The Music Money Shot
July 4th 2008 02:26
Whilst going to see the Panics last month it got me a thinking about things. When it comes to the Panics, I wish I could be one of those ultra cool people that “liked them before they were big”. Alas I’m not one of those people. No, like many I caught on to them just as they were on the up and up (great it’s grade three and Reebok pumps all over again). After their album was named Triple J’s album of the year I discovered the highly catchy Don’t fight it. The song grabbed my attention and after skipping to track four for the first few listens, I slowly grew to love the album. After that I went through their old songs and started digging up their old gems like Kid you’re a dream and such. So with a ticket in my hot little hand (okay it was a printed out page from the net, lets just imagine ticket for the imagery) I went to check out their show at the Prince.
Little Red were supporting, like they always do, gezze these guys are like the Eddie Maguire/ Kelly Ripper of support bands. I mean I like them but would love to see another support band for once. ANYWAYS so halfway into the set it struck me, I was waiting for the hit. Sure I loved most of the songs, their album is fully of catchy pop songs that is easy to sing along to badly at a gig. But if I look deeply into my soul, as ashamed as I am to admit it I was waiting for Don’t Fight It. Well not waiting waiting, but that was going to be the big bang. As I looked around in the crowd I couldn’t help but think, “ I’m not alone”. Most people were probably squished in the same boat as I am. Maybe even more so. I took the time to listen to their album, and their last two. I wanted to get to know them. What about all the people here who didn’t. The girlfriends and boyfriends, the mates who only came because it cost twenty-seven dollars. The must have been amp for the one big shot of “I know this song”. That one song means more to them than it does to me. Their anticipation for it is far greater than mine. How does a band play a gig or with this in mind?
So all this got me thinking, how does a band handle their “money shot” song? Where do you play it? Do you play it at all? Towards the latter days of Nirvana they refused to play Teen Sprit the ultimate money shot song. It’s not even featured on their MTV Unplugged. One can understand this, after writing all those songs, putting your soul and heart in to other great songs like Heart Shaped box and My favorite Lithium, it’s all foreplay for Teen sprit. It kind of blackens those songs. It’s like making a movie. There are so many people who contribute to it. There are writers, producers, even catering people. Yet it’s the director and actors that get most of the plaudits. Without good writing the script is shit, without producers there is no money, without the catering the actresses don’t eat…. Okay scrap the last one. The point and I’m seventy percent sure there is one, is that so much goes towards this finished product and only a small portion get credit for it. Like Nevermind, so many good songs on that album that make it what it is. So to Put importance on just one, to discount the importance of all the others seems to be making ones self-ignorant of the art of a record.
So I cant get too high on my big music high horse. Here I was waiting for that money shot song at the panics, not publicly of course I’m far to cool for that. But when it did come up I knew that me feet would tap a bit harder and my fingers would point that little bit sharper (yes I do dance like my father at gigs. I’ve come to terms with that, if only my friends would). So it had me thinking to myself, when I’m famous in a band and married to Rachel Bilson, how will I handle this conundrum? When do you play the song? Do start with it and then hope people stick around to listen to your other stuff. Open with a bang and hope that it’s enough to entice the non believers to stay for the rest. Not once has a band ever done this (not that I’ve seen in my little life anyway). It’s a good option but a very big risky one. Do you play it right at the end? Let the punters leave with that toe tapping, heart beating feeling they have been waiting for. A couple of weeks later I went to go see Faker. This is a band who has gone from one money shot song to another. Hurricane was huge on radio two years ago. When I saw them whilst they were touring for their first album this was their big song. The crowd went off at the Big Day Out in 2006 when this song was played. This year however This Hear Attack has been hug. So much so that it's taken nearly six months to release a new single. Faker chose to play Heart Attack at the very end of their set right before the encore. Hurricane was played half was through.
So how did the Panics handle this? Where did they play Their Money Shot Sing. They played it right in the middle, tempting fate and the unconvinced by finishing with their earlier stuff. Which to me was a great move. Their old songs sound far better live and I think help make the gig so good. "Let's play the hit" I heard one of the band say as they went in to the song.
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