"Smoke" - Whale

If you remember the band Whale at all, it’s most likely for their 90s novelty hit, “Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe.” The lead singer sports a mouth full of braces in the video. Shrug emoji, who knows, the band was Swedish, maybe that was cool in Gothenburg at the time. But forget that song. Delete its trivialness from your mind. Inhale it’s polar opposite, “Smoke.”

Where “Hobo” is dumb, “Smoke” is cool. I mean, the song talks about smoking and sharing cigarettes, which used to be cool (but bad — don’t do it, kids!). But this is more than a song, it’s a soundtrack. You and your crew pull up to commit some real (non-violent) heist. EXT. NIGHT: You get out of your muscle car, flick your cig to the wet pavement. Exhale, because it’s about to get real.

“Smoke”’s super power is its bassline. It just rolls and even if you’re not listening in the car, you feel like you’re cruising down the highway. I’ll admit the song is overly long and the crunching guitars and actual lung-y coughs detract a little from the overall vibe at the end. Someone in the band got a little too hobo humpin’ with the studio equipment, if you know what I mean. But this is a song you could, nay, should walk in slow motion to. Go ahead and light it up.

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Stay cool. Have a great summer.
Class of ‘90 rulez.