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Originally Posted by atsonicpark
Haha.
That review of the hospitals record was great.
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Dude! You guys have no idea how miraculous it is that the Hospitals make such great records. Everytime that guy tells me an idea he just got for a song, I think "MAN! YOU'VE FINALLY LOST IT, RIGHT?!?!" Like, often these ideas sound like the stupidest ideas anyone's ever thought of.....and then a few months later, you get a test-press of this record and it blows your mind when you hear the results.
"Rich People" was the exact same way.
Adam--who is pretty much thee Hospital--was watching college basketball on ESPN, and the pep band was playing "GO! FIGHT! WIN!" as usual. Adam asked his guitarist--at this moment in time, it was John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees--"Hey, man! Can you play that song on guitar?" Dwyer was like, "Why?" Trying to be encouraging, Adam said "Just play it, man....I got a really good idea for that song...it's gonna be a like a jock-jam or pump-up jam." Dwyer thought the idea was so stupid, he just left.
So, then Adam borrows a friend's acoustic guitar and tries to figure out the song. A few days later, The Dipers--a side-project of The Intelligence--is in town, and the band is staying at Adam's house. All proud of himself for "learning" to play a song on guitar, Adam shows Lars of the Dipers/Intelligence, "Dude! Check it out...I just learned this song, dude!" And he starts playing it for him....but only on the high-E string, plucking it out like "Mary Had a Little Lamb", but totally off and rhythmically unstable. Lars said he was being deadly serious and was totally proud of himself. "Dude, don'tcha know that song?" Adam asked. Lars was like, "Should I?" And Adam blurted "GO! FIGHT! WIN!, man!"
Lars told me later about this night and said, "Yeah, I think Adam's finally lost his mind."
Then about six months later, this French import 12" comes out, and it's the first time we've heard "Rich People"....the song that resulted from this idea to incorporate "GO! FIGHT! WIN!" And whattaya know.....It's a totally great record!! And it is kinda like a pump-up jam. I still get pumped listening to it.
Next time Lars and I talked on the phone, I asked "Did you hear that fucking record?" He was like, "I never should've doubted him."
And that's the beauty of that band. I think that Adam is really a totally un-musical dude that comes up with crazy song concepts, and through sheer will and an increasingly honed sense of record-production ideals and technical recording ability, he has succeeded in making some really fine records.....but especially
Hairdryer Peace.
Other people that contributed to that record such as Chris Gunn of the Hunches and Rob and Rod of Eat Skull have said words like "I know I laid down some riffs, but I don't recognize any of them." But even they think it's a pinnacle of Hospitals achievement.