded

without wanting to geek out too much, when you hear the demo on the crooked rain re release and then hear the wowee zowee version you can tell how far they had come lyrically and performatively. i have other pavement songs i think are better songs but nothing beats grounded for showing everything that makes them a wonderful wonderful band.

emmettcruddas | 19 Mar '13, 18:52 | X | ^ This | Reply

Oissin_ this'd this
- nah, 'Filmore Jive' mate
  
  incandenza_ @emmettcruddas | 20 Mar '13, 00:19 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - fair
    
    especially when the whole 'our lungs are filled with...' (and then wowee zowee starts with '...air') thing got pointed out to me. and the guitar solo is great.
    
    emmettcruddas @incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 00:59 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - *their throats
      
      emmettcruddas @emmettcruddas | 20 Mar '13, 01:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - i just put them in a playlist and crossfaded the ending to match up
      
      MIND BLOWN
      
      CrispinAlexander @emmettcruddas | 20 Mar '13, 02:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
Nick Cave

any point over a decade ago...

fiddygent | 19 Mar '13, 19:06 | X | ^ This | Reply
At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor (or anything off Relationship of Command tbf)

Interpol - PDA, with the awesome outro and that.

pendereckiesque | 19 Mar '13, 19:18 | X | ^ This | Reply
- pfffft ATDI had a ton better songs
  
  all of vaya for a start.
  
  Matt_was_taken @pendereckiesque | 19 Mar '13, 19:20 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - you're completely, unequivocally wrong.
    
    They were actually a bit shit prior to Relationship of Command. Ross Robinson got the best out of them.
    
    pendereckiesque @Matt_was_taken | 20 Mar '13, 02:19 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - you do know the band hate what andy wallace did to the album dont you?
      
      Course you do.. your the guy that thinks Rascuache, Proxima Centauri, 198d, Chanbara, Napoleon Solo, For Now..We Toast.. are a bit shit.
      
      Matt_was_taken @pendereckiesque | 20 Mar '13, 08:30 | X | ^ This | Reply
- Invalid Litter Dept. orrrrr Enfilade for me
  
  ThisTemporaryLife @pendereckiesque | 19 Mar '13, 20:23 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - Those screams in the second part of Invalid Litter Dept.
    
    so good
    
    pendereckiesque @ThisTemporaryLife | 20 Mar '13, 02:21 | X | ^ This | Reply
- came here to post PDA
  
  SCROTUM @pendereckiesque | 19 Mar '13, 20:59 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - public display of affection?
    
    oooohh, kissy-kissy!
    
    theintl @SCROTUM | 20 Mar '13, 09:24 | X | ^ This | Reply
john williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRRtOJqB8PU

Matt_was_taken | 19 Mar '13, 19:19 | X | ^ This | Reply

styrofoamboots this'd this
bruce & the e street

with jungleland. that whole born to run tour was just stunningly good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYPSZiE0OAs

riverlodge | 19 Mar '13, 19:49 | X | ^ This | Reply

icehockeyhair this'd this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVTEqG9enEY

shrewbie | 19 Mar '13, 19:55 | X | ^ This | Reply

Matt_was_taken this'd this
You mean imperious* ?

Body_In_The_Thames | 19 Mar '13, 20:02 | X | ^ This | Reply

incandenza_ this'd this
- I thought he was talking about when all the members of a band
  
  let their soul patches get out of control.
  
  robluvsnic @Body_In_The_Thames | 20 Mar '13, 01:38 | X | ^ This | Reply
- When he was a journalist at Smash Hits
  
  Neil Tennant used to describe bands as "going imperial" when they hit their absolute peak. So nicked it from him.
  
  ThirstyDog @Body_In_The_Thames | 20 Mar '13, 02:15 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - H might've meant "imperial" in the sense of conquering the world
    
    but I still reckon it was a reference to facial hair.
    
    robluvsnic @ThirstyDog | 20 Mar '13, 02:27 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - H.
      
      robluvsnic @robluvsnic | 20 Mar '13, 02:41 | X | ^ This | Reply
      
      Matt_was_taken this'd this
Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern

Dicodisco | 19 Mar '13, 20:53 | X | ^ This | Reply

jarock87 this'd this
- Mods, please ban this joker.
  
  Six > Little Kixx > Attack of the Grey Lantern.
  
  Ive not heard their last outtakes album, although I did see them shortly before they split and Chad was about 20 stone.
  
  pendereckiesque @Dicodisco | 20 Mar '13, 02:26 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  Comaboy this'd this
  - The Chad who loved me, straight in yo face
    
    Dicodisco @pendereckiesque | 21 Mar '13, 18:41 | X | ^ This | Reply
- nah
  
  when they stepped onto another plane? Gotta be Six (the song). And the last 4 minutes or so of it are gloriously swaggery
  
  kostenurky @Dicodisco | 20 Mar '13, 08:36 | X | ^ This | Reply
Brown Sugar? no way!

surely Satisfaction, Paint It Black, JJ Flash, Sympathy... & Gimme Shelter all Tower over that track!!! i know Keef would agree with me...

sunstroke_house | 19 Mar '13, 21:11 | X | ^ This | Reply
- ever hear the 1st album?
  
