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The Strokes — Machu Picchu
Album: Angles
Avg rating:
7.1

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2805









Released: 2011
Length: 3:29
Plays (last 30 days): 5
Putting your patience to the test
Putting your body on the line for less
Didn't you know there was a choice?
It's never yours but someone else's voice

Selling your body to the street
Selling your girlfriend's to the night for cheap
Wearing a jacket made of meat
Sealing a letter made with this horse's feet
And now you've heard that

Waves turn to grey
Life in the shade
A violent crime
And that's the USA

Platinum's on the rise
Playboys in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A mountain I can climb

Putting your patience to the test
Putting your body on the line for less
Didn't you know there was a choice?
It's never yours in someone else's voice
And now you seen that

Blondes turn to grey
Life in the shade
A violent crime
And that's the USA

Porn's on the rise
Psycho's in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A mountain I can climb

Darling, ain't nobody gonna tell us
They're gonna be oh so jealous
We're gonna be oh so silent
They're gonna be stoned in silence

''I didn't want to ask you baby
I didn't want you to ask anybody baby
Is anyone asking maybe?
Can anyone even hear me?''
Why are you waiting beyond the door?

Life turns to dust
And rain turns to rust
Gossip is a truth
And money paid for the lies we trust

Your love is a surprise
Homeless saints are in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A nice place for you and I
Comments (115)add comment
I'm borrowing the term from on old song comment, but I love the way he overclocks his voice during the last chorus.
Never noticed that electric-bongo-like percussion in the chorus before
"Wearing a jacket made of meat" LOL No clue what he means by it.
I bought this album when it came out and really liked it, especially this song. Then a week or so later I had a mild stroke. I then decided that The Strokes was destined to be my favorite band.  Maybe that was the stroke talking, though.
I love it. "Wearing a jacket made of meat".  Love these guys. Especially their quirky guitars. Saw them open for the RHCP's last year in a stadium in Charlotte. Very good. And I digged Julian's solo album as well. 
 forthbrdge wrote:

The cover art makes me want to play Q*bert.



It reminds me, nostalgically, of my fave arcade game Marble Madness. Not a bad song, either :)
sounds like the shins - that's a good thing!
Too repetitive for my listening pleasure.  Good song, just not my thing.
 sfoster66 wrote:

This is exactly what a privileged upbringing sounds like.  Fake angry.  Fake happy.  Whatever.  Founding members meet at their elite boarding school.  

"Let's start a band."

"Yes, let's.  Daddy will buy us everything.  Including a recording studio and a record contract.  It'll be so much fun!"


 bc wrote:
Let's pretend for just a minute that you're correct about their origins.

No need to pretend - previous comment was not inaccurate.  From Wikipedia:

"Lead singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti started playing together as teenagers while attending Dwight School in Manhattan, and formed an informal band in 1997. They later added bassist Nikolai Fraiture to their ranks, a close childhood friend of Casablancas who had attended the Lycée Français de New York with him. At the end of 1998, the group invited guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. to play with them. He had just moved to New York City and reconnected with Casablancas, whom he knew from their brief stints at the private boarding school Institut Le Rosey, near Nyon, Switzerland. The two soon became roommates."
 sfoster66 wrote:

This is exactly what a privileged upbringing sounds like.  Fake angry.  Fake happy.  Whatever.  Founding members meet at their elite boarding school.  

"Let's start a band."

"Yes, let's.  Daddy will buy us everything.  Including a recording studio and a record contract.  It'll be so much fun!"


Sounding somewhat angry 
 sfoster66 wrote:

This is exactly what a privileged upbringing sounds like.  Fake angry.  Fake happy.  Whatever.  Founding members meet at their elite boarding school.  

"Let's start a band."

"Yes, let's.  Daddy will buy us everything.  Including a recording studio and a record contract.  It'll be so much fun!"



Let's pretend for just a minute that you're correct about their origins.

It's still a damn good song. 

Now what?
high rotation
 sfoster66 wrote:

This is exactly what a privileged upbringing sounds like.  Fake angry.  Fake happy.  Whatever.  Founding members meet at their elite boarding school.  

"Let's start a band."

"Yes, let's.  Daddy will buy us everything.  Including a recording studio and a record contract.  It'll be so much fun!"



my,
don't you sound just a mild bit jealous.
This is exactly what a privileged upbringing sounds like.  Fake angry.  Fake happy.  Whatever.  Founding members meet at their elite boarding school.  

"Let's start a band."

