Gary Young: Rest in Peace, Plantman

The very sad news has just come down that the legendary Gary Young has died at age 70. Gary was the original drummer for Pavement, and one of the truly great characters in rock and roll history.

Other sources like Stereogum will provide more a more complete obituary. And as these things seem to go, it’s through hearing of his death that I learned there’s actually a new documentary, Louder Than You Think, recently released about him, making the circuit of film festivals right now.

Slanted and Enchanted is the album that made an indie rocker out of me. Hell, it’s probably the album that made an indie rocker out of you. And in all that chaos, that’s Gary keeping the time, according to whatever maniacal clock he was tuned to.

This is Gary, opening “Fame Throwa”. Somehow nobody else sounded like him:

He was known to give people slices of toast before Pavement shows. And mashed potatoes. His favorite band was Yes. He was, maybe, the most punk rock of all of them, no matter how you define “them”.

His signature moment was of course “Plantman”, one of the most iconic videos of the ‘90s. Gary himself was the Plantman. But the dancing plants? That’s Mark Ibold and Thurston Moore:

And for what it’s worth, I think my favorite Pavement song of them all is still “Frontwards”, and that’s still Gary:

Gary was a true original. I’m sure in the next couple of days many, many stories will be told. Read them all. We may never fully understand it, but I tell you this, this was a man who somehow changed music for all of us.

Rest in peace, Plantman.