Is The Afghan Whigs’ “Miles Iz Ded” One Of The Greatest Songs Ever?

noah | July 6, 2008 1:30 am
It’s probably fitting that I was at a bar when I realized that my musical aesthetic of right now was more informed by the Afghan Whigs’ bonus-track-gone-EP-anchor “Miles Iz Ded” than pretty much any other piece of music in existence. Originally a “bonus” track on Congregation that flowed right into (and in my opinion outshone) a lot of the material on its attendant album, it has taken on a life of its own in my personal pantheon (even if it’s not offically realized by discographers); its junkies-gone-wild video above has only helped that process. (For those of you with long-ish memories: It’s been a year and a half since we posted this song, so I think it’s fair game for revisiting at this particular moment, i.e. me finding it on my local’s jukebox and realizing that it’s still so freaking good.) The last-call apocalypse feel of this track, which I suppose is more epitomized by the description “drinking itself into oblivion” than anything else, rings as true for me now as it did 15 years ago, when I was first wondering “wtf is this?” while letting my 5-disc changer run wild. After the jump, a video clip of “Miles” live (from an unnamed-on-YouTube festival) that more than holds up to the studio rendition.

Oh, Madonna. I really hope that Matthew Perpetua includes this track in s his whole “Your New Influences” thing sometime very soon.

(PS: The question in the subject line might in fact be moot, because “Miles” is definitely one of my favorite songs ever. I don’t know what would even challenge it for No. 1. “Across 110th St”? “Borderline”? “Bathroom Wall”? The mind reels.)

Afghan Whigs – Miles Iz Ded] [YouTube] MILES IZ DED the afghan whigs [YouTube] Congregation [Sub Pop]

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