John Darnielle wants to tell you a story

I haven't read this yet but I'm excited to see John Darnielle on here and have to plug the podcast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats with Joseph Fink and John Darnielle. Each episode they dissect a song from his catalog and have a discussion with someone else as well as a cover of the focus song. The concept is good, but for me the best part of the show is all of the other conversations and general discussion of music/writing/art. That podcast gave me a deeper appreciation for a lot of things I either was clueless or even skeptical about. I think it's made me a better listener of both music and other peoples life perspectives.

"The problem is not that people know, but that expectations form, both within the community and outside of it. Expectations are death. Before something has a full-on, identifiable identity—that’s the exciting time. That’s the time when you don’t really know where something is going, but there’s a feeling, and you can’t quite name it."

It is why I think I am drawn to the pre-Apollo U.S. space program. I don't think anyone knew what was and was not possible. Some engineer decides to make the pressurized rocket tank itself the structural part of the rocket — the thickness of a nickel. Someone calculates velocity and altitudes achievable from staging and then a rocket is put in orbit. Hey, Van Allen belts! We're testing the Saturn vehicle, unmanned with just a dummy cargo — so someone suggests exploding a payload of water high up in the upper atmosphere ... for science. Why not?

You could be forgiven at the time for beginning to believe that anything was possible.

I don't know when or why space travel became boring to the public. But maybe it was when we had begun to know the extent and limitations of what in fact was possible (affordable).

I love The Mountain Goats. Always thought Darnielle was something completely unique and, unrelated, that Springsteen was a meathead dad rocker who had some catchy songs I never really listened to.. Until I read that Springsteen wrote “Because the Night” for Patti Smith and decided to listen to a few albums. I have no clue where I got my ideas about Springsteen, that guy is a fucking amazing song writer.

If you like The Mountain Goats and are young enough to have ignored Springsteen, listen to “Kansas” and “Born in the U.S.A.”

A “Rapidly Approaching Middle-Age” achievement banner popped up the first time I cried along to a Springsteen song.

He did a great version of “Dustland” with The Killers (who stole their name from a Mountain Goats song) last year: https://youtu.be/M3BZ8hnLyRc

He is, perhaps, the greatest living songwriter. His lyrics are haunting and mindblowingly evocative.

Recommended: Magpie, Dilaudid, Until Olympius Returns, and many others.

It took me a while to enjoy the mountain goats, if you play a song for someone the immediate reaction is dislike due to Darnielle’s delivery. But then you start listening to the lyrics and adjust to his voice and you warm up. That’s not unique to Darnielle, Bob Dylan has the same problem and he won a Nobel for his lyrics.

It's worth saying: This guy's novels are really bad. He gets a pass because of his music cred but I don't recommend trying to read any of his fiction.

A Mountain Goats show was the last concert I went to before lock down started in NYC.. Which makes his omission of Golden Boy from the set list all the more egregious.

Anyone got a non paywall link for this?