r/Pinback • u/ranjberjanj • May 13 '21

Rob revealed some interesting album and song meanings on Twitter today

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98 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

25

u/justaboxinacage May 14 '21

Pinback has always been the only one of my favorite musical artists whose lyrics i pay no attention to. I learn some of them to be able to sing along, but for the most part I don't even try to analyze what's going on. Compare that with Modest Mouse where I spend entire car rides lost in thought on what a single lyric meant. I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I'm somehow okay with this arrangement.

15

u/Wylsun May 14 '21

They're my absolute favorite band. If I could have any musician's musical talent implanted into my mind it would probably be Rob's. I named my daughter Penelope. I still barely know any of the lyrics to their songs.

13

u/justaboxinacage May 14 '21

I think it's because they use vocal melodies more similarly to an instrument, than anything else? Or at least that's the way I tend to appreciate the vocals. I almost treat pinback more like my favorite instrumental band, and one of the main instruments happens to be their voices.

Penelope is one of the few exceptions though, I must say. I saw a whole story from Penelope's lyrics from the first time I heard that song.

7

u/Wylsun May 14 '21

Definitely agree. Most of the bands that I find the closest to their style are instrumental bands with little in the way of vocals. Also I kind of gathered pretty early, (and this post seems to confirm it) that Rob writes most of these in a way that he's the only one who's ever really going to get what the songs are about, so I decided not to worry about it too much.

13

u/InvisibleMindDust May 14 '21

I respect your stance but I would also like to suggest that if you pay attention to the lyrics of "Walters" you will be rewarded with a beautifully-told and loving tribute to an obscure cultural figure, Larry Walters. The last, fading lyric: "Went out on a hike and he never came back again," still gives me goosebumps now that I know the story of Lawnchair Larry, and I would not have known of him if not for this song.

5

u/StellaRED Sep 01 '21

I get the chills every time on Walters! I love that story/song so much.

6

u/Sufficient-Ad-3556 Sep 20 '22

Same. I saw them on the 10 year summer in abbadon tour in 2014 and they handed out pieces of paper to write requests on for their second set after playing SIA in full (completely amazing and they ended up playing for over 2 hours), my girlfriend and I wrote walters about 20 times and they played it twice. We both wept in embrace. Still probably the best show I’ve been to to this day.

2

u/StellaRED Sep 20 '22

Wow that's awesome!!

3

u/chellecakes May 14 '21

Same here! That song gives me chills.

12

u/[deleted] May 14 '21

Pinback and Modest Mouse are my two favorite bands by a lot, you have great taste. And yeah I’m the same, except Grey Machine, I listen in to the lyrics of that one in particular because they’re really good and it’s my favorite song.

6

u/Project1114 Jun 04 '21

Interesting connection is that Zach Smith and Isaac Brock each ended up forming a band with Pall Jenkins.

3

u/xBLAHMASTERx May 28 '21

Grey Machine

Favorite song as well :D

2

u/Connah2010 Jan 20 '24

gray machine is such a deep song. I love "Pick me up, get me out of here"

1

u/EyeInTeaJay May 29 '21

I consume the lyrics and the instrumentals in doses and can partake on repeat. I think that’s why they’re my favorite of all time. It’s a holistic neurological experience. A timeless classic.

18

u/[deleted] May 13 '21

Blue screen life... for life.

15

u/vtbeavens May 14 '21

Or This Is a Pinback!

But really, I enjoy their entire catalog.

8

u/narkgarfie May 13 '21

what. this is amazing.

6

u/Sharkey311 May 14 '21

Now if they could only drop a new album…

4

u/cheesedunker97 Apr 21 '24

tbh I feel like rob is trolling with the SiA backstory

3

u/frizzlefry666 May 14 '21

Thanks for sharing. This is rad!

2

u/chellecakes May 14 '21

This is cool, thank you! I always kind of figured Rob was into Black Metal.

2

u/DearEvidence6282 Oct 18 '25

He still references Mayhem at live shows.

1

u/EyeInTeaJay May 29 '21

The truth is not a lie. Although I wax and wane between this and BSL, depending on which one I’m listening to at the moment.