2001: Eighteen Minutes of White-bred Funk

I tried my best to attend my college classes as frequently as possible. Far too often, however, those efforts suffered drastically from a lethal combination of Chicago’s notorious inclement weather, a considerable distance to most of my classrooms and the insatiable urge to sit around and get high all the time.

Most of my lectures and discussion sections communed all the way down on south campus, a brisk 18 to 20-minute walk in the biting wind and teet-freezing cold sweeping off of Lake Michigan. Occasionally I’d find the energy and the wherewithal (and the price-tag guilt) to trudge my way to a class or two, and on those rare days, I’d grab my trusty Walkman and throw in The Usual.

I must have listened to The Usual about 500 times over the course of my collegiate career. I found it mesmerizing, and it never failed to elate me (if it could, I would’ve had it fellate me, too) on the coldest of days. I knew every in and every out, every nook and every cranny; I was as familiar with this song as anyone could be with any piece of music. This was my jam. And that song was the popular rock band Phish‘s version of Deodato‘s version of Strauss‘ Also Sprach Zarathustra, better known as the theme song from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

To me, it’s as perfect a piece of music as one can find. It builds and builds, patiently taking its time to make love to your face and head. It’s at once a study in tension, a primer of groove management, a band brochure on how to play well with others. It’s passive aggressive, it’s haunting and comforting, and the notes stay with you forever. And at most times, you’ll have no idea which player’s your favorite on it — that changes with the lake-shore wind. Listen for yourself:

Phish played 2001 at least 100 times in its career, but never do I get the goose pimples the way I do when I listen to this masterpiece from November 19, 1997 in Champaign, Illinois. It’s both epic and an epic. Go get it.