“Don’t Stay Home” sounds like nothing else in their catalog and you can even hum it or interpret it for piano. It’s completely continuous throughout the song without resorting to one of the random switch-ups that make so many other 311 jams such a bummer after a tasty lick or pleasurable harmony grabs you momentarily. But it’s rare enough that it gets the edge for something we can’t take for granted: one honest-to-god legible melody, which is even quite pretty, that never lapses. It’s hard to say whether “Don’t Stay Home” or “All Mixed Up” is the better tune, and “Don’t Stay Home” for sure has a clumsier, lumpier groove with the chugging distortion of guitars that never let up. A more than respectable nominee for their all-time contribution to history. In fact, few 311 songs sustain a groove like this. There’s about five different choruses in the thing, which isn’t that different from other 311 songs, except all of these fit seamlessly and do continue to top one another, with Hexum and Martinez piling onto the song’s signature scratch-funk riff delicately while toasting around it dexterously, like a good boxer, without overpowering the groove.

It’s even got a jazzy- Aerosmith guitar solo in the middle that doesn’t sound out of place.įollowing the catchy breakthrough hit “Down,” it was “All Mixed Up” that truly gave 311 a charting pop song to be proud of. If that sounds like a juxtaposition that won’t work very well, you’re not wrong, but perhaps due to law of averages, Transistor contains a handful of the band’s absolute best songs ever nonetheless, and should you peruse all 21 tracks 20 years later, the perfectly enjoyable and sticky “Running” is the hidden gem among the pile of ideas and riffs that never truly made it to the finish line. At 21 tracks, these wildly eclectic purveyors of mildly metallic funk were finally permitted to run wild with their expansive record collections, which must be loaded with Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby because they’re easily the most dub-obsessed hard rock band since Bad Brains (whose “Leaving Babylon” they’d go on to cover in 1999). Transistor is simultaneously 311’s most tantalizing prospect and their most disappointing slog. The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997: Critic's Picks They’d be so good if they were capable of firing on all cylinders like this all the time. It’s also a reminder that for quasi-rap-metal, they really don’t sound like any other band. Martinez is sometimes the weak link in 311, but he harmonizes well with Nick Hexum so they do it on virtually every song, and the locked-in 2003 single “Creatures” is the rare aggro moment for this band where all clocks are in sync and the riffs and chorus legitimately bangs. “Creatures (For a While)” (from Evolver, 2003) It’s enough to make you believe in their purpose, baby.ĥ.

The well-harmonized melody of “Purpose” is actually downright lovely, one of Nick Hexum’s best, and each of the verses climaxes with an intergalactic guitar lead that ranks among their best (and simplest!) riffs. Case in point: This easy-grooving War or Santana homage from 1999’s Soundsystem is a refreshing bone to throw their jam-band audience, even with some ripping guitar solos, and the dark guitar counterpoint that pierces the chorus from below is legitimately disturbing.ģ11’s self-titled breakthrough album is their hookiest and least convoluted, so even the deep cuts are poppy enough to ensure listenability, which can hardly be said for say, Stereolithic. In case you’re noticing a pattern, this rap-rock band’s best songs aren’t usually rap-rock at all, and they tend to shine brightest when they’re trying something else entirely. “Life’s Not a Race” (from Soundsystem, 1999) It’s like Coldplay’s “Yellow” for hacky-sack bros.ħ. This overwhelmingly positive and hippie-mystical were long overdue for a sweet love song hooked to a pretentious lyric, and their studies of reggae grooves vastly outpace their hip-hop knowledge. The group’s biggest hit, like “I’ll Be Here Awhile” from the same album, hones in on their least complicated plusses. And they really have kept their promise to be here awhile, “ain’t going nowhere.” It plays like the great weight of another overworked 311 album is lifted from its shoulders so those who trudged through it can finally party. From Chaos’ closer, though, is blessedly light, just a straight-up ska tune. “I’ll Be Here Awhile” (from From Chaos, 2001)ģ11 are fun-loving marijuana-mainliners, but their music, while often lightweight, is usually burdened with complicated structures that typically feel too leaden to really make them the breeze they want to be. 311 Have 'Too Much to Think' in Otherworldly New Video: Exclusive Premiereĩ.

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