For today's Wednesday Grab-bag, we're getting into some Pop Culture Pairings. Like a fine wine and a gourmet cheese, like a cheep wine and sack of stale Peeps, some things just go well together. For example, Netflix's Daredevil series and the latest album from The Mountain Goats, Beat the Champ.
First of all, obviously, they're both at least tangentially about fighters. Matt's father was a boxer who took dives. Beat the Champ is a concept album about wrestling! Match made in heaven. But more than that, Beat the Champ has plenty of tracks about fighting on through despair, like the single, "Heel Turn 2," that includes the simple mantra 'I don't wanna die in here.' In Daredevil's most impressive scene, the one-take hallway fight of the second episode, we can see that mantra in every stagger and stumble as Matt works his way through the bad guys, graceless and aching. "Luna" and "Choked Out" echo that same feeling.
Point the second: both have bloodthirsty villains who learn to embrace their violence. Fisk is a worthy foil for Matt, and the show treats them both compassionately and thoroughly. One of their many similarities is that they are physical fighters who feel they were forced to become so, Fisk by a history of violence and Matt by a world that doesn't seem to respond to anything else. The difference between them is that Fisk ends the series by totally embracing his capacity for violence. He realizes he can't escape this part of himself, telling the cops who would arrest him a story from his childhood that reveals he embraces his role as "villain." Champ's "Werewolf Gimmick" is also about a guy who has fully embraced his dark side, a guy who's ready to die in the ring, a guy who, as John Darnielle said, "people aren't sure whether he's actually legit gonna eat your face or not." The speaker in "Werewolf" either believes or wants listeners to believe he truly is a werewolf, someone who can turn on and off his violence and humanity, like Fisk seems to be able to do. In one scene he's an awkward middle aged guy on a first date with a lady he really likes. Two scenes later, he's bashing in a dude's face with a car door.
The similarities don't end there. "Southwestern Territory" is about a tired wrestler who's lost the thrill of the sport and takes a fall when he's told, like Matt's father. "The Legend of Chavo Guerro" tells the story of a young boy who feels the world is just when he's watching his favorite hero wrestle, like Karen, who believes that a masked hero can balance the scales. "Animal Mask" is about two wrestlers who form an allegiance in a battle royale, one of whom protects the other's identity. Who could this possibly be about except Hell's Kitchen's greatest avocados? "Unmasked!" is another perfect fit because, as it turns out, wrestlers and superheroes share a lot of mask imagery.
(Beat the Champ is available for purchase on iTunes or streaming on Spotify. Daredevil is currently available on Netflix.)
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