Title Fight: "Parking Lot"

Photochrome of Maria Studholme, c. 1900

Late-80s college rock versus early-90s college rock cage fight! It's not exactly a fair fight because I'm pitting a favorite track from one of the definitive underground rock albums of the '80s against...well, against a track by New Radiant Storm King. For me, Galaxie 500's "Parking Lot" (from their debut record, Today), is all about the percussion. Damon Krukowski sometimes gets a little more credit than he merits for the Galaxie 500 sound, but simple vocal melody of "Parking Lot" and the one-note guitar solo at the end don't add up to much without that "BUMP-buh-da-bump-BUMP" beat propelling things along.

New Radiant Storm King's "Parking Lot" comes from their 1994 record August Revital - I tried for a long time to get into NRSK because they were part of that cool Guided By Voices/Grifters/Silver Jews/Polvo "scene" that was going on, but they never really clicked for me. I liked the sloppy mixing of shoegaze and angular art-rock, but the band never really had a compelling vocalist or consistent full-length album. "Parking Lot" is one of their better songs, though, mixing its elements well in a brief minute-and-a-half burst. The song never really goes the same place twice but each hook that's introduced is nice for as long as it lasts, and the sudden ending provides a nice punctuation to the track.

Who am I kidding, though? This is a first-round KO for Galaxie 500, courtesy of Damon Krakowski. I don't think Dean Wareham has been playing "Parking Lot" on his recent "Dean and Britta Play the Songs of Galaxie 500" tour, but I'm willing to go on record that he should steer clear of this one unless there's an official Galaxie 500 reunion (and, based on this recent writeup, I'm not holding my breath for that to happen).

Winner: GALAXIE 500

"Parking Lot" by Galaxie 500

"Parking Lot" by New Radiant Storm King