"Range Life" is a song by American indie rock band Pavement, the third single from their 1994 album ''

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' is the second studio album by American indie rock band Pavement, released on February 14, 1994 by Matador Records. The album saw the band move on towards a more accessible rock sound than that of their more lo-fi ...

''.

Background

The single was not commercially released in the United States. It was issued by the band's UK label at the time,

Big Cat Records Big Cat Records is a British independent record label. It launched around 1990 and originally specialized in industrial and noise-rock releases. Big Cat operated a US office in New York City for a few years. Integrated with V2 Records in 1996, ...

. Both B-sides are outtakes from the ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' sessions and are included on the 2004 deluxe reissue of that album. This song was one of many to be included in the group's greatest hits album '' Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement''.

Controversy

The song attracted attention with controversial lyrics that seemed to mock alternative rock superstars the

Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

and the

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz ...

; Pumpkins frontman

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

expressed his displeasure in magazine interviews, while songwriter

Stephen Malkmus Stephen Joseph Malkmus (born May 30, 1966) is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and as a solo artist ...

maintained that his words had been misinterpreted and no insult was intended. Regardless, Pavement, which was due to tour for

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

in 1994, got kicked out when the Smashing Pumpkins, the headlining act, threatened to cancel their dates if Pavement performed. Pavement would eventually play Lollapalooza the next year. An early 1993 demo of the song did not feature the controversial verse; guitarist Spiral Stairs recalled in 2004 that when Malkmus first revealed these new lyrics to his bandmates at the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

recording sessions for ''

'', "we almost lost our lunch from laughing so much."Kannberg, Scott writing as Spiral tairs "Pavementi Mach III... we finally made our "Hotel California"!" (Memoir signed "Spiral, Seattle, WA, August, 2004.") Liner notes from '' Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins'', pages 49-50. New York City: Matador Records, 2004.

Track listing

Europe release

US promo

References

1995 singles Pavement (band) songs 1993 songs Songs written by Stephen Malkmus Alternative country songs Country rock songs {{1990s-US-single-stub