Music / The Ideal Crash

Everybody's weird...

The Ideal Crash is the third full-length album by Belgian rock band dEUS, released in 1999. At this point in the band's history the group had undergone some significant changes. Band member Stef Kamil Carlens left to start his own band, Zita Swoon, while other group member Danny Mommens did the same and founded Vive la Fete.

Nevertheless it sold very well and produced hits such as: "Instant Street," "Sister Dew," and "The Ideal Crash." "Instant Street" even managed to become an underground hit in Europe.

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Tracklist:

1. "Put the Freaks Up Front" (5:14)
2. "Sister Dew" (5:35)
3. "One Advice, Space" (5:46)
4. "The Magic Hour" (5:23)
5. "The Ideal Crash" (5:46)
6. "Instant Street" (6:15)
7. "Magdalena" (4:58)
8. "Everybody's Weird" (4:51)
9. "Let's See Who Goes Down First" (6:23)
10. "Dream Sequence #1" (6:31)

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Put the Tropes Up Front:

• Album Title Drop: "The Ideal Crash:"
  I'm drawing myself the ideal crash
  but I know I won't believe me.
  There'll be a time you'll leave me.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: "Let's See Who Goes Down First:"
  If I said what's on my mind, there'd be not a soul around.
• Boléro Effect: Done with the climax with "Instant Street".
• Call-Back: "One Advice, Space" has a line referring to "Fell Off the Floor, Man" from In a Bar, Under the Sea (1996):
  Watch me fall to the floor, but I'll go back for more.
• Dreaming of Things to Come and Dream Sequence: "Dream Sequence #1," inspired by the fact that Barman dreamt the chords.
• Epic Rocking: Virtually all tracks except for "Magdalena" and "Everybody's Weird" are longer than five minutes.
• Everything Is an Instrument: Pots and pans at the start of "Let's See Who Goes Down First."
• Freaky Is Cool: "Everybody's Weird:"
  Everybody's weird
  Everybody's a weird guy
  Everybody's a weird guy
  Everybody's weird
• The Masochism Tango: "Magdalena," about an on-and-off relationship:
  Now you're holding back
  And I'm holding on
  Heaven knows what you want
  Cause on a day like this I'd believe anything
  I don't know where to begin
• Murder Ballad: "Sister Dew" is recorded from the viewpoint of a murderer. First he feels ashamed, then he tries to talk himself out of it and claims she deserved it, and in the end he loses his mind and thinks Satan is talking to him.
• New Sound Album: The band's music sounded different compared to their previous albums, not only because of a change in the line-up, but also because the sound was more smooth and poppy.
• One-Woman Song: "Sister Dew" and "Magdalena."
• Pep-Talk Song: "Instant Street:"
  'Cause you know it's not my style to be giving up now.
  And this pain in my side, I had enough.
  This time I go for Instant Street
  This life's a soulless excuse for all abuse and parenthesis.
  The flyspecked windows and the stinking lobbies
  they'll remain all the same, all the same.
  This time I go. This time I go...
• Real Life Writes the Plot: After several band members left the group, front singer Tom Barman went through a breakdown. His depression led to the song "Let's See Who Goes Down First." "Magdalena" was inspired by his then-girlfriend who had the same surname. Just like Barman sang she felt he drove too fast in his car:
  You drive too fast
  Can you please shut up?
  I call the police
  if you don't stop
• Shout-Out:
  • "Put the Freaks Up Front" is a reference to George Lucas' advice to his editors during the filming of THX 1138, when he wanted a scene with freaks happening earlier in the film as opposed to later in the film.
  • "Everybody's Weird" has a few lines from "Story of Isaac" by Leonard Cohen, from his album Songs from a Room:
  I will help you if I must
  I will kill you if I can
  (...) I will kill you if I must
  I will help you if I can

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