Range Life

The third single from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out through the band's UK label Big Cat and was not commercially released in the US. Its lyrics seemed to mock the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, and Billy Corgan voiced displeasure. Pavement were due to tour on Lollapalooza in 1994 but were dropped when the Pumpkins threatened to cancel their dates if Pavement played. They did play Lollapalooza the next year. Kannberg recalled that the band almost lost their lunch from laughing when Malkmus first revealed the lyrics at the New York recording sessions.

Malkmus told SPIN in April 1994 that the song was meant to be a person from the 1980s country-rock era, like Lone Justice or the Dream Syndicate, unable to keep up with the present day. He said it was not really a diss and compared the mood to Brian Wilson's I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. The song was included on the best-of Quarantine the Past.