  took 'em 20 years!
  
  theintl @sunstroke_house | 20 Mar '13, 09:22 | X | ^ This | Reply
Beastie Boys - Gratitude

Or maybe Sabotage. They are loud. They are funky. They are THE BEASTIE BOYS!!!!!!

funkycow | 19 Mar '13, 21:21 | X | ^ This | Reply
metallica from 84 to 91

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22W38jJk81s

jessepinkmanslungs | 19 Mar '13, 22:16 | X | ^ This | Reply
pet shop boys

gotta be in this thread,think it was them that coined the term,the imperial phase.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRHetRTOD1Q

jessepinkmanslungs | 19 Mar '13, 22:22 | X | ^ This | Reply
James Blake: Sparing The Horses / Stop What You're Doing Reimx / CMKY / Buzzard and Kesteral / Confidence Boost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7jKE-JydK8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wXjsOPoueQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oI5HvfxgpU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFRsJOWRSYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCs9j3FReN0

jimitheexploder | 19 Mar '13, 22:28 | X | ^ This | Reply
I love 'Takk...'

but 'Hoppipolla'? ahahah what?!

not even in the place in my heart where the song is unsullied by overexposure.

('Vidrar...', btw)

incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 00:17 | X | ^ This | Reply
- yeah
  
  for me Sigur Ros let loose and confidently marched out my speakers with Popplagio.
  
  kostenurky @incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 08:38 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  jimouthargyle this'd this
y'know what? this is stupid

seems to suggest bands have to be confident to make their best music.

incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 00:27 | X | ^ This | Reply
- more like comfortable
  
  like they find something and really nail it so much so that it suits them down to a tea and seems easy. You don't have to be soem kind of Oasis swaggering goon to pull that off you can also be an awkward indie fly like Pavement and do it.
  
  jimitheexploder @incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 00:32 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - I like the idea that brilliance can be almost accidental
    
    or that bands can disregard their own work but it time reveals it to be really good.
    
    incandenza_ @jimitheexploder | 20 Mar '13, 00:40 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - brilliance prob is accidental sometimes in music
      
      big leaps in house music came from people mucking about on 303s to make acid house cos they didn't know how to use it and thought that what they where doing instead sounded good. Stooges prob thought they where making standard rock'n'roll at the begining, just emulating it and getting it wrong but so right all at once.
      
      jimitheexploder @incandenza_ | 20 Mar '13, 00:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
      
      JaguarPirate this'd this
      - yeah, great examples
        
        idk...essentially, it's more about free expression than something as imposing as 'swagger'.
        
        like, I half-expected the OP to start talking about REAL LADS, etc.
        
        incandenza_ @jimitheexploder | 20 Mar '13, 01:26 | X | ^ This | Reply
usually when "the imperial phase" is spoken about in music its to do with a specific era when a band hits it artistic,commercial and critically praised stage all at once,say the stones at the end of the sixties,oasis briefly in the 90's or nirvana from 91/93.basically they rule the charts,the end of year polls,everything they touch really.
so not sure the analogy works for specific songs.other than the smiths very few indie bands ever really go through it.

jessepinkmanslungs | 20 Mar '13, 01:26 | X | ^ This | Reply

furio this'd this
Suede - Dog Man Star

godisinthetv | 20 Mar '13, 01:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
- Suede when they filmed Love and Poison is a better answer.
  
  There was constant in fighting about Dog Man Star and it's main song writer says it could have been so much better had the rest of the band had faith in his musicianship.
  
  Love and Poison is the last point were they're all on good terms and properly focused.
  
  wilykit @godisinthetv | 20 Mar '13, 08:50 | X | ^ This | Reply
trail of dead - mistakes and regrets

hard to top that, even for arguably the best band of our generation.

pendereckiesque | 20 Mar '13, 02:31 | X | ^ This | Reply
- oh come on
  
  it's 'It Was There That I Saw You' and you know it.
  
  incandenza_ @pendereckiesque | 20 Mar '13, 12:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
I think a lot of people haven't read the thread properly

He means SONGS where a band takes their craft to another level, step up a gear and produce something with self-confidence.
That doesn't mean to have to say it's their best song. It might be, but it's just where they hit this stride and genius starts floating out.

kostenurky | 20 Mar '13, 08:41 | X | ^ This | Reply

ThirstyDog this'd this
- able to let the genius pour out
  
  with an absence of self-doubt if you like
  
  kostenurky @kostenurky | 20 Mar '13, 08:49 | X | ^ This | Reply
There's somewhere on or around Homogenic where Bjork just clearly takes her shit to another level

Probably Joga/Bachelorette.

others:
The National - Mistaken for Strangers
The Radio Dept - It's Personal

kostenurky | 20 Mar '13, 08:48 | X | ^ This | Reply
maybe...

Oasis- Champagne Supernova
Throwing Muses - Counting Backwards
TVOTR- Halfway Home

planet_of_sound | 20 Mar '13, 20:10 | X | ^ This | Reply
The Fall - The Classical

definitely

Icarus-Smicarus | 20 Mar '13, 20:26 | X | ^ This | Reply

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