SONG OF THE DAY (#164)

'sale of the century,' by sleeper

there was a time before i packed my everything i owned in my red 1990 toyota corolla and moved back to california where i listened to sleeper's 'the it girl' on almost a daily basis. for months on end it was sleeper and suede, suede and sleeper. my favorite song on the album was this one, 'sale of the century.' it's a great song with a instantly catchy chorus. i think it's one of louise's best. i think more than anything it's emblematic of the time: fuzzy/jangly/chiming guitars, bright production, three-minutes singles, perfectly coiffed/disheveled hair, tabloid mudslinging (well, they still do that), and steven street twiddling the knobs. sleeper was one of the few female-fronted bands (catatonia, echobelly and elastica immediately come to mind), so i don't think they ever really ever got the respect and accolades they deserved during a time when laddism (blur, oasis, etc) ruled the scene and the charts. this is sad. what a great band! three top ten albums and eight top 40 singles in three years ain't to shabby.

in recent years louise wener has turned herself into a pretty decent novelist, having already published three pretty well-received books. i've read two of them and while they certainly aren't earth-shattering, she definitely has a nice, breezy storytelling sense about her (some have called her the female nick hornby). so kudos to louise!

→ sleeper: sale of the century
→ sleeper: nice guy eddie

if you like those, try these:

→ sleeper: smart
→ sleeper: the it girl
→ sleeper: pleased to meet you