"Yes, let's.  Daddy will buy us everything.  Including a recording studio and a record contract.  It'll be so much fun!"
 CCSandman wrote:

Sounds like a mixture of Supergrass, Franz Ferdinand and Everything Everything



Very Franz Ferdinand, only better
I always thought this was recorded in the 80s or 90s
Sounds like a mixture of Supergrass, Franz Ferdinand and Everything Everything
I've always loved the jamming guitars, the wicked builds and pauses, and angsty, fuzzy sounds of this, and the title and lyrics do make me contemplate the whole Machu Picchu mystique...an endless, relentless search for meaning to correspond to apparent present realities as well as the imagined ancient ones... Are there any answers we can accurately grasp? Even having been there, and having studied it, I'm not sure... I can say, though, that just like this interesting, incredibly creative song from this essentially seminal group: 
-- IT SURE IS A FRICKIN' TRIP!
The cover art makes me want to play Q*bert.
I see how this is a challenging song to appreciate. I love turning it up for the guitar, but it's the lyrics that make it great. So creative!! Thank you RP and Strokes!
QBert by Virusking on DeviantArt
Good tune!
Too Much Cowbell... 🙃
Supergrass copycat
I won't give is a thumbs down, but I'm getting bored with this one
I was not a fan, though attended a show by chance one night, and just fell in love. 
I never did get the whole Strokes thing.  I think they're kinda irritating.  But this song is OK I guess.
This song is making me miss Supergrass.
 iSoul wrote:
sucking.

 
I think it's a good song but the production indeed sucks and ruins everything. Too dry, missing effects and mixing effort. Would have been great in the 90's with Blur's producer behind the desk.
{#Cowboy}           {#Motor}          {#Cool}           {#Music}
oh yeah, groovin!
{#Bananajam}{#Dancingbanana_2}{#Hearteyes}{#Music}{#Bananapiano} What is it about this song?? LOVE IT!
 ShaunJ wrote:

only in your mind

 
I don't know, it's OK, catchy, fun, I'll give it a 7.
sucking.
 Gloriastacholy wrote:
best song ever written {#Bananajam}

 
only in your mind
best song ever written {#Bananajam}
 CHuLoYo wrote:

Where do you listen ska-influence here in this song? 
What kind of ska did you hear before? 
 
I was referring to the offset bass line phrases and the guitars and keyboards playing on the up-beat (2 and 4 beats) during the verses.  I guess that's technically more "quasi-reggae" influence than ska. If you played a guitar or bass you would understand what I meant.  Anyhow, I only said "ska-influenced", I didn't say it sounded like Prince Buster or Desmond Dekker.
 Proclivities wrote:

They sound more cheerful and ska-influenced than The Stranglers did - not quite as dark, but there is some resemblance.  This reminds me more of Franz Ferdinand.

 
Where do you listen ska-influence here in this song? 
What kind of ska did you hear before? 
 ThePoose wrote:
Man, these guys resemble The Stranglers.

 
They sound more cheerful and ska-influenced than The Stranglers did - not quite as dark, but there is some resemblance.  This reminds me more of Franz Ferdinand.
 dig wrote:
You gotta be startin' somethin'.

 
You're right, good catch!
Great rockin' tune.   a bit like James Mercer and The Shins, too, heh?
1980s vibes
Bill loves this song. 
I just love how they go absolutely crazy with the guitars in parts on this wild one, & the lyrics are even more cryptic and cynical than usual.
Man, these guys resemble The Stranglers.
You gotta be startin' somethin'.
Well I liked it!
 TerryS wrote:
M. C. Escher

Agree with Bill, nothing to do with Peruvian holy spots, mystical places or visionary blokes
 
Hey, everybody! Surf's up! 


 Stingray wrote:

For REAL escape try to leave USA!
 
Westslope already did.  Approximately 200 years ago.  No more San Pedro cactus for you, Ray.       
 westslope wrote:
Une  certaine originalité ou une originalité certaine?
 
Not much original at all in this song.  Rather forgettable.  A song title relating to the lyric content in some way would be a start.  My dog could compose a better metaphor.  Arf! 
 westslope wrote:

Machu Picchu as a metaphor for escape.

Cool.

 

P.S.  For true escape try San Pedro cactus.  Not for amateurs.

 
For REAL escape try to leave USA!
Une  certaine originalité ou une originalité certaine?
I'm over it. I think there was a song of theirs that I liked better, but this one's always been iffy.
 
edit: Now it says "plays in last 30 days: 4" How lucky I am to have heard them all.  
never understood the hype. they are so mediocre and predictable, imho
I have this song as my ringtone.  It really gets your attention.

Machu Picchu as a metaphor for escape.

