So why is The Breeders’ Last Splash on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I cycled throuI cycled through several different ways to hook into writing about The Breeders’ classic, Last Splash:
- How the guitar riff from “Saints” will get pleasantly stuck in my head for weeks at a time
- Or I could frame up Heather Phares from All Music’s description of the “surreal feminism” at work on the album
- Alternatively, I could talk about my occasional obsessive phases with “Do You Love Me Now?”
But I landed on starting out with my personal entry point to The Breeders’ music, which – like most people I’d expect – came by way of the iconic, loopy, wunderkind of a song, “Cannonball.”
It’s strange, the way that memory can play tricks with you over a period of decades. For example, my brain tells me that I “discovered” “Cannonball” by way of MTV’s 120 Minutes while living in a house with ten rowdy guys (who mostly played rugby, as I did) during my senior year at Binghamton University. However, Last Splash was released in the summer of 1993, so it’s more likely that I consumed the (still highly watchable) music video on heavy rotation while living in the dorms during my sophomore year.
In any event, “Cannonball” puts together an array of the off-kilter elements that make The Breeders work so well. Like The Breeders as a whole – akin in many respects to the Pixies, a band that Kim Deal was also a key part of, of course – it’s a sound where it seems almost impossible that it can work in a coherent way, and yet it also (somehow) feels timeless and inevitable.
The distorted vocals, the ah-OO-oohs, the drumstick hitting off the side of the hi-hat, that booming and percussive bass line, and then best of all one of the sweetest and crunchiest and grungiest guitar hooks you’ll ever hear in your life.
And then those cryptic wacko fun and ultimately (somehow) super catchy lyrics that would make Frank Black proud.
Spitting in a wishing well
Blown to hell, crash
I’m the last splash
As I note above, “Saints” wields similar powers in its sweet crunch of a groove. I should point out too, of course, that Deal’s pretty yet forceful and distinctive vocals alone set The Breeders apart from most other bands.
That pretty quality shines through most strongly on the drippingly gorgeous, alt country-inflected “Drivin’ on 9.”
And then tracks like “Divine Hammer” split the difference in a sense, a propulsive yet delightful showcase that the Fastbacks would surely admire.
The range and quality on Last Splash make the album exciting every listen through. “I Just Wanna Get Along” is as driving and urgent as “Drivin’ on 9” is chilled out.
And if this isn’t one of the great song lyrics from the 1990s, I don’t know what is:
If you’re so special, why aren’t you dead?
I mentioned my obsessive periods with “Do You Love Me Now?” above. It’s a dark yet beautiful and driving rock number that pleases me endlessly.
I’ll end with singing the praises of “Mad Lucas,” a fuzzed-up melancholy-ish number that sets a strange yet perfect mood.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Breeders’ Last Splash
How cool is Kim Deal? I’ll let the great Dandy Warhols song, “Cool As Kim Deal,” explain it to you.
Some stats & info about The Breeders – Last Splash
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Pop Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #293
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Last Splash released? 1993
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #85 out of 1,000
The Breeders’ Last Splash on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Breeders’ Last Splash that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I know you’re a cannonball.
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.