Pavement: Songs We Love

Listen To NPR Staffers' Favorite Songs By Pavement

Pavement is no less seminal than the plaid shirts on its members' backs. Sure, Stephen Malkmus, Mark Ibold, Spiral Stairs, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West are some of history's greatest thieves; Mark E. Smith even called Pavement on its Fall worship. If Malkmus and company didn't sound so bored by it all, they might be The Beatles of the '90s, taking a little bit of everything and making it better. But that's rock 'n' roll, right? Our greatest musicians aren't necessarily inventors; they're riff-rodents and note-nickers.

Despite Beavis and Butt-Head's claim that Pavement "weren't trying hard enough," the truth of it is, these guys knew exactly what they were doing. The anti-guitar solos, disaffected vocals, instantly memorable lyrical non-sequiturs and unmade song structures -- these weren't so much statements as pop-culture indictments.

The weird thing was that it worked. Turn to anyone with even a limited indie-rock background and say, "What about the voice of Geddy Lee? / How did it get so high / I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy." The immediate answer will be, "I know him. And he does."

Ten years after the band's official breakup, Pavement is back together -- and already on a tour that will take up the better part of 2010. And, after a drama-filled split, it looks like it's having a damn good time. Quarantine the Past seems like a fitting title, then, for the band's first ever best-of compilation, which comes out March 9. It certainly has a bunch of our favorite Pavement songs, which you can read about below, but we'd love hear about yours in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Pavement: Songs We Love

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