Cool.

 

P.S.  For true escape try San Pedro cactus.  Not for amateurs.


M. C. Escher

Agree with Bill, nothing to do with Peruvian holy spots, mystical places or visionary blokes

Selling your body to the street
Selling your girlfriends to the night, for cheap
Wearing a jacket made of meat
Sealing a letter made with horse's feet
And now you've heard that...
Waves turn to grey
Life in the shade
A violent crime
And that's on USA
Platinum's on the rise
Playboys in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A mountain I can climb
Putting your patience to the test
Putting your body on the line, for less
Didn't you know there was a choice?
It's never yours, it's someone else's voice
And now you see that
Blondes turn to grey
Life in the shade
A violent crime
And that's on USA
Porn's on the rise
Psycho's in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A mountain I can climb
Darling, ain't nobody gonna tell us
They're gonna be oh so jealous
We're gonna be oh so silent
They're gonna be stoned on silence
I didn't want to ask you baby, I didn't want to ask anybody baby
Is anyone asking maybe?
Can anyone even hear me/this shit?
Why are you waiting beyond the door?
Life turns to dust
And rain turns to rust
Gossip is a truth
And money pays for the lies we trust
Your love is a surprise
Homeless saints are in disguise
I'm just tryin' to find
A nice place for you and I

 govna wrote:
i like the part that goes DEERRR nerr...de-na-na-NA, na na DEERRR nerrr...de-na-na-NA na na DEEEEErrr neerrrr....du, nu-NUH nuh nuh...DEERRRR nerrr....
 
Glad I saw this before I tried to type it out. That part is sweet.

 Jelani wrote:

reminds me of an MC Escher drawing I never saw.
 
you're both wrong:  it's Q-bert.

 fredriley wrote:
The CD cover reminds me of one of my favourite 80s arcade games, the difficult, visually imaginative, and funnyMarble Madness on which many tens of hours of my misspent youth were, well, misspent. Nice song, too. 
 
reminds me of an MC Escher drawing I never saw.
I ove this more every timeI hear it.
 fredriley wrote:
The CD cover reminds me of one of my favourite 80s arcade games, the difficult, visually imaginative, and funny Marble Madness on which many tens of hours of my misspent youth were, well, misspent. Nice song, too. 

 
Thinking more like Crystal Castles.... many hundreds, nay thousands of hours misspent youth in there!!!

Never could get used to the hysteresis of marble madness ;-)



My theory about the song name - they threw dice and looked up a page in an encyclopedia or dictionary, since song names that actually match words in the song are so painfully obvious and uncool.  Same school of thought as Smashing Pumpkin's "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" which should have been called "Rat in a Cage".
Just the other day — I swear to God, people, it was JUST THE OTHER DAY — I had Is This It and Room On Fire blaring like I hadn't done in years, and while sadly, most of the rest of this record (or ... Earth) doesn't measure up or pick up where those left off, THIS ONE DOES!

 fredriley wrote:
The CD cover reminds me of one of my favourite 80s arcade games, the difficult, visually imaginative, and funny Marble Madness on which many tens of hours of my misspent youth were, well, misspent. Nice song, too. 

 
I LOVED that game.  I rented it once from our local video store and just never returned it.  Luckily for me, it was bought out by a chain place a couple months later, so I got away with it.  Of course, that was in the very early 90's I think.

I recently came upon an emulator and ROM of the game, so I can play it on my computer anytime I want.  As a matter of fact...  I may go play it now.

yawn
Been there, done that.
The worst of the 70s...gives me a headache!
See you next time!
I normally do not like The Strokes, but this doesn't sound like them so it is ok. Talk about channeling 1983 though!{#Lol}
rhythm guitar++++++++++++
Decent song, but the album is bad. Disappointing effort from them. 
i like the part that goes DEERRR nerr...de-na-na-NA, na na DEERRR nerrr...de-na-na-NA na na DEEEEErrr neerrrr....du, nu-NUH nuh nuh...DEERRRR nerrr....
So much better after a few listens. 6 —-> 8
Boy, I've missed em! 8
Yeah, I thought this was some new Supergrass that got released after their break-up.
 Orodrigues wrote:
Great riff...
  to me sounds like it's got a double riff.
being musically illiterate I can't really tell you what they both are.

 Orodrigues wrote:
Great riff...
 

{#Yes}  I never get sick of it!
 Businessgypsy wrote:
 


That's a very challenging skateboard ramp.
Verse: 8, chorus: 5... dammit there's no 6.5...

