Songwriters have a lot of very serious, heartfelt decisions to make. You could write a song detailing the brutal angst and misery of existence, whilst finding redemption in love and the shared human experience. Or you could write a song about banana chips:

Banana chips, banana chips
Banana chips, banana chips
Banana chips, banana chips
Banana chips, oh yeah!

Banana chips for you!
Banana chips for me!
In the afternoon, banana chips and tea

Whilst the lyrics may seem ambiguous in their subtlety, I’m fairly sure Shonen Knife’s Naoko Yamano may have opted for the latter here.

And why not. It’s impossible to watch Shonen Knife without grinning like an idiot. The band have spent decades bringing nothing but joy and happiness and loud music to the world. And here at Threehundredsongs, we fully approve of that sort of thing.

Related: Music to Get You Through It, part i: Shonen Knife, boygenius, Ryan Adams

It was inevitable that Mark Eitzel would put in an appearance here before long.

I laid all my songs at Johnny Mathis’ feet

I interpret this to be a song about turning to your heroes, in hope of validation and approval. I’m not sure it initially works out quite the way Mark hoped:

Johnny looked at my songs and he said:
“Well at first guess, never in my life
Have I ever seen such a mess”

Thanks for that, Mr. Mathis.

“Why do you say everything as if you were a thief?
Like what you stole has no value
Like what you preach is far from belief?”

Certainly, these are questions which do need addressing. At least the criticism is finally becoming constructive. The redemption?

“A real showman knows how to disappear in the spotlight”

We all disappear sometimes, hiding from, or in, the spotlight.

The album is 1993’s Mercury, one of scant few albums produced by Mitchell Froom not to be utterly ruined by his usual tedious, narcissistic, kitchen-sink production.

The album is beautiful from start to finish. Mark Eitzel has an uncanny knack for capturing and communicating human sadness, whilst enrobing it in poetry and glitter and glamour and beauty. His words take to the spotlight like a lonely, tired drag queen still putting on a beautiful, joyous show.

All lyrics © 1993 Mark Eitzel/I Failed in Life Music/Island Music.

Let’s just have some music again.

Morphine were unique.

The band’s frontman was Mark Sandman on two-string bass, with his “mysterious demeanour” and “deep, laid-back croon” [citation: stuff on the internet]. Two-string bass, baritone sax and drums. Who needs more?

Someday there’ll be a cure for pain
That’s the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain

Well, here at Threehundredsongs, we hold very little hope of that ever happening. But here are Morphine on the Jools Holland show in 1994:

Mark Sandman passed away onstage in 1999. Best or worst way to go? I’d like to say he died doing what he loved, but he never really seemed particularly happy about anything.

Is there a cure for pain? I wish we could ask Mark.

This is where we get philosophical. Is it a song if it doesn’t have any words? Your author says probably. And it’s my site, my rules, as has previously been established.

I first saw Ozric Tentacles at what was then an actual polytechnic, it was that long ago. The night was a triple bill of Ozric Tentacles, Senser and Eat Static. A clumsy bunch of teenagers, we were probably too young to be there, and up way past our collective bedtimes. But a blast was had by all: I remember the walls visibly shaking when Kick Muck kicked in.

Senser also took the roof off the place, previewing material from their forthcoming debut LP Stacked Up, along with long-time Senser setlist mainstays including covers of Beastie Boys’ Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun, Dead Kennedys’ California Über Alles and Public Enemy’s Channel Zero.

It’s a Hup Ho World is a somewhat different mood: the signature Tentacular space rock guitar is there, but it’s a gentler, more ambient side of it, backed with tremolo-driven synths, exotic, pseudo-ethnic jangles, and obligatory seaside sound effects. It’s all very new age indeed, but a pleasing listen. Is this the genesis of ASMR? You decide.

If we’re in the era of polytechnics, then we’re also in the era of cassettes. The first six Ozrics albums were self-released solely on that venerable medium, and available only via mail order or at the merch stand—typically manned by Blim, Ozrics’ long-term artist-in-residence.

Countless studio and live albums followed, many of them even available on CD. In 2003, Jurassic Shift actually reached no. 11 in the UK album charts, presumably to the collective bewilderment of all onlookers—staunch Ozrics fans and hapless chart-pop aficianados alike. That its packaging was made entirely from hemp may or may not have had some influence in the matter.

In a pleasing turn of events, Ozric Tentacles are still recording and touring to this day. 2023 sees a further series of double-header shows with the legendary Gong.

Of course, of the lineup from 1992, only virtuoso guitarist Ed Wynne remains, but it was always Ed’s band anyway. Ozrics are very much a family affair these days, with Ed’s son Silas on all the electronic noisy bits, and Mrs. Brandi Wynne on bass, all accompanied by a revolving drumstool that would do Spın̈al Tap proud.

Either way, Threehundredsongs will be there, perhaps even wearing my decades-old badges from last time around. Do come and say hello.

As for today’s playlist, there’s obviously a lot of Ozrics, Senser and Gong, plus an Eat Static collaboration with Gong progenitor Steve Hillage. Silas & Saski is Ed’s son Silas and his pal. Their unique combination of space rock, English choral chamber music and reggae seems about right.