Roy Orbison, Paul Simon, and, um, Vomit Pigs grace Wavves' romantic playlist.
Wavves are one of the groups at the forefront of the current lo-fi indie-rock "thing" that's happening right now, aided largely by their endless parade of catchy, energetic tunes. The group is gearing up for the March release of their new album Afraid of Heights with a tour with Fidlar. Bassist Stephen Pope was kind enough to give us his romantic playlist — this is the first ever installment of the Hooksexup Mixtape to include a band called The Vomit Pigs.
1. "Oh Yes, You're Beautiful," Gary Glitter
This really is one of my favorite songs — you have to take away the creepiness around Gary Glitter and his persona, because he makes some of the most unique, instantly recognizable music. And the video for this song is pretty awesome — it's got some really excellent '70s green-screen effects.
2. "Why Should I Love You," R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore is one of the great home recording artists who's been doing it since the '70s — he's working with Ariel Pink right now, I think. This whole song is kind of a battle between loving a girl but also hating her, so it's not the most romantic of love songs, but it's a realistic one. He's saying, "I'm in love with you, but you make me want to die."
3. "In Dreams," Roy Orbison
I'll always associate this with Blue Velvet, which I think is pretty awesome. I always said that if Elvis had Roy Orbison's voice, or if Roy Orbison had Elvis's looks, they would have been unstoppable.
4. "Sea of Love," Phil Phillips
My old band used to cover this, so it holds a special place in my heart. We did a really terrible job. I've always loved the backing vocals on this track — they're these really deep baritone vocals, but they just pop up sporadically throughout the song.
5. "Crying," Roy Orbison
There's not much more I can say about Roy Orbison.
6. "Can't Seem To Make You Mine," Alex Chilton
This is a cover of a song by The Seeds. I like the Alex Chilton version better because it almost sounds like he's trying to impersonate the Seeds singer, and he does it in this really bratty, agitated way, but it ends up fitting the song a lot better. I love his solo album Like Flies on Sherbet — this one's not on it, but you should get it anyway.
7. "Kodachrome," Paul Simon
I was going to do "You Can Call Me Al," but I guess it's mostly because of the video. "Kodachrome" is a love song about a camera, and you can easily replace the word "Kodachrome" with a girl's name. But the message is still the same — it makes him think of a time that he thinks was better than it actually was. It's a good nostalgic love song.
8. "Tell Her No," The Zombies
This one's another weird love song. I'm pretty sure the guy loves the girl he's dating a lot more than she loves him, so it's a really creepy possessive love song, so he's like, telling other guys to tell her no and stay away if she approaches them. And it drives him nuts, because he knows she might just leave him at any second.
9. "Crimson & Clover," Tommy James & The Shondells
It's probably the best production on any song ever. Super-weird all the way through, tons of delay. It's about love at first sight, and it's just swooning and otherworldly all the way through.
10. "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin
My dad taped the video for this song when I was a kid. It was one of like, five tapes I had, so I used to pop it in all the time. It's probably got the truest, deepest message of any song ever written — it's about being in love with life.
11. "Holiday," Weezer
I probably didn't go an entire week in high school without popping in the blue album and just crying along to it, singing every lyric. I pretty much could have picked any Weezer song, but "Holiday" still really gets me. We tried to copy the guitar sound from that record on our new album and… I don't think we got it.
12. "The Chaffeur," Duran Duran
I hated Duran Duran in high school, because I thought they weren't cool, but I've recently gotten into them. "The Chaffeur" is a pretty weird song. It's written from the perspective of the driver for this really rich girl, and just being completely unable to express your true feelings for her. The video captures the song pretty well — it's a creepy black and white.
13. "Slut," Vomit Pigs
Vomit Pigs were a small punk band from Texas in the '70s that never really broke through, and this is on their album Useless Eaters. The chorus lyrics are "Because I'm in love with you / even though you're a slut / I'm in love with a slut / and I don't care." It's kind of like a precursor to "I'm In Love With a Stripper." He's knows his girl is fuckin' every dude, but he still loves her. That's pretty romantic.
