# Simple songs that you like anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916 "2017-07-10T13:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/41 "2017-07-13T22:45:39Z")
It’s simple. It’s noisy. It’s fucking [beautiful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPZZGykSjGU). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/42 "2017-07-13T23:09:55Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > It’s simple. > It’s noisy. > It’s fucking [beautiful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPZZGykSjGU). Jesus…this is why I could never get into punk. Like you said…NOISY. But worse, it’s unintelligible. I like noisy rock, but this is insane. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/43 "2017-07-13T23:19:13Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > It’s simple. > It’s noisy. > It’s fucking [beautiful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPZZGykSjGU). Steve Albini can really do no wrong by me, whether Big Black, Rapeman, or Shellac. (Or, of course, the gazillions of albums he produced.) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/44 "2017-07-14T05:07:18Z")
[Funk Soul Brother](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBClImpnfAg) ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/45 "2017-07-14T05:31:58Z")
“So what?” By ministry. 9ish min of a groovy simple bass line with intermittent screaming. Love it. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/46 "2017-07-14T12:28:59Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Post #28. And I would’ve posted it he he hadn’t already. Oops. My mistake was only scanning links. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/47 "2017-07-14T13:11:08Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > “So what?” By ministry. 9ish min of a groovy simple bass line with intermittent screaming. Love it. Their song **Just One Fix** is so, so, so simple and relentless: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYYGKCanqfA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYYGKCanqfA) ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/48 "2017-07-14T13:30:06Z")
The Ramones, [“I Wanna Be Sedated”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBN1CkyRzmE) (ad before video, sorry). Which does include a key change, but the one-note guitar riff makes up for that. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/49 "2017-07-14T15:31:17Z")
[quote=“FoieGrasIsEvil, post:40, topic:790916”] Calling Porno For Pyros a one hit wonder isn’t fair. They only put out two albums, but the first has some GREAT songs on it…like “Cursed Female”: [/QUOTE] I was going to say something similar. The definition of “one hit wonder” is debatable. There’s an argument for it but to me it would be like calling Radiohead a 1-hit wonder based on “Creep.” “Pets” was the only Porno for Pyros song to really breakthrough on the pop charts but they had 5 singles on the rock or modern rock/alternative airplay charts, including “Cursed Female” at number 3. Their 2nd album was considered somewhat of a commercial disappointment but I remember the buzz for the release and “Tahitian Moon” got a lot of play as the first single. 2nd album charted at #20 and sold around 300,000 which isn’t that bad. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/50 "2017-07-14T16:45:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Jesus…this is why I could never get into punk. Like you said…NOISY. But worse, it’s unintelligible. I like noisy rock, but this is insane. Really? I love it. The lyrics are easy to understand. It just a big, balls-out blast of anger at W’s presidency. I always wish the drums were a bit less militaristic with Albini, but damn has he left his mark. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/51 "2017-07-14T17:43:58Z")
Okay, let’s broaden this a bit: Plenty of songs of the [NDW](http://www.dw.com/en/neue-deutsche-welle-german-lyrics-gone-pop/a-16941553), Neue Deutsche Welle [New German Wave], in the early 1980s were musically simple but their attitude and their sometimes delightfully ironic sometimes defiant lyrics struck a nerve among the 12 to 16 year old German kids, myself included: Everyone was singing along with Extrabreit’s anarchic: “[Hurra, hurra, die Schula brennt](https://youtu.be/ah2lDsyJdrk?t=20)” (a song about a school burned down by its pupils was bound to make us happy), Grauzone’s moody: “[Eisbaer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhtxqvAlIpo)” (what do you expect? teenagers = moody), Joachim Witt’s depressing “[Goldener Reiter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0UAXn2lq3A)” (about a schizophrenic who is taken to a mental hospital), Fehlfarben’s defiant “[Ein Jahr: Es geht voran!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10U_efDHME)” (which reflected a new political awakening during that time) or the highly ironic “[Rosemary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFW6eXc9NK4)” by Hubert Kah (that song made fun of the German “Schlagertexte” [the lyrics of the hit songs popular among the older generation] by imitating yet also breaking them), and many, many more. I think I listened to Ideal’s debut album in 1980 after my first trip to [Berlin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYyZaoVT3WA&index=2&list=RD-D52CqyYpHw) till my parents screamed. Of course, not all the music of the NDW was (post-)punk or new wave oriented; but those songs were usually more complex, so they don’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/52 "2017-07-14T17:56:57Z")
