Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Betty vs the NYPD” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion:

This week I went to see The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for the umpteenth time, and for the umpteenth time, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion delivered a nonstop set of riff after riff after riff of their own particular style of blues ‘n’ roll, which isn’t the same thing as blues rock, friends.  The key to understanding what these guys are about is to understand that word, explosion.  It ain’t the blues.  You might want to describe it as bluesy, but that might not be quite right, either.  The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is a rock ‘n’ roll band, and it’s a rock ‘n’ roll band that for twenty-five or so years has been taking to a stage and firing off an uninterrupted stream of stomping, chugging, yelping, swaggering riffs, with scant regard for the actual recorded lyrics, and a total regard for the thing, the thing, the thing itself: rock ‘n’ roll, a party, an excitement, a fun that only happens when the right ingredients make the right explosion. I need a man, a man, a man, a man, a Blues Explosion Man. A blues explosion, man.