Animal Collective Provide Woozy Jams at All Points West

A diverse All Points West lineup and a prime 5 p.m. slot for Animal Collective meant that their faithful throng of indie-geeks commingled peacefully with Widespread Panic tattoos and Jersey bros — all together to watch a band finger KAOS pads and whack tablas into a noise-drenched soup. Luckily, the Animals' dubby mush, suffocating echo and quasi-Afrobeat distorto-rhythms were just as good as anything for everyone to get stoned and sway. Even the three minutes of crushing goop opening Panda Bear's solo turn "Comfy in Nautica" was met with hypnotic attentiveness.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter