History Music / Pavement

** "Speak, See, Remember" frequently jumps around between 4/4 and 6/4 in a highly disorienting manner. Its verses have patterns of 4+6+4+4/4 (18/4) at times.

* PunBasedTitle: They have a few. "5-4=Unity" refers to the song's 5/4 meter signature, plus the fact that subtracting four from five gives you one (i.e., unity). ''Nicene Creedence Edition'' is explained below under ShoutOut. Sometimes they construct entire songs around puns, such as "Candylad" (a pun on the board game TabletopGame/CandyLand) and "Gangsters & Pranksters".

** "Fight This Generation" has a lengthy passage in 7/4 (or 14/4).

After the breakup of the band, Malkmus has had an extensive solo career, with six full-length albums released to date; Kannberg released two albums and an EP with his band Preston School of Industry and two albums as Spiral Stairs; Ibold has performed with a number of bands, including Music/SonicYouth; Young has released three albums under the name Gary Young's Hospital; West currently sings in the band Marble Valley, which has released five albums and an EP.

Pavement broke up in 1999 due to intra-band conflict (especially between the others and Malkmus), and reunited pretty epically in 2010. However, Malkmus has said that no further tours are planned, and Nastanovich ruled out the possibility of new material. They haven't ruled out the possibility of more performances at some point in the future, but said it wouldn't be anytime soon because they didn't want people who saw them in 2010 to feel ripped off that they had another reunion that quickly. Some of the other members (Kannberg and Young, specifically) have joined Malkmus onstage at various solo shows, but there hasn't been a full reunion.

After the breakup of the band, Malkmus has had an extensive solo career, with six full-length albums released to date; Kannberg released two albums and an EP with his band Preston School of Industry and two albums as Spiral Stairs; Ibold has performed with a number of bands, including Music/SonicYouth; Young has released three albums under the name Gary Young's Hospital; West currently plays drums and sings in the band Marble Valley, which has released several albums.

Pavement broke up in 1999 due to intra-band conflict (especially between the others and Malkmus), and reunited pretty epically in 2010. However, Malkmus has said that no further tours are planned, and Nastanovich ruled out the possibility of new material.

* LimitedLyricsSong: The entire lyrics of "Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era" are: "I've got one holy life to live / I've got one holy life to give", repeated several times. "Chesley's Little Wrists" has only "I'm bogged down" and variants thereof.

* LimitedLyricsSong: The entire lyrics of "Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era" are: "I've got one holy life to live / I've got one holy life to give", repeated several times.

* UncommonTime: "5-4=Unity" is obvious; it's an AffectionateParody of Music/DaveBrubeck's "Take Five" so naturally it's in 5/4. But it's not their only example. "Jam Kids", for example, has significant portions that are also in 5/4. "Fight This Generation" has a lengthy passage in 7/4 (or 14/4). Malkmus is fond of constructing choruses with patterns of three bars of 6/4 followed by two of 4/4 (for a total of 26/4; examples include "Pueblo" and "Easily Fooled", though the latter also sometimes uses other patterns as well). The opening/bridge of "Kris Kraft" changes meter signatures several times; at least two bars are 5/4.

* PissTakeRap: "Blue Hawaiian".

* UncommonTime: "5-4=Unity" is obvious; it's an AffectionateParody of Music/DaveBrubeck's "Take Five" so naturally it's in 5/4. But it's not their only example. "Jam Kids", for example, has significant portions that are also in 5/4. "Fight This Generation" has a lengthy passage in 7/4 (or 14/4). "Pueblo" uses patterns of three bars of 6/4 followed by two of 4/4 in its chorus. The opening/bridge of "Kris Kraft" changes meter signatures several times; at least two bars are 5/4.

* PunBasedTitle: They have a few. "5-4=Unity" refers to the song's 5/4 meter signature, plus the fact that subtracting four from five gives you one (i.e., unity). ''Nicene Creedence Edition'' is explained below under ShoutOut. Sometimes they construct entire songs around puns, such as "Candylad" (a pun on the board game Candy Land) and "Gangsters & Pranksters".

* AffectionateParody: It's generally accepted that "Flux = Rad" is a tribute to Music/{{Nirvana}}, considering the quiet verse, loud chorus nature and the BrokenRecord nature of the chorus. Similarly, "Serpentine Pad" is generally considered an affectionate parody of Music/TheSexPistols and ''Sister''-era Music/SonicYouth.

* LongSongShortScene: "Nothing Ever Happens" was left off ''Slanted And Enchanted'', but the song's riff became a 30 second instrumental postscript to "Trigger Cut / Wounded-Kite at :17". The full two and a half minute song, with vocals by Spiral Stairs, finally saw release on ''Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe And Reduxe'', ten years after the release of the original album.

