jane dark's sugarhigh!

That Song (two decade fade)

When I listen to that song, that hip-hop song, the really great one with the heavily distorted guitar, that one with the distorted guitar sifted down to one attack, two attacks, repeated over and over for the duration of the track, that Rick Rubin song, when I listen to that song I forgive almost everything stupid that hip-hop has done to kiss rock's ass or borrow its fire or shark its audience, when I hear that song I have to meditate on history, that song makes me cogitate on theory, that song seems to be about the point at which a superfuzz guitar chord is still rock, is still music, that song that wonders at what point another genre is reduced to abstraction, that song so patiently aggressive about whether or not it is calling on another tradition or breaking it down and boosting its shoes, when that song comes on the radio in the mid-day mix I wonder for a second if that song is "99 Problems" or "Rock The Bells."