Song of the Day 6/13: Dave Matthews Band, “Busted Stuff”

Unless I’m missing some nuance, MAGAt Nation is threatening to bust stuff up just because their hero is being called to account for his lawbreaking. Yes, nothing says “we’re the party of law and order” better than calling for people to break the law in support of an even bigger lawbreaker.

This song first surfaced on the DMB bootleg “Lillywhite Sessions,” the 90%-completed album the record company scrapped in 2000 as uncommercial. Matthews was told to work with hitmaker Glen Ballard, and together they wrote an LP in 10 days. But this was the dawn of the Napster era, so the leaked studio tapes were widely shared. The fanbase scorned the lightweight Ballard album while proclaiming the Lillywhite material, though dark, the best the band ever recorded.

Most of the songs from the rejected album were rerecorded and released in 2002 with “Busted Stuff” as the leadoff and title track.

The Lillywhite version, though not given a final polish, is superior. It’s unedited, so it doesn’t plunge directly into the vocal, and both drummer Carter Beaufort and late saxophonist LeRoi Moore turn in more imaginative work here than they did for the rerecorded official release. The groove is just funkier.