* RefugeInAudacity: ''Wowee Zowee'' was originally going to be titled ''Dick-Sucking Fool at Pussy-Licking School,'' before the band decided it was too risqué.

* ShoutOut: ''Wowee Zowee'' is named after an early Music/FrankZappa song ("Wowie Zowie") and its cover art is reminiscent of ''[[http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drm400/m425/m42564cf3zd.jpg Känguru]]'' by the {{Krautrock}} band Guru Guru. The back cover showing a wizard with the speech bubble [[GratuitousGerman "Pavement Ist Rad!"]] is probably an additional nod to the origin of the cover.

* EpicRocking: Not that often, but there are a few examples in their discography. The best examples are probably "Fillmore Jive" (6:39), "Half a Canyon" (6:10), the demo of "Fight This Generation" (8:11), "And Then... (The Hexx)" (7:02), and the live version of "Type Slowly" (6:48).

** A bunch to classic rock songs on the front & back covers of ''Westing'' ("Stoned Soul Picnic" by Music/LauraNyro, "California Dreamin'" by Music/TheMamasAndThePapas, "Ramblin' Man" by Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand, "Maps and Legends" by Music/{{REM}}, "Heart of Stone" by Music/TheRollingStones, "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" by Music/TheHollies, "Earth Angel" by the Penguins, etc.).

** A bunch to classic rock songs on the cover of ''Westing'' ("Stoned Soul Picnic" by Music/LauraNyro, "California Dreamin'" by Music/TheMamasAndThePapas, "Ramblin' Man" by Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand, "Maps and Legends" by Music/{{REM}}, "Heart of Stone" by Music/TheRollingStones, etc.).

** A bunch to classic rock songs on the cover of ''Westing'' ("Stoned Soul Picnic" by Music/LauraNyro, "California Dreamin'" by Music/TheMamasAndThePapas, etc.).

* UncommonTime: "5-4=Unity" is obvious; it's an AffectionateParody of Music/DaveBrubeck's "Take Five" so naturally it's in 5/4. But it's not their only example. "Jam Kids", for example, has significant portions that are also in 5/4. "Fight This Generation" has a lengthy passage in 7/4 (or 14/4). "Pueblo" uses patterns of three bars of 6/4 followed by two of 4/4 in its chorus.

* UncommonTime: "5-4=Unity" is obvious; it's an AffectionateParody of Music/DaveBrubeck's "Take Five" so naturally it's in 5/4. But it's not their only example. "Jam Kids", for example, has significant portions that are also in 5/4.

* LoudnessWar: Mostly averted, but the reissue of ''Brighten the Corners'' is pretty squished. Some of the other reissues are louder than the originals as well, although the reissue of ''Crooked Rain'' appears to use the same master as the original.
** With the exception of the last two tracks, the first disc of ''L.A.'s Desert Origins'' is barely even dynamically compressed, and it's unlikely anyone but the most obsessive audiophile will notice it. The second disc is a bit more compressed than the first, but still not bad by modern standards. Neither are particularly clipped either. The set overall comes to [=DR9=]. Oddly, though, ''Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe'' is actually pretty badly clipped throughout, despite being released '''before''' ''L.A.'s Desert Origins''. ''Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition'' has about the same level of clipping as ''Luxe & Reduxe''.

** With the exception of the last two tracks, the first disc of ''L.A.'s Desert Origins'' is barely even dynamically compressed, and it's unlikely anyone but the most obsessive audiophile will notice it. The second disc is a bit more compressed than the first, but still not bad by modern standards. Neither are particularly clipped either. The set overall comes to DR9. Oddly, though, ''Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe'' is actually pretty badly clipped throughout, despite being released '''before''' ''L.A.'s Desert Origins''. ''Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition'' has about the same level of clipping as ''Luxe & Reduxe''.

* GenreRoulette: '"Wowee Zowee'' is one of the most infamous examples in indie music.

** Their CoverVersion of "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen throws in lyrics from "Thorn Of Crowns" and "Yo Yo Man", two other Echo and the Bunnymen songs from their album ''Ocean Rain'': C-c-c-cucumber, c-c-c-cauliflower, c-c-c-cabbage / He's the yo-yo man, always up and down".
** There are a whole bunch of these in the live show included in ''Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe'', including to Music/TheBeatles, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Music/SonicYouth.

They guest-starred in the ''SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' episode "Pavement", where they were misidentified as "Music/TheBeatles" and played a noisy cover of the show's theme song while Space Ghost attempted to interview another guest.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: "Gold Soundz"