Chances are, your initial
reaction to the above is something along the lines of “Who
the hell is Scott Miller?”
Well, rest assured, you’re
not alone.
Let’s travel back in time,
to 1987. Back then, Newbury Comics was a
severely hip record store, rather than the tacky tourist trap chain it’s become
- virtually the only place I knew of, for instance, where I could find the
latest issue of Bucketful of Brains, an “underground” music fanzine I was
especially fond of. One Saturday, while
looking around for something interesting, I noticed a couple of albums called
“Enigma Variations” and “Enigma Variations 2,” which looked to be samplers of a
bunch of different artists who were signed to the Enigma label. I’d never heard of any of the artists, but it
cost about $6.00 for the two of them, so I thought to myself, hey, what the
hell, why not?
Some things are just meant
to be.
The first volume didn’t have
a lot that grabbed me - with one gigantic exception. The song was “24,” and the band was Game Theory. A lovely little guitar riff, and a singer
with a slightly nasal but sweet voice, more than a little reminiscent of Chris
Stamey of the dB’s. Interesting, intelligent lyrics - and my God, the melody
was just gorgeous! The song blew me
away.
Volume 2 had a couple more Game
Theory songs on it. “Shark Pretty”
started out with a vaguely rockabilly guitar, and a breathy, almost sexy vocal,
and, again, smart, fascinating lyrics. I
wasn’t completely in love with this one, not like “24,” but it was still damn
good. And there was still one more song
(with apologies for the video…it was the ‘80’s, remember…).
“Erica’s Word” was…well,
perfect. It’s a perfect pop song. The first perfect Scott Miller pop song I
ever heard, but far from the last. The
melody was absolutely amazing, and the lyrics were like nothing I’d ever heard
before, at least not in a pop song. The
first two lines of the song were nothing short of brilliant:
“Erica's
gone shy/Some unknown X behind the why.”
I
was an English major, but I knew clever mathematical wordplay when I heard it.
I was back at Newbury Comics
a few days later, and I left with a copy of “Lolita Nation,” the newest Game
Theory album. I eventually had their
entire available catalog, and they had become one of my absolute favorite
bands, which they
remain to this day. Me and about
a thousand other people - which doesn’t exactly spell huge album sales.
Game Theory broke up around
1989, and Miller started another band a couple of years later called The Loud
Family, named not for the SNL skits about, well, a loud family, but for the 1970’s
PBS reality series, “An American Family.”
The Loud Family essentially broke up around 2000, after years of great
music, and disappointing record sales.
I really wish this story had
a happy ending, but it doesn’t. In fact
the ending sucks. Scott passed away suddenly this past April, at the age of
53. He’d been “retired” from the music
industry for several years, but had been talking about a possible Game Theory
reunion. In the meantime, he had written
a well-received book called “Music: What Happened,” a collection of insights
and commentary into his favorite songs of the past 40+ years. He was working full time in the technology
industry as a software engineer. He left
behind a beautiful wife and two adorable little girls - and a lot of
heartbroken fans.
I’m not writing this blog to
explain the reasons behind the lack of success of these two brilliant bands,
and, in particular, of Scott Miller. I
can’t explain the reasons, because I honestly don’t understand what they are. I expect everyone to fall in love with music
and lyrics of this caliber, the way I did. I am always surprised when they don’t.
So, anyway, let’s get to the
5 reasons why Scott Miller - a man who sold maybe 200,000 albums over a 30+
year career, and is apparently only the second most well known Scott Miller in
the music industry - belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1. The Hair
One look at a photo of Scott
Miller and you know you’ve stumbled upon one of the great heads of hair in the
history of pop music. Masses of auburn
curls frame his face so perfectly, it looks as if he’s spent hours achieving
“the look.” This hair is easily the
equal of the young Morrison or Plant in all respects. It’s nothing short of magnificent.
