Buckle up your behinds, America, because the time is now. The best and most greatest band ever to commit notes to wax has compiled its finest tracks onto one compilation, entitled Quarantine the Past: Greatest Hits 1989-1999. It’s due out on March 9, and it’s just gonna be the best thing in the world, ain’t it? And now, the starting tracklist for your Chicago Bulls of indie rock, Paaaaavement!
01. Gold Soundz
02. In the Mouth a Desert
03. You’re Killing Me
04. Heaven Is a Truck
05. AT&T
06. Shady Lane / J Vs. S
07. Major Leagues
08. Date w/ IKEA
09. Frontwards
10. Painted Soldiers
11. The Hexx
12. Cut Your Hair
13. Range Life
14. Grounded
15. Debris Slide
16. Spit on a Stranger
17. Here
18. We Dance
19. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
20. Box Elder
21. Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17
22. Stereo
23. Fight This Generation
…GRRRRRR blah blah blah Pavement released way too much quality material to be pigeonholed with a greatest hits compilation, and this comp doesn’t even fucking have “Rattled by the Rush” on it and yada yada yurp Terror Twilight got the shaft etc. etc. etc. Best-of collections are by nature hotbeds of contention among “purists” and “fan boys” and “basic assholes” alike, and given the breadth of Pavement’s legacy among the indie community, I’d imagine this tracklist pissed off more than a few people. But what else could it have done, really? At least “Painted Soldiers” from the Brain Candy soundtrack made the cut, if only so I could link to this classic Kids in the Hall sketch about the pitfalls of obsessive pop music fandom and greatest hits collections to boot. “She’s a rider on the storm, but she ain’t never heard the sounds.”