Pop Will Eat Its Children, Pt. 8

15. "Rosa Parks," Outkast

1998
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: #55

Southern-ass hip-hop that demands all others in the bus to not be heroes. Outkast could get away with that. Harmonica solo? Outkast could get away with that. Disrespecting Big Boi's skills? I won't let you get away with that.

Keep it? YES

14. "Nightswimming," R.E.M.

1993
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: Did not chart

Less a song than a memory. Funny how feeling the grass cool underneath my feet stuck with me more than the water enveloping my whole body.

Keep it? NO

"Drive," R.E.M.

1992
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: #28

Hey kids, let's go nighthunting.

13. "Brooklyn Zoo," Ol' Dirty Bastard

1995
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: #54

An ODB acapella, utilized astutely, could save millions of lives.

"Brooklyn Zoo" is a goddamn bacchanalian beauty. One of the genre's few unmistakable performers, Ason Unique delivers liquid-spewing humor one bar, then aggression fit to stomp up a knee-high dust cloud the next.

(Rare instance of research failure on Rob's part. He refers to "RZA keys," but the track was not produced by RZA, and the referenced piano lick is a sample taken from the song "Step Softly" by Bobby Ellis and the Desmond Miles Seven.)

Keep it? YES

12. "Cannonball," Breeders

1993
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: #44

They don't make 'em like Kim Deal anymore (they did that one time, though, remember). 900 milligrams of bass for the misfit millionaires.

Keep it? YES

11. "Doll Parts," Hole

1994
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: Did not chart

Say what you will about Courtney, she's never been the most reprehensible musician with the last name "Love." She was, at her pinnacle, fearless and incisive, aware of her dual roles as user and used. And she always kept a kick-ass band behind her.

Keep it? NO

"Violet," Hole

1995
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position: Did not chart

So many bands tried to do the Pixies soft/loud trick after Nirvana elevated it, and almost all of them wound up with carpet burn on their faces. They didn't know that the German word for "dream" is "traum," and even if they had known, would they see the four?

So unladylike, especially Patty Schemel's high-collared drumming.