Anger and Steam

Goya - Satan Devouring his Son


When a cartoon character gets mad, he spouts steam from his ears. Thus is life for the animated. If he had his bike stolen, he'd probably just spout some steam out his ears and skedaddle around for a bit with his eyebrows arched an inch above his head. Life for us affords no such pleasure. Anger can be a useful emotion; your adrenaline rises, your blood pressure rises, you boil and scheme. But without all the thwacking and maiming the cave-dwelling recesses of your brain are cooking up, that steam just condenses round the inside of your skull leaving your cerebellum floating in a pool of suppurating, fetid uselessness. Odd vengeaful vigilante fantasies bubble around in the gloom, neurones heabutt each other, bike parts lie discarded in the temporal lobe. Nothing works. That is how my head is. Anyhow, to distract myself from the loss of my, beloved, bicycle and this dank situation I went out and trawled some bars for musical rage.

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was like getting trepanned. All the steam rising in gentle clouds from a clean hole in my head. It's purifiying. Tight and straining rhythm takes shape. The rusty, threatening bass and serrated speak-song circle like knife-fighters. Then comes the chorus, a howl of sweating, grungy guitar and that awesome screech of "Despite all my rage / I am still just a rat in a cage".

"Gouge Away" is more sexual, open in its hot-fingering perversion. The two songs share a lot. Listen to them one after the other as the night comes on and feel those canines grow.

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings.mp3


The Pixies - GougeAway.wma