Pledge Driving Me Insane

Cincinnati’s NPR station, WVXU, is in the middle of its spring pledge drive right now, and it’s pledge-driving me insane.

I get it. I like public radio. But I’ve already donated and I can only listen to the same commercial so many times. Can’t you at least do something interesting like maybe bring The High and Low or Wussy into the studio?

The good folks over at New Jersey’s WFMU figured out 10 years ago that entertainment is such a crucial piece of the fundraising puzzle that it doesn’t even have to be good. Get Yo La Tengo in here and have them take requests. The kids will love it.

Now I love Yo La Tengo. Ever since Fakebook I’ve been enamored (though, for the unitiated, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One is probably a better introduction) and the idea of them doing some crappy covers in support of their favorite radio station was simply irresistable. So when the band released Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics, a collection of the “best” covers performed during WFMU’s pledge drives from 1996-2003, I immediately purchased it from their web site.

I’ve been poring over the album since I got it last Friday and I gotta say it’s so good, it’s shitty.

Here’s the conceit, every year during the station’s fundraising drive Yo La Tengo enters WFMU’s studios and when someone calls in with a pledge, they also get to make a request. It could be Billy Joel, Iggy Pop, whatever, anything to test the band’s musical knowledge.

The results are understandably mixed as indicated by the cover art (click the image above to enlarge). In fact the tracks aren’t even listed on the back of the CD because, as Ira notes:

And I found – I think all of us found – that there was something (hey, I’m serious here) weirdly rewarding about abasing ourselves in the name of something we care about, a greater good if you will. So we did it again, and again. We’ve become less inept at it, thought the ineptitude is frequently our favorite part. Not always.

While a good portion of the 30-song album is, er, quite inept, it is clear that Ira, Georgia, James and friend Bruce Bennett are having a blast. And there are a few gems tucked in there, most notably Archie Bell’s “Tighten Up” which kicks off the album and “Route 66” on which the requestor, Leila, sings while the band plays in the background. For the Yo La Tengo fans out there, this track will undoubtedly remind you of Daniel Johnston calling in to sing “Speeding Motorcyle” with the band on the vocal disc of Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo.

• Listen to Tighten Up
• Listen to Route 66
• Listen to Speeding Motorcycle

Buy Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics from the band’s website.