Killer Filler
May 18, 2008
Filler songs have historically received a bad reputation as being actively less spectacular than the rest of an album. They don’t pull their weight compared to the “real” numbers and are generally seen as keeping a collection of songs from reaching its maximum potential. Now that may be true in a lot of circumstances. Cases of one-hit wonders and lazy songwriters are like the Styrofoam packing peanuts of music history – largely ignored but more plentiful than what’s remembered. But what I propose to you, gentle reader, is to think of how difficult it is to pay complete devoted attention to every second of a record. Sure there may be a few in your life that you’ve listened to backwards and forwards, have memorized every second, have developed strong emotional bonds with specific drum fills, etc. You might even be the type of music fan that seeks out records that encourage these types of attachments. But to me it’s rare that I find an album that’s heady and dense that I can put on anytime. I NEED that filler in there as background music sometimes.
However, the main reason to reconsider the filler songs in your collection is many of them aren’t filler at all. I love songwriters that structure records with pauses like these. They give the listener time to process the denser songs without breaking up the mood by pausing the album. What’s more is repeated listens reveal these moments to be just as noteworthy as the more noticeable ones. Examples to watch out for are short instrumentals (90 Day Men’s “Sequel”), sudden shifts in style and intensity (Oneida’s “Dead Worlds”), comic departures (Pavement’s “Brinx Job”), etc. Great filler is a confirmation of great conscientious songwriting and a desire to explore types of writing while acknowledging the demands of the listener. Hell, some bands have done records that could be defined as nothing but this type of songwriting (Alien Lanes, Exile On Main Street, every Need New Body record)
The problem is filler is one of those things that’s defined by the ear of the beholder. I guess a general definition is it refers to place marker songs. Tunes that create some breathing room without breaking up the tension. That would be good filler. Bad filler would be those songs that sound like weaker variations of the better songs and awkward half-assed genre experiments. I could cite some examples, but chances are you can find your own by picking up any record by a famous band that seems to only get airplay for the same two songs it debuted with.
The last thing I’d like to point out is that there are many excellent songs out there undervalued as filler. Here’s a quick YouTube roundup of tunes I feel fall squarely into that category. Feel free to add your own.
Velvet Underground, “Black Angel’s Death Song”
The Police, “Miss Gradenko”
Unicorns, “The Clap” (some dork posted this as the soundtrack to a bunch of Doctor Who clips)
and quite possibly the greatest “filler” song of all time,
Yes, thank you for pointing this out. “Brinx Job” is hilarious to mention–an annoying song on its own, but sort of the perfect thing between “Black Out” and “Grounded.”
“Black Angel’s Death Song” is a really cool one too, but I take issue with “The Clap,” as it could just as well be a single, as could most other songs on that album. “Tuff Luff” or “Let’s Get Known” or the first and last tracks seem more like the definition of “filler” to me