[MUSIC] Metric, "Monster Hospital"
Jan. 1st, 2008 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe Canadian band Metric's song "Monster Hospital" may well have been my favourite song of 2007. For those of you unfamiliar with recent trends in Canadian popular music, Metric is one of the many, many solo artists and groups spawned by the Toronto indie rock supergroup Broken Social Scene--non-Canadians might be interested to know that Feist of iPOD/"1 2 3 4" fame is another product of BSS. The success of Metric is less international than Feist's, true, but Metric has had its own imprint on the Canadian music scene. Back in 2006, it even had a #1 hit with its song "Monster Hospital".
The remix by Toronto's MSTRKRFT--nearly two minutes longer, vocals and beat processed, altogether a rather more urgent and twitchy of the Metric original--has gotten a fair amount of radio play. (It was also released together with the Kylie Kills Mix of "Dead Disco," but enough has been said about that song.)
On first hearing, the low-fi ambiance and politics of "Monster Hospital" reminded me of Le Tigre's "New Kicks". On second listen, "Monster Hospital" sounded more like the sequel to "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" that John Lennon might have written had he lived another two and a half decades after 1980, something he made after he heard more New Wave and saw the war against terror. "Monster Hospital" is not a happy song. Leaving aside the music video with the blood seeping out of taps and filling up lightbulbs in a black and whtie world and the hands reaching out of walls to grab lead singer Emily Hainesunheimlich about the nearly seductive tone of Haines' coo.
And then, there's the simple despairing repetition of the song's last verses.
Given all of these musical and lyrical and video hints, and the band's politics, I felt quite comfortable in treating "Monster Hospital" as a straightforward antiwar song, released in a year filled with news of chaos and mass death in Iraq (a dozen decapitated bodies here, a suicide bombing in a crowded market there, a sacred temple destroyed in that city, and so on). I wasn't alone: Any number of reviewers--UK Launch, Montréal's Hour, Time Out Chicago, Pop Matters--agreed with my appraisal.
Imagine my surprise when I found out this wasn't necessarily the case. I was taken aback by an interview by Haines with The A.V. Club.
Even though the meaning of "Monster Hospital" remains hotly debated among fans, one authoritative description of the song's genesis is hinted at in another interview with Haines in SPIN.
At least Haines was smart enough to recognize that trap.
* * *
I hope everyone reading this had an enjoyable New Year's Day. Take care!
The remix by Toronto's MSTRKRFT--nearly two minutes longer, vocals and beat processed, altogether a rather more urgent and twitchy of the Metric original--has gotten a fair amount of radio play. (It was also released together with the Kylie Kills Mix of "Dead Disco," but enough has been said about that song.)
On first hearing, the low-fi ambiance and politics of "Monster Hospital" reminded me of Le Tigre's "New Kicks". On second listen, "Monster Hospital" sounded more like the sequel to "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" that John Lennon might have written had he lived another two and a half decades after 1980, something he made after he heard more New Wave and saw the war against terror. "Monster Hospital" is not a happy song. Leaving aside the music video with the blood seeping out of taps and filling up lightbulbs in a black and whtie world and the hands reaching out of walls to grab lead singer Emily Hainesunheimlich about the nearly seductive tone of Haines' coo.
Monster Hospital, can you please release me?
You hold my hands down, I've been bad.
You hold my arms down, I've been bad.
I've been bad, I've been bad.
And then, there's the simple despairing repetition of the song's last verses.
I fought the war
I fought the war
I fought the war
but the war won't stop for the love of God.
I fought the war
I fought the war but the war won
Given all of these musical and lyrical and video hints, and the band's politics, I felt quite comfortable in treating "Monster Hospital" as a straightforward antiwar song, released in a year filled with news of chaos and mass death in Iraq (a dozen decapitated bodies here, a suicide bombing in a crowded market there, a sacred temple destroyed in that city, and so on). I wasn't alone: Any number of reviewers--UK Launch, Montréal's Hour, Time Out Chicago, Pop Matters--agreed with my appraisal.
Imagine my surprise when I found out this wasn't necessarily the case. I was taken aback by an interview by Haines with The A.V. Club.
AVC: Given its chorus, the song "Monster Hospital" would seem to be a pretty direct anti-war song, but you've stated in other interviews that it isn't so straightforward.
EH: One of the rules for me as a writer is that no lyric gets through if it only has one meaning. I remember finding that written on a scrap of paper somewhere when we were making the record, and I have no idea when I wrote down "I fought the war and the war won," but I know that I wasn't talking about Baghdad.
Even though the meaning of "Monster Hospital" remains hotly debated among fans, one authoritative description of the song's genesis is hinted at in another interview with Haines in SPIN.
On "Monster Hospital," the first single from Metric's Live It Out, Emily Haines venomously croons, "I fought the war but the war won / I fought the war but the war won't stop for the love of God." But in an era rife with anti-war sentiments, Haines explained to SPIN.com that the battle she refers to is a personal one, waged against the overwhelming sense that inner demons were entrapping her.
At least Haines was smart enough to recognize that trap.
* * *
I hope everyone reading this had an enjoyable New Year's Day. Take care!