Great riff...
Can somebody tell me why Casablancas gets to be lead singer of what is an otherwise imaginative and rockin band? I don't need to understand his lyrics but I've always suspected they're unintelligible because they're not very good. Also his voice sounds like veterinary waiting room.
 fredriley wrote:
The CD cover reminds me of one of my favourite 80s arcade games, the difficult, visually imaginative, and funny Marble Madness on which many tens of hours of my misspent youth were, well, misspent. Nice song, too.
Marble Madness, yes! I was thinking Q*bert

but then remembered the huge pile of recycled block I got on the cheap. Saved a gym membership, moving those.


Nice song, indeed.


This is a frigging AWESOME audio mix. Great job to whomever did this!!


I'm just trying to find...a mountain I can climb.
bad supergrass
you find the right hamster to promote this song, and it could go viral.
The CD cover reminds me of one of my favourite 80s arcade games, the difficult, visually imaginative, and funny Marble Madness on which many tens of hours of my misspent youth were, well, misspent. Nice song, too. 

Great song.
 treatment_bound wrote:
Anybody catch The Strokes show @ Coachella or on the web?...
 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival a few weeks ago. Nothin' fancy about the stage presence, but a great show! On second thought, it was mid 80's and Casablancas wore a black leather jacket on stage. Not bad when you're riding a bike, but under the stage lights? Also seemed unclear on the pedigree and purpose of the Fest, making several derisive cracks about Jazz during the band's set. Delivered a solid performance though, and probably got schooled a bit before they left town.


Yeah...OH, HELL YEAH!
I gotta heap mighty praise upon RP for turning me onto the nice new Strokes effort, and I am thrilled they are rocking again! This thing has grown on me like moss on the north side of an old tree! I love that WICKED blistering guitar ripping out of the speakers, and I'm rockin' out to it here big-time at the old Mac-top!
I was fortunate enough to clamber all over that ancient Inca retreat for Royal elites a few years ago, and though, like Bill said, who can have any idea why they named it that? unless it refers to some amazing ROCK-work that seems deceptively simple but was definitely hewn and fitted like none other... but I'm able get back up there in my mind any time I hear this, and for that I'm grateful! Let's rock this bad boy often!

Poppy, accessible
Good hooks... 


 Dave_Mack wrote:
Yow, Bill's really breaking out the new stuff today!  Fun stuff. But what did he say about a jacket made of meat?  Hmmmm.
 
Those meat jackets have been popular lately........ TV commercials for deodorant, Lady Gaga.   I prefer mine {#Flamed}medium rare.
 aelfheld wrote:
Didn't take long for this to get tedious.
 
You betcha.....................

love that hook! {#Bananajam}
Didn't take long for this to get tedious.
Anybody catch The Strokes show @ Coachella or on the web?  I saw it online.  Decent, but what was the deal with the black & white lighting.  Memo to The Strokes...save all the darkness for the goth world.  I watched Casablancas in close-up for an hour and still couldn't figure out what was on his hat!
Must have been influenced by Michael Jackson


Funny comment from DJ Bill about the lyrics not mentioning anything about the historic Incan site.

Like him, though, I agree — cool song.


I absolutely love Bill: "Not sure why they call it 'Machu Picchu'...if you go through the lyrics, it's not really about the Incan religious temple in the Andes Mountains, but...great song!"
I really like this ... chair dancing has commenced! {#Sunny} I thought it may have been the Arctic Monkeys. 

The intro filled me with foreboding as it sounds so Talking Heads-like, and I was all set to hit the mute button as soon as Byrne's warbling kicked in, so was very pleasantly surprised to hear another vocalist. So 7 from the Nottingham jury if only out of relief that this isn't TH. Nice Escher cover, too. Shouldn't the title be spelt Macchu Picchu, or is that a deliberate typo?

 planetclare wrote:
New strokes doesn't sound like old strokes. Must be different strokes...

Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis?

Not sure it breaks any new ground, but it's got beat and you can dance to it. Enjoyable.
After many listenings, a 8.............Really like the C.D.
 Alexandra wrote:
This really kicks ASS! {#Guitarist}
 

 
 
This really kicks ASS! {#Guitarist}
 planetclare wrote:
New strokes doesn't sound like old strokes. Must be different strokes...
 
Heh, they kinda remind me of Ima Robot, one of the first really quirky groups I heard on RP.

New strokes doesn't sound like old strokes. Must be different strokes...

Nice all the way through. 7


starting off at a 2.  let's see where it goes from there.  i liked their first album, not so sure about this
Yow, Bill's really breaking out the new stuff today!  Fun stuff. But what did he say about a jacket made of meat?  Hmmmm.