3. Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith (1995)

Elliott Smith’s second self-titled album, released in ’95, features mostly songs that express a deep, fully-conscious self-loathing and bitterness toward loved ones and friends; bitterness toward the world at large — ‘giving in’ to addiction, and hating the pressure of expectation. What’s supremely interesting for me about Smith’s lyrics is his use of the second person to refer to himself, those who have wronged him, and those he hardly even knows. This aspect gives the lyrics a biting severity. Some sample lyrics from the premiere track on Elliott Smith, “Needle in the Hay”:

Your hand on his arm
Haystack charm around your neck
Strung out and thin
Calling some friend, trying to cash some check
He’s acting dumb
That’s what you’ve come to expect…

Now on the bus
Nearly touching this dirty retreat
Falling out 6th and Powell, a dead sweat in my teeth
Gonna walk walk walk
Four more blocks, plus the one in my brain
Down downstairs to the man, he’s gonna make it all okay
I can’t beat myself
I can’t beat myself
And I don’t want to talk
I’m taking the cure
So I can be quiet wherever I want
So leave me alone
You ought to be proud that I’m getting good marks

I once tweeted “on another Elliott Smith binge,” and I think it did well representing what state of mind you have to be in to really feel what Smith is trying to express in the album: cold, juvenile, angsty, sadness, like you’ve been wronged, but you deserve it anyways, because you’re a piece of shit.