GOAT LISTENING TO MUSIC MEME SERIES
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.ĭaoud Tyler-Ameen: Can we start with what "anthem" means to you? The American Anthem series has a working definition : "a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause." But in the music industry, it's also kind of a buzzword. But even now, he admits he's never created anything quite like "No Children" - a breakup song so dark it's funny, in whose jagged refrain you can't help but hear a little of yourself at your very worst.Īs part of NPR's American Anthem series, I asked John Darnielle to explain just where "No Children" came from - and what it's been like to watch a generation of fans elevate and embrace it as anthemic. More recently he's been the subject of Fink's latest podcast, I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, on which the two dissect his work song by song. He's published a handful of novels, been interviewed by Terry Gross and Marc Maron, had a beer named in his honor. His band has swelled to a four-piece, with a well-received album every year or two like clockwork. In the years since Tallahassee, Darnielle's life has changed. I just want to feel this painful moment, and take joy in how dark we can make this moment.' " " is a song that says, 'No, I just want to stay in this painful moment. Joseph Fink, creator of the powerhouse podcast Welcome to Night Vale and a Mountain Goats superfan, says the song finds its power as a vessel for catharsis: "I suffer from anxiety, and one of the most helpful things I've learned is that if you fight anxiety, if you start to feel yourself going into a panic attack and you try to stop it, that makes it worse," he explains. Poll the fanbase and, amazingly, you'll find couples who claim it as "our song." Lyric tattoos are not unheard of. Search for live recordings and you'll hear entire rooms shouting its searing chorus. Within a few years it had become something more. Though the band rarely performed it at first, requests from fans helped turn it into a live staple. It even had a defined narrative arc, tracing the crumbling marriage of an addict couple, whose story had been hinted at in songs scattered over The Mountain Goats' first decade. Tallahassee was a turning point: Tracked top to bottom in a real studio, with a dedicated backing "band" in multi-instrumentalist Peter Hughes, and released by the storied British indie 4AD. Up to the early 2000s, The Mountain Goats' music was the definition of a cult taste: A nasally voice and bare acoustic guitar, often recorded on a department-store boombox, which wrapped Darnielle's lonely characters in a blanket of tape hiss. But more than that, it has found a place in recent history as an anthem to dysfunction, able to unite listeners in a sentiment that makes you gasp and laugh all at once. The first time you hear it, you're stunned: " I hope you die." You wonder if you heard right, and a moment later you get your answer: " I hope we both die." Released in 2002 on the album Tallahassee, "No Children" is perhaps the best-known, most enduring song by The Mountain Goats, the prolific songwriting project of author and musician John Darnielle for over 25 years.
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