So why is Teddybears’ Soft Machine on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I’m pretty sure I first heard Teddybears via the song “Cobrastyle,” featured in the pilot of the TV show Chuck back in 2007.
Thinking about “Cobrastyle” and Chuck and 2007 feels like this was both back in Ye Olden Times and not that long ago at the same time, somehow.
More on Chuck the show below, but now I want to focus on how I loved “Cobrastyle” from the first time I heard it, and it remains one of my most favorite songs from the 2010s. Featuring Mad Cobra, which is appropriate, I suppose, the mix of that killer hook, organ sound, and Mad Cobra’s outstanding rap vocals hit my musical sweet spot every time I throw it on.
Soft Machine is magnificently rangy and eclectic while having a core indie electronic and dance-y sensibility throughout.
“Punkrocker,” featuring an incredible performance by Iggy Pop on vocals, is a song I continue to adore to this day, and it might be my flat out favorite Iggy song of all time. It’s a perfect expression of attitude from the punk rock elder statesman.
See me die on Bleecker Street
I’m bored with being god
See me sneering in my car
I’m driving to my star
I’m listening to the music with no fear
You can hear it too if you’re sincere
‘Cause I’m a punk rocker, yes I am
Well I’m a punk rocker, yes I am
And meanwhile, “Yours to Keep,” featuring Neneh Cherry, is a wonderfully warm and energetic electronic indie pop track.
And “Different Sound,” featuring Malte, is a hard-hitting electronica dance number that’s up there with the best of The Chemical Brothers or The Prodigy.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Teddybears’ Soft Machine
One of the many incredible things about taking on a wacky/audacious project such as the best 1,000 albums ever is that I’d have zero clue that I’ll end up talking about the TV show, Chuck, while writing what is the 762nd of 1,000 pieces of the grand puzzle!
Chuck is sort of groundbreaking in its way (especially in its first few seasons) as a spy-comedy (with real heart at its peak) that’s centered around a Best Buy-style electronics store called Buy More (great name!), a formula that’s been copied and iterated on many times since.
The cast is terrific, and includes Zachary Levi (more on him below), Yvonne Strahovski, and Joshua Gomez. Strahovski would go on to have a major role in the creepy, all too relevant TV version of The Handmaid’s Tale.
For years, I confused Joshua Gomez with another great actor… who turns out to be his twin brother, Rick Gomez. The latter is incredible as George Luz as part of the stellar cast of Band of Brothers, which I re-watch every 18-24 months and love every single time.
Also see: The best 100 TV shows ever.
Personal stuff that has something to do with Teddybears’ Soft Machine
Here’s a story about my sort of personal connection to the TV show, Chuck.
Back in the late 2000s, I worked for a tiny (awful) company that I hated quite a bit. The two guys who owned the company were very tight with some of the biggest conservative radio/TV broadcasters in the U.S. And that’s only a small slice of why I was not happy there*.
* If you’re wondering why I worked there at all, this was during the Great Recession and jobs were not plentiful in my industry. I did my time there, and then left to join a pretty great media start-up as soon as I had the opportunity to hop out.
The company produced websites that were specific to… let’s say minor celebrities. You might have heard of a few of them, but most people haven’t. One of them was for the guy best known for the song “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” if that gives you a vibe.
Another website was for a singer-songwriter named Caitlin Crosby, who at the time was dating Zachary Levi, who played the titular role on Chuck*.
* I also had a vague recollection that Levi had gone off the proverbial deep end, politically, at some point, and it turns out sadly that I was correct. He’s a fan of Jordan Peterson according to this piece, a person synonymous with odious in my book.
The site was called FLAWZ, and was about female empowerment and embracing one’s flaws. I was able to dig up the music video for the “FLAWZ” single, and it’s pretty good stuff.
This has been your Chuck Rabbit Hole Minute, signing off.
Some stats & info about Teddybears – Soft Machine
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Swedish Bands, Dance Music, Electronic Music, Indie Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Soft Machine released? 2006
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #239 out of 1,000
Teddybears’ Soft Machine on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Teddybears’ Soft Machine that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I’m a punk rocker, yes I am.
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.