Finally, here’s a lighter topic: music. I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while but just took the time to start now. I want to talk about songs by lesser-known bands that still really hit for me. That’s the idea behind “mid-level big hitters”: a mid-level band (both in popularity and appeal of their music) who produces a song that’s way better than it has any right to be.
I get that this framing is kind of condescending, but I’m using it because this is how I think about a lot of these. It’s not that it’s a backhanded compliment (remember, the only thing you can really do with the back of your hand is slap someone with it), it’s that I think the fact that these songs are examples of a band kind of pushing past their normal limits. It’s not just that these are the bands’ best song; as I say in the write-ups (which I did before writing this intro portion), these songs are better than the best songs of a lot of more talented bands.