Great post, **wintertime** , and great examples of NRW songs (I was also a teenager in Germany in the early eighties), but you forgot the quintessential minimalistic song of the time: Trio - Da da da [- YouTube](https://youtu.be/R1sQ4bO6fk0) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/53 "2017-07-14T18:03:00Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Great post, **wintertime** , and great examples of **NRW** songs (I was also a teenager in Germany in the early eighties), but you forgot the quintessential minimalistic song of the time: Trio - Da da da [https://youtu.be/R1sQ4bO6fk0](https://youtu.be/R1sQ4bO6fk0) :smack: make that [NDW](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Deutsche_Welle),[NRW](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia) is my home state :D. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/54 "2017-07-14T18:24:29Z")
Ja, you’re right. And while not at all NDW, I don’t remember a party without [Eisgekuehlter Bommerlunder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDhj3sOAtco), another minimalistic song. And let’s not forget [Westerland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGh3-Bt_Xg). My youngest digitized all of my old LPs with plenty of songs hard to find nowadays - I think, we all go through a NDW-stage at some time. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/55 "2017-07-14T18:33:16Z")
Curse you, 5-minute-rule! I found an [English translation](http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Ideal:Berlin/en) to Ideal’s song Berlin. I still think it captures the city before the fall of the Wall like no other song. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/56 "2017-07-14T18:37:09Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > Ja, you’re right. And while not at all NDW, I don’t remember a party without [Eisgekuehlter Bommerlunder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDhj3sOAtco), another minimalistic song. > > And let’s not forget [Westerland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGh3-Bt_Xg). > > My youngest digitized all of my old LPs with plenty of songs hard to find nowadays - I think, we all go through a NDW-stage at some time. Yeah, my stage was when I was between 12 and 15 :D. But I still got my LP copies of [Opelgang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel-Gang) (which I got for my 16th birthday) and [Ihre größten Erfolge](https://www.discogs.com/de/Extrabreit-Ihre-Gr%C3%B6ssten-Erfolge/release/386027), and Extrabreit in 1982 was my first rock concert. I leaned more to the punkier side of NRW (still do). Oh, and I still own the 45 of Grauzone’s Eisbär. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/57 "2017-07-14T18:58:32Z")
All great albums, **EinsteinsHund** , I own them too. But I was also influenced by the Duesseldorf school of electronica (don’t shoot me). So, I could listen to Rheingold as well; and I still like [Dreiklangsdimensionen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3MDIXgzFEQ) and [Fluss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG6x8nJkg1c) - but I would not call those songs simple. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/58 "2017-07-14T19:25:28Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > All great albums, **EinsteinsHund** , I own them too. But I was also influenced by the Duesseldorf school of electronica (don’t shoot me). So, I could listen to Rheingold as well; and I still like [Dreiklangsdimensionen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3MDIXgzFEQ) and [Fluss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG6x8nJkg1c) - but I would not call those songs simple. Oh, I remember Dreiklagsdimensionen, great song, it was often played on WDR1 (do you remember “[Schlagerrallye](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlagerrallye)”? :)). And I never was much of a purist in music, I could listen to a [Slime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_(band)) track followed by Kraftwerk even then. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/59 "2017-07-14T20:04:23Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I was going to say something similar. The definition of “one hit wonder” is debatable. There’s an argument for it but to me it would be like calling Radiohead a 1-hit wonder based on “Creep.” “Pets” was the only Porno for Pyros song to really breakthrough on the pop charts but they had 5 singles on the rock or modern rock/alternative airplay charts, including “Cursed Female” at number 3. Their 2nd album was considered somewhat of a commercial disappointment but I remember the buzz for the release and “Tahitian Moon” got a lot of play as the first single. 2nd album charted at #20 and sold around 300,000 which isn’t that bad. I completely agree. And their second album was a letdown for me. The songs lost their snarl for the most part. I loved the distorted but melodic guitar work on the first album. Still do, I popped the CD in the car radio and cranked it up to eleven just a couple days ago. > [@WordMan](#): > > Really? I love it. The lyrics are easy to understand. It just a big, balls-out blast of anger at W’s presidency. > > I always wish the drums were a bit less militaristic with Albini, but damn has he left his mark. Maybe I didn’t give it a fair shake. I didn’t listen very long before turning it off. I do like some punk: Fugazi, Ramones, Sex Pistols, etc but I have always prized vocal clarity, at least to a degree, so I can understand the lyrics because they help shape the context of the song. This is also why I detest cookie monster vocals, but loved Phil Anselmo’s stuff with Pantera. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916/60 "2017-07-14T20:19:45Z")
My grandma and your grandma sitting by the fire… done here with just classroom musical instruments. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-songs-that-you-like-anyway/790916.md?page=4)