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#55 – Galaxie 500 – Today

Galaxie 500 – Today

Sometimes a cover song can just trump over the original, as is the case for Galaxie 500’s guitar-laden version of Jonathan Richman/The Modern Lover’s “Don’t Let Your Youth Go to Waste”, backed by the impressive Damon Krukowski on Drums and Naomi Yang (who is the infamous “Naomi” of Neutral Milk Hotel fame).

(I will not spend too much time on the above clip of Jeff Mangum performing Naomi other than to say that this has to be one of the more impressive songs about a musician)

This is not to say that the Jonathan Richman version is bunk but rather Galaxie 500’s gainful exploration in certain areas where the Velvet Underground left off makes them a gem of the 80’s. To consider that Thurston Moore called Galaxie 500’s ‘Today’ the guitar record of 1988,” which happened to be the same year that his band Sonic Youth released “Daydream Nation” is both a huge compliment and a revelation.

When I saw Wareham perform songs of Galaxie 500 at Lincoln Hall a couple years ago, I have to admit that I thought that the shows would sell out faster and that the name Galaxie 500 would be legendary. I imagine that the Velvet Underground have been name-dropped by a plethora of bands but consider it was bands like Galaxie 500 that began to explore this realm of New York-bred psychedelic material. While Damon and Naomi were not present, it was still an opportunity to hear some of these songs being performed live for the first time.

The band did not last long. Wareham went to form Luna and Krukowski and Yang went to form several bands, most notably, Damon and Naomi. For for all intents and purposes the most influential records these three released were the Galaxie 500 albums, helping create a genre and exploring the fascination of staring at your shoes.

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