Keith Pille's Weekly Shuffle
12.12.05

Every week, I will fire up the Shuffle Songs option on my iPod; the first song to come up, no matter what it is, will get an instant, unvarnished review. We're at the mercy of random chance and the limits of my digital music collection. Let's see where this takes us.

Don't Be Afraid of the Robot
Electic Six, downloaded from band's website

I know that the Electric Six are a dumb band, but I love them anyway. In fact, of all of the artists in all media that I like, they might be the most devoid of intellectual content (my wife might say that AC/DC wins this contest, not E-6). I'm just a sucker for intentionally moronic lyrics mated with legitimately rocking guitar parts.

"Don't Be Afraid of the Robot" isn't quite in the top tier of E-6 songs (say, "Dance Commander," "Danger! High Voltage!," and "My Synthesizer"), but it's pretty goddamned good just on the strength of its title—how can you not laugh at a warning not to be afraid of the robot?

You could make an argument that the Electric Six are pathetic posers whose absurd songs prove that they're just making fun of the fans. I don't buy it; I've seen these guys live, and no one puts that much energy into a joke. Dick Valentine was doing push-ups during the song, for God's sake. You can't fake that.

Weekly Shuffle Scoreboard (Best to Worst):

1. "Rock N Roll Radio V2," Derailleur
2. "Back from Somewhere (live)," Husker Du
3. "Powderfinger," Neil Young
4. "Sliver (live)," Nirvana
5. "Whiskey Bottle," Uncle Tupelo
6. "Don't Be Afraid of the Robot," Electric Six
7. "Gassed & Stoked," Lou Reed
8. "Nicotine & Gravy," Beck
9. "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (live)," Wilco
10. "The Calming Sea," Beachwood Sparks
11. "John, I'm Only Dancing," David Bowie
12. "Take It or Leave it," The Strokes
13. "Monkey Dot," Money Mark
14. "I Wanted to Tell You," Matthew Sweet
15. "Soldier's Joy," Mark O'Connor
16. "Masoko Tanga," The Police
17. "Scenery," Neil Young and Pearl Jam
18. "We Got The," The Beastie Boys
19. "The Big Foist," The Minutemen
20. "Climbing up the Walls," Radiohead
21. "That's When I Reach for My Revolver," Mission of Burma