Believe it or not, the 100th slot was the toughest one to fill because it saw so many great records finally get scrapped from the list. No shit, this spot was between our victors Be Your Own Pet and the latest record from Taylor Swift, Fearless. I'm not kidding. But in the end Taylor Swift can't beat Jemina Pearl - I have some self-respect.
Art Brut (another band sadly left off the list - I'll stop doing this I promise) have a song on their latest record called "Slap Dash For No Cash" and the lyric goes "Slap dash for no cash/Those are the records I like/When something doesn't sound quite right." Yes, they were singing about the Replacements, but they just as easily could have been singing about the debut full length from these Tennessee teenagers, BYOP.
Be Your Own Pet was brought to me by my dear friend Sarah back when the MySpace thing was really in full swing and the first thing I heard was "Bunk Trunk Skunk" - "I'm an independent motherfucker/And I'm here to take your money/I'm wicked rad and I'm here/To steal away your virginity."
Yes, please. Count me in. There's something so scrappy, so imperfect, so great about this record that the band's breakup almost immediately following the release of their incredibly inferior second record, Get Awkward, felt exactly right. Sure, I was sad, but this was music made by kids and once they started growing up, even a little bit, it would just be disappointing. Besides, no adult can sing lines like "So how's your dudezone, dude?" or "My brain is on fire/My brain is on fire/So piss right in my ear" with a straight face.
That's what made this record so inviting. They meant it and they didn't give a shit. Sure, the tough girl shtick sometimes felt a little forced, but that was kind of what made it appealing.
But just when all the fun and silliness starts to become a bit much, they pull out a song like "October, First Account" which is still a true blue "Holy Shit!" moment. A great nuanced pop song amidst the fucking and the fighting - that was Be Your Own Pet and I will remember them fondly even if they kind of scared me a little bit when I saw them live.
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