Song Of The Day – Pablo Picasso by Modern Lovers

January 2nd, 2017 – Pablo Picasso by Modern Lovers

I’ve been re-binge-watching Narcos today (perks of being on holidays), and even though the focus of the series is legendary Columbian drug tsar Pablo Escobar, because of the random way my brain works, another Pablo popped into my head.

‘Pablo Picasso’ by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers has always been a fave. It still makes me smile when it pops up in Repo Man: “Pablo Picasso was never called asshole…”

Even though the song is from the early 70s, its woozy tone felt totally at home on the movie’s soundtrack with disillusioned 80s ‘f*ck you’ punk by Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Iggy Pop and more. Repo Man was set in the LA punk scene during Reagan-era America, notable for the rise of yuppies, Reaganomics, televangelists, conspiracy theory supermarket tabloids, the CIA meddling in Central America, Nancy Reagan’s ludicrously out of touch ‘Just Say No’ anti-drugs campaign and… cocaine. So, although seemingly tenuous, the two Pablos are linked in a way.

Oh, and Narcos is bloody brilliant too.