So why is The Dandy Warhols’ Welcome to the Monkey House on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
My sense is that The Dandy Warhols don’t get as much respect as they should from critics and music fans.
Just as one example, the All Music review of Welcome to the Monkey House casually lobs phrases like “smirky,” “empty-sounding,” “gloriously blank,” and “cleverly stupid” (cleverly stupid – Roman Roy from Succession, anyone?).
Call me doubly wrong, but I disagree with Heather Phares at All Music and I disagree with the general take that the Dandies aren’t good. They’ve always had a hipster, posing (but not poseur) vibe – and if you can dig that, they’re a damned good rock ‘n’ roll band.
So with that defense mounted, let’s step inside the Monkey House.
The band has never leveraged electronic effects better than on “We Used To Be Friends,” and overall it’s an absolute crusher. As ever, The Dandy Warhols are masters at conjuring incredible alt rock hooks while maintaining a fine pop sensibility. And Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s use of a falsetto vocal range on the chorus sets the song apart as unforgettable.
After listening to “We Used To Be Friends” a bunch of times during the writing of this piece, I realized those electronic effects started to remind me of those used by U2 on albums like Achtung Baby (#216 of best 1,000 albums ever) and Zooropa (#728).
“I Am Over It” leverages a nice dark and synth-y hook and slightly odd production to create a very specific and cool mood.
“Plan A” shows off what great pop craftsmen The Dandy Warhols are. And if that ain’t cool, well I suppose I ain’t cool.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to The Dandy Warhols’ Welcome to the Monkey House
If you’re a TV fan, you might be familiar with The Dandy Warhols by way of their association with the 2000s show, Veronica Mars. It’s a very good show that’s even forward leaning in some respects, a quirky mystery-drama with sharp comedy beats, anchored by Kristen Bell (great in everything), blending mystery with soapy teen drama.
The theme song is “We Used To Be Friends,” which fits the mood and vibe of the show perfectly, somehow.
It also made me consider that the 2000s were boom times for great TV show theme songs. There are a few great ones these days (Succession particularly jumps to mind) but many shows have gone away from lengthy credit sequences in favor of a title card, or perhaps a very short intro sequence a la Breaking Bad (I’ll add that the slightly longer retro guitar sequence that fronts Better Call Saul is magical).
Beyond the obvious 2000s theme songs from classics like The Sopranos and Mad Men another great example is The Von Bondies’ “C’mon C’mon,” the theme to Rescue Me – a post-9/11 firefighter drama – which evoked a sense of spirited defiance and community that perfectly matched the show.
It still gives me chills.
Some stats & info about The Dandy Warhols – Welcome to the Monkey House
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
- When was Welcome to the Monkey House released? 2002
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #491 out of 1,000
The Dandy Warhols’ Welcome to the Monkey House on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Dandy Warhols’ Welcome to the Monkey House that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
A long time ago we used to be friends, but I haven’t thought of you lately at all.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.