#97: Helium / "XXX"

Writer(s): Mary Timony
Year: 1994

Album: Pirate Prude (EP)

There are a lot of great bands who will not make our Top-100 list.  Helium??  Guy, this is your fault for ranking it so high.  I don’t know what you were thinking.

Even Bevis & Butthead thought it was crap.  When watching the video, during Mary Timony’s “solo,” they thought her guitar was broken.  You would probably call it artistically minimal or improvisational.  I would say it’s more of unskilled ad-libbing, or, perhaps, just lethargy.  In fact, this song reeks of that ‘90s Generation X, burn-out vibe.  Just take the tedious pre-chorus, hashing out the same guitar chords over and over.  Her voice sounds like, on that morning in the studio, she was too hung-over to give much of an effort. And the lyrics: I’m reminded of that alternative/slacker icon, Beck: who mumbled that trite line, “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”  Why the talk of murder?  Likewise, Timony’s “That was just a joke about the money / You’re gonna to pay me with your life.”  It’s that old robber’s cliché, “You’re money or your life.”  Perhaps, she couldn’t come up with anything better.  Try something that makes sense or, at least, rhymes.  Indolence 101.

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Even apathy can be appealing, but bands like Helium loathed pretensions.  They made music their way, without fussy pop conventions.  Many guitarists use the solo-break to show off.  Timony used that 20 seconds to instrumentally personify her frustrations.  This song took me several listens.  The feedback that builds and swells into guitar blasts – the irked Timony slurring at end of phrases like, “You’re a drag…  Collect me like rubies… You’re so dirty,” not only typifies ‘90s underground rock, it really stuck to my head.

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So, it’s those huskily muttered semi-innuendos: “Like a fallen Maraschino cherry / I know you're scared to eat me” and “You got a candy red sports car” (I haven’t heard that one since Prince).  Do they turn you on?  I know you can be prudish (and you’re probably still a virgin), but if it’s eroticism you want, there are plenty of real women who do it better – like Samantha Fox.

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Predictably, Rad (if that’s even your real name) your interpretation fell into the gutter. Surely, with a title like “XXX” you were probably hoping for an aural nudie show.  On this EP, however, it accompanies another song, “OOO,” suggesting the content is more akin to adolescent letter writing.  Actually, it’s somewhat a confession.  Timony knows she’s leading some guy on.  He wants to possess and brag about her, which peeves her a bit.  Yet, ultimately he’s the one being used for his "money" (and his "life"?).

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Yeah, yeah, it’s indie-geeks like you who are being used.  You pine for a pretty little alt. chick who shares your love for obscurity and hate for conformity.  You’re titillated by the childishness that she flaunts.  She likes fairy tales and cuddly animals.  Many of her song lyrics are nonsensical, probably inspired by whatever random wildlife photo from Zoobooks she recently cut out and pinned to her bedroom wall.  I can see how a mopey dude like you needs an eccentric freespirit to melt your cold, cynical heart, and exhume your childhood fascinations with nature and fantasy.  Starry-eyed, at the hipster-dive, you can watch her take the stage and tonelessly moan into the mike.  At best, she’s being a tease, at worst, she’s mentally unstable.

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I think this song is a defiance of female stereotypes, like all the assumptions you’ve so clearly spelled (or spilled) out.  Not all art is autobiographical.  So, drop your decade bias, and, to quote your '80s hero, George Michael, “Listen without prejudice.”

And it’s a good video – appropriately splashed with red.  It’s fun to watch Timony demolish an overhead projector.  We all hated those things in school.  It kind of reminds me of the fax machine smash-up in Office Space, which was written/directed by Mike Judge, the same guy who did Bevis & Butthead.  See, it’s come full circle.

I couldn’t find the B&B version of “XXX,” but here’s them commenting on another Helium vid.