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| Photo by Robert Toren |
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| Photo by Robert Toren |
2. "Scott Miller Said" by the Revenants
Okay, admittedly, this is
not exactly the Replacements/Paul Westerberg masterpiece “Alex Chilton”…but the
Revenants, an Irish band, actually did record a song with this title. The first line of the song is, “Scott Miller
said ‘you can’t get good in an afternoon,’ ” which is a reference to a line in a
song on Game Theory’s cult classic album, “Lolita Nation.” Not a lot of rockers have themselves
immortalized in a song title, even if it’s some completely unknown Irish band,
and the song isn’t all that good. (Hey don't blame me, I told you it wasn't very good.)
3. The Melodies
Okay, obviously, the above
is meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
(Although I will defend Scott’s hair to anybody, any time!)
But, the bottom line is, I
sincerely believe this man to be the equal of any songwriter of the past 50
years. And, yes, I am familiar with
Lennon-McCartney, Dylan, Brian Wilson, Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga,
and pretty much anyone else you care to throw out there. Scott Miller’s ear for melody is the match of
any one of them.
His best songs unfailingly
feature beautiful, memorable, and sometimes haunting tunes that stick in your
mind long after you’ve heard them.
Trying to pick out a few
favorites for inclusion here has been truly difficult. For one thing, the music of Game Theory
differs quite a bit from that of the later band, The Loud Family. If you’ve heard differently (a lot of people
basically refer to the latter as “Game Theory, continued”), I’m here to tell
you, whoever told you that could not be more wrong.
I’ve struggled with the
words to effectively convey the difference between the two bands, and I think I
can sum it up this way - Game Theory played shimmering, melodic pop music, with
occasional flashes of dense, visceral rock’n’roll. The Loud Family played dense, visceral
rock’n’roll, with occasional flashes of shimmering, melodic pop music.
Both bands produced more
than their fair share of incredible music.
For sheer melodic
gorgeousness, it’s hard not to give Game Theory the edge. Their music was sweeter and more
wistful. Miller later referred to the
songs as “young-adult-hurt-feeling-a-thons,” which is actually not a bad
description…but they were also damn good.
"We Love You, Carol and Alison" is such a lovely, joyous anthem, it came as no surprise to me when I learned recently it was written as a wedding song for some friends. The song literally shimmers.
“The Real Sheila” is
reminiscent of “Erica’s Word,” in its outright pop perfection. Why neither of
these songs was even a minor hit is something I will never understand.
The Loud Family could come
up with some beautiful songs, too. How
about “Inverness,” from their wonderful debut album, “Plants and Birds and
Rocks and Things” (yes that’s exactly
where the name comes from).
4. The Voice
I can clearly picture Scott
up there, looking down and reading this - and laughing hysterically as he
notices reason #4. He was always his own
worst critic, particularly when it came to his singing voice. The liner notes of Game Theory’s brilliant
“Big Shot Chronicles” include a musical credit that reads, “Scott Miller –
guitar, miserable whine.” My own husband
cannot listen to Game Theory, and the reason he gives is Miller’s singing
voice.
Sorry. I disagree with both of them.
Yes, it has a tendency to
sound a bit “whiny” at times, particularly on the older Game Theory
albums. But it’s also such an expressive
voice! Whether Scott was singing about a
girl who broke his heart, or about “MIT grad alley cats with time on their
hands,” his voice always conveyed the mix of emotion and intelligence that
marked his best work.
“The Red Baron” was an early
Game Theory song, a hallmark of the afore-mentioned
“Young-Adult-Hurt-Feelings-A-Thon” period. It's also an absolute gem. The vocal is maybe a little bit “whiny” for some, but the emotion is
hard to deny. The way Scott sings the
“stay the way I hate you” lines never fails to kill me.
The more I listen to “Some Grand Vision of Motives and Irony” from The Loud Family’s afore-mentioned debut
album, the more convinced I am that it’s one of the most beautiful songs I have
ever heard. The vocal is astoundingly
heartbreaking, and, for me, one of Miller’s best. Sadly, there is no direct link to this song
that I was able to locate, and try as I might, I could not for the life of me
figure out how to make and upload a slideshow. There is a link to the entire
album, but that’s the best I can do. The
song comes on at right around the 20:00 mark.
Seriously, it’s worth the effort.
Aside from the amazing
vocals, that Zachary Smith guitar is nothing short of perfection, and the
lyrics are terrific.
This is such a perfect “torch
song,” I think my husband could do almost anything...and if he stood under my
window and sang this song, I’d probably forgive him.
Another of my favorite Loud
Family songs is on 1996’s “Interbabe Concern,” recorded shortly after the
breakup of Miller’s first marriage. The
song is “Top Dollar Survivalist Hardware” (the boy had a way with song titles).
It isn’t one of the emotional powerhouses on the album. In fact, it might be the heaviest rock song
Scott Miller ever wrote, with an absolutely killer Kenny Kessel bass line that
literally invades your gut. It also
features a vocal that manages to be effeminate, whiny, and obnoxious all at the
same time - and yet, it works, and has become one of my favorite of Scott’s
vocals. Check out the way he goes into
that one-syllable, almost-falsetto in the refrain. I love this song - a lot.
5. The Lyrics
Ask any Scott Miller fan the
main reason they’re a fan, and chances are they’ll talk about Miller’s way with
words. It’s nearly impossible to pick
out just a few examples. His lyrics are
that good, managing to combine his love of literature (he was a huge James
Joyce fan), mathematics and science, clever wordplay, humor, and intelligence
into some of the best lyrics in pop music.
From “The Real Sheila,” one
of Game Theory’s “shoulda-been-hits”:
“Lord knows that I’m not
exactly the boy of my own dreams/And if I were a girl with dreams, I’d have
dreams as big as you please.”
The “Lolita Nation” album
closes with the masterful “Together Now, Very Minor.” Difficult to listen to since Miller’s
passing, it carries a real emotional punch.
It was 1987, but he was basically writing his own obituary:
“And write the obit when you
do/He never ran out when the spirits were low/A nice guy, as minor celebrities
go/Alright, all together now, very minor/I know.”
From Game Theory’s final
album, “Two Steps from the Middle Ages,” the song is “You Drive” – the words,
those of a lifelong “outsider”:
“Across the nation, every sports
bar turns the pre-game on/And every regular is sneering like we don’t belong.
No, it’s not true, I played
a lot of baseball in my younger days/One day, the diamonds were all gone.”
The Loud Family’s “The Tape
of Only Linda,” from 1994, isn’t nearly as strong an album as their debut album. Still, it shows flashes of brilliance,
including what might be my single favorite Scott Miller line. Deceptive in its uncharacteristic (for
Miller) simplicity, it’s in the song “My Superior”:
“We kiss, and fix whatever’s
wrong/But I don’t stay kissed long.”
So unassuming, and yet, so
complex. We’ve all been in a
relationship like that - whether we want to admit to it or not.
1996’s “Interbabe Concern,”
as I’ve mentioned, deals with Miller’s private bitterness and heartbreak. With lines like this one, from “Screwed Over by
Stylish Introverts,” you get an idea of where his head was at - heartwrenching,
but at the same time, superb:
“You let me know that
calling just because I’m lonely is completely rude/You could work this into a
lecture to the starving not to beg for food.”
Okay, I could ramble on
about these songs for the next six months.
But then I’m pretty sure no one would ever read my blog again. So that kind of defeats the purpose. I’ll leave you with one more glorious lyric,
from one more glorious Scott Miller masterpiece. This one is called “Sister Sleep,” and it’s on
the 1998 album ”Days for Days”:
“Girl, being close hurts/So
I’ve called from the outskirts/With road noise at a phone booth/So we won’t
hear the whole truth.”
I think you can probably
guess by now, I don’t actually mind that Scott Miller is not ever going to be
elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I have very little, if any, respect for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For God’s sake, they passed over Joan
Jett.
What I mind is that this
brilliant, talented man died without ever achieving the kind of status he
should have achieved as a songwriter and musician. What I mind is how many Scott Millers there
no doubt are out there, right now, working their asses off, writing great
songs, and being ignored while the public rushes out to buy (okay, download) the
latest crap from the major labels.
If this little blog gets
even a couple of people to listen to these songs and say to themselves, “wow,
this guy was good,” then I’ll have done something.
Rest In Peace, Scott. And thanks for all the beautiful music.
