The Vapors

Magnets, the second album by the Vapors

Recently I posted that Blondie’s Parallel Lines album was the first one I ever bought, in around 1980.  I think the second album I ever bought was New Clear Days by the Vapors.  Most people recall their massive hit “Turning Japanese”, which was a huge worldwide smash in 1980.  I totally loved this song and that prompted me to buy the album.  The rest of the album was similarly up-tempo, catchy pop punk/new wave that bordered on mod revival; the Jam’s bassist Bruce Foxton was an early supporter and he asked the band to support their Setting Sons tour. 

New Clear Days has a number of outstanding songs that I still love to this day; several are up-tempo like “Japanese” but others are more introspective.  Two examples of the latter are “Waiting For the Weekend”, with its catchy chorus but low key verse structure, and “Bunkers”, with its almost somber music and even more bleak lyrics painting a picture of urban anomie straight out of a William Gibson novel.   “Sixty Second Interval” is more upbeat lyrically and has a surging, building structure.  Slightly more peppy too is “Letter From Hiro”, which continues the Asian theme of “Turning Japanese” but is instead a lush, mellow groove that almost sounds like Britpop as it builds to a more aggressive, bass-heavy middle.  This song also reminds me of some of the stuff Blondie was doing around the same time on their album Eat To The Beat, most notably the lush, anthemic rock of “Union City Blue”.  Another standout is “Trains”, with its chugging guitar and thrumming bass building to two excellent bridges.  This song more than any in their catalog has a heavy Jam influence.   “Somehow” is another fantastic song about miscommunication and ending relationships, and “Prisoners” is one of their fastest tempo numbers with its descending chords and big chorus.  And finally, my favorite song on this album is “News At Ten”, with its chugging guitar beginning punctuated by roaring riffs and lyrics about a son’s disenchantment with the safe, comfortable lifestyle of his parents.  To me this as good a song about youthful rebellion and alienation as any written during the punk era; I especially love the end where vocalist David Fenton almost shouts “But you don't wanna sit tight you don't wanna play it cool, you don't wanna whole life like the first day at school, and I wanna fight wars and I wanna die young, so don't keep saying like father like son, I can't hear you!”

One thing that characterizes their first album is a feeling of alienation.  Nearly every song is about soured romance or outsiders on the fringe of society.  These themes of disorientation and darkness are amplified in their follow-up, Magnets, released in 1981.  Unfortunately, the album did not fare well and the Vapors broke up soon after.  And while its more uneven than their first album and contains a few mis-steps, it also contains several outstanding and powerful songs.  The album’s single, “Jimmie Jones”,  has a catchy riff that echoes that of “Turning Japanese” and lyrically describes the Jonestown tragedy of the Jim Jones cult from the late 70’s.  Its upbeat music and catchy, repetitive refrain belies the dark subject matter.  This should have been a follow-up hit to “Turning Japanese but alas the record buying public had moved on by this time.  Another outstanding song is the title track, which has a wistful, almost mournful repeating acoustic guitar intro, and somber lyrics.  The song, which describes JFK’s assassination, builds to a crescendo then does a long, slow fade to the repeated lyrics “magnetized boys, boys, boys”.  This song showed how this group could mix both soft and hard sonic structures together around a thematically unified topic lyrically to make an excellent song; it is reminiscent of “Stairway to Heaven” in this regard.  “Isolated Case” has a haunting, shimmering sound that evokes “Ghost Town” by the Specials and has a similarly depressing lyrical focus on violence and crime and our helplessness in the face of it.  “Lenina” is a perky spy/love song that reminds me of “Contact in Red Square” by Blondie.  And finally, “Silver Machines” is a phenomenal track, starting with a pulsing bass and a somber intro but eventually bursting into a happy, optimistic sounding body that describes love and living life and other positive topics.  This is a very positive song with a soaring vibe that is really enjoyable.

Its always interesting to me to go back and re-discover the music of an obscure one-hit wonder.  We all know and remember these artists from their one (or maybe two) songs but probably never heard anything else by them.  It’s a shame, because a lot of times these artists released a whole host of other great singles and albums that demonstrated their depth beyond this simple single hit.  Nearly everyone remembers the Vapors as new wave novelty poster boys but if you like guitar-driven new wave/powerpop with a light mod influence you should definitely check out some of their other songs.  iTunes somewhat surprisingly doesn’t have either album but has an excellent anthology that collects nearly everything from their first album, some highlights from the second (the ones that aren’t on iTunes are posted on YouTube), and a few rarities and out-takes.  Its worth a listen for sure.

Detroit Rock City Part II

The Primer Movers in the mid-60's; Iggy Pop is second from left.

A while back I posted about some obscure 60’s Detroit bands that, in addition to the better known Stooges and MC5, created the hard, heavy Motor City sound of the late 60’s and early 70’s.  The Up, Frost, Death, and Frijid Pink among others developed an exciting, loud form of rock and roll that presaged most punk rock. 

I’m currently reading Paul Trynka’s dense, comprehensive biography of Iggy Pop from 2007 entitled “Iggy:  Open Up and Bleed”, and I was re-learning about the history of the Stooges in particular and of the Ann Arbor/Detroit music scenes in general in the mid-60’s.  Iggy himself played drums for a white boy blues band known as the Prime Movers.  None of their stuff is on iTunes but former Prime Movers lead singer Mike Erlewine has posted on YouTube  a number of old songs from a recently discovered tape, which offer an unbelievably valuable insight into the early history of Iggy Pop as a rock musician.  The songs are very authentic Chicago electric blues in the mold of Paul Butterfield, Junior Walker, BB King, etc.  “Walkin’, By Myself” is up-tempo blues and sounds like BB King and maybe a little Lightnin’ Hopkins; “Rock Me Baby” is slower and maintains the tight, Chicago blues focus of BB King and Buddy Guy as well. 

Similarly blues-y are the Rationals, who formed in 