The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by… Read Full Bio ↴The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the plural moniker. The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and whatever musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle's work remains remarkably consistent. At his best, he writes finely observed, slightly surreal, impressionistic vignettes that manage to mix life as we live it with life as we wish we could live it, and as such he has more in common with a novelist than he does with the typical singer/songwriter, which is fitting, as he's also a published author. Darnielle's early Mountain Goats releases were lo-fi, cassette-recorded efforts cut with a rotating lineup of musicians, such as 1995's Nine Black Poppies and 2000's The Coroner's Gambit. By 2005's The Sunset Tree, his recordings had become cleaner and less cluttered, but his characters studies were just as vivid, and as the Mountain Goats finally cohered into a stable lineup (with Darnielle joined by Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster), they recorded tuneful, thematically unified albums such as Beat the Champ (2015) and Goths (2017) that ranked with their finest work.
Darnielle began the new millennium with The Coroner's Gambit for Absolutely Kosher before signing to 4AD for the release of the surprisingly polished Tallahassee in 2002. We Shall All Be Healed followed in 2004, and one year later, Darnielle was back with The Sunset Tree. Remaining as prolific as ever, Darnielle turned away from the intensity of The Sunset Tree for a calmer, more reflective set of songs on 2006's Get Lonely. The accessible and assured Heretic Pride appeared in 2008. Next up was the Bible verse-inspired The Life of the World to Come, the group's sixth album for 4AD, in 2010. Switching to Merge Records in 2011, Darnielle released All Eternals Deck, which was recorded in four different studios in Brooklyn, Boston, North Carolina, and Florida with four different producers -- John Congleton, Scott Solter, Brandon Eggleston, and Morbid Angel guitarist and Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan -- helming various tracks. That year the band was also handpicked by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he was curating in Minehead, England, but they were ultimately unable to appear due to scheduling issues.

anti-music song
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

i saw you on tv
doing a bad imitation of van morrison
and i saw you on tv
doing a bad imitation of a second rate songwriter from the eighties named morissey
i never liked morrisey
and i don't like you.

i saw you tv,

doing an imitation of an imitation of jimi hendrix
that's really pathetic
and i saw you on tv
trying to figure out what brian jones would be like if he'd have lived 'til today
i can tell you myself
he'd be like brian wilson
i don't like brian wilson

and i don't like you
i don't like you.

Overall Meaning

The song "Anti-Music Song" by The Mountain Goats is a clever critique of mainstream music and the performers who lack originality. The lyrics start by addressing the singer's distaste for a television performance of someone doing a bad imitation of established artists. The first two mentioned are Van Morrison and Morrissey. The singer makes it clear that he never liked Morrissey and doesn't like this performer either. The second verse is more scathing, as the singer criticizes a performer who tries to imitate Jimi Hendrix and then discusses what Brian Jones would be like if he were alive today. The singer claims to know that Jones would be like Brian Wilson, and dismisses both Wilson and the imitator.

The overarching theme of the song seems to be the lack of originality and the formulaic nature of mainstream music. The specific targets are those who seem to think that imitating well-established and iconic musicians is a valid way to create music. The singer rejects this notion and expresses disdain for those who would perpetuate such an approach. The repetition of the line "I don't like you" reinforces the disdainful tone of the song.

Line by Line Meaning

i saw you on tv
The singer witnessed the performer on television

doing a bad imitation of van morrison
The performer attempted to mimic Van Morrison, but was unsuccessful

and i saw you on tv
The singer saw the performer again on television

doing a bad imitation of a second rate songwriter from the eighties named morissey
The performer's imitation of Morrissey was also subpar

i never liked morrisey
The artist has never been a fan of Morrissey's music

and i don't like you.
The singer has a negative opinion of the performer

i saw you on tv
The singer once again saw the performer on television

doing an imitation of an imitation of jimi hendrix
The performer attempted to copy someone else who had already copied Jimi Hendrix

that's really pathetic
The artist finds the performer's attempt disgraceful

and i saw you on tv
The performer appeared on TV yet again

trying to figure out what brian jones would be like if he'd have lived 'til today
The performer is attempting to imagine how Brian Jones would sound in present day

i can tell you myself
The artist believes they have an answer themselves without the performer's input

he'd be like brian wilson
The singer believes Brian Jones would have a similar style to Brian Wilson

i don't like brian wilson
The singer does not have a fondness for Brian Wilson's music

and i don't like you
The singer has a negative overall opinion of the performer

i don't like you.
The artist reiterates their distaste for the performer

Contributed by Abigail V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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