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Some days I have to listen to Alkaline Trio on repeat and that's just how it is. Years ago I taught a college-level poetry class and I played this song for my students: "Queen of Pain" by Alkaline Trio.
My aim was to demonstrate the heavy use of imagery and metaphor in the lyrics. (I also just really wanted to listen to the song and force others to do so because I'm a militant music evangelist. I also because I consider songs to be lyrics to be indistinguishable from poetry or prose.
(Morrissey's voice now comes to me, unbidden, with his words to Smiths song 'Cemetery Gates.": "If you must write prose/poems, the words you use should be your own. Don't plagiarize or "take on loan.') Songs teach you about rhythm and phrasing and on how to make words tongue-trippingly pleasant or cathartic to say.
I consider the following phrase from "Queen of Pain" to be as well-wrought as any in rock music history.The sound of the words pace and sing with a sensuous momentum: "The stars at night are big and bright deep in your eyes, Ms. Vincent. You told me once I made you smile. We both know damn well I didn't. I'm not much of a jester, but I'd test poison food for you. Your majesty you're royal blue, I'm loyal to my king of pain."
I also played "Walking Barefoot" by "Ash," [metaphor and allusion (Apollo)]; the Police's "King of Pain" in the classroom (extended metaphor and list poem, with the soul described countless ways); "Down By the River" by Bruce Springsteen (ballad). I was a DJ, had control of the stereo and it was awesome.
By the way, for someone who loves music so much and even, on joyful occasion, makes music, I have a bit of a tin ear. When I used to do club reviews years ago for "Music Connection," I would have to walk right up to the stage, close my eyes and really strive to untangle the bass from the guitar and to identify whether the singer was a bass or baritone.
It took me years to figure out who was singing on which Beatle's song. I finally learned that despite his jolly face, Paul McCartney has the deeper voice with an occasional rock 'n roll edge. John Lennon's voice is higher, more cerebral and—when it comes to his searing solo work—more emotionally jagged and vulnerable.
In Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano trade off on lead vocals and I'm only just getting it. Dan's voice is lower, rougher, raspier with more than a touch of hard whiskey. With his pitch and vibrato, his voice kind of sounds like Danny Elfman's if you rubbed his vocal chords for a couple hours with a Brillo pad. You can hear it to good effect in the skippingly romantic "Every Thug Needs a Lady."
Matt Skiba's voice is—weird word for someone who has sung so much about blood—pretty and dulcet and as palatable as a plate of flan or bowl of Jello (depending on your preference).
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