This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Warren Zevon's "Ain't That Pretty At All"

This is one of those rare and wonderful rock songs that both describes itself through its seemingly (but actually not) disparaging title and reflects the chaotic life of the artist who conceived and performed it. An emotionally charged track to say the least, this classic portrait of the irascible, one-of-a-kind Zevon vividly interprets the singer-songwriter's ongoing struggle with alcoholism and his roller coaster ride toward and away from sobriety. As is typical of virtually all of his catalogue, the late, great Zevon here courts ambition but does so at his own risk, as if pouring figurative rubbing alcohol on a series of self-inflicted wounds in an attempt to research the essence of pain.

Even if it features synthesized keyboards that could tie it in an unfortunate way to the early '80s, "Ain't That Pretty At All" feels like a punch in the nose the whole way through, especially when Zevon spits out an unforgettable passage like "I'd like to go back to Paris someday and go to the Louvre Museum, Get a good running start and hurl myself at the wall. Gonna hurl myself against the wall, 'Cause I'd rather feel bad than feel nothin' at all." Zevon's premature death in 2003 may have robbed the world mercilessly of one of its most crotchety and insightful musical satirists, but his music remains as bold and immediate today as it was 30 years ago, when the world was first introduced to his delightfully cranky genius. If you ever like your music gloriously messy, make some room for Zevon and his uniquely defiant rock and roll.

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• Official Website of Warren Zevon

Album Cover Photo Courtesy of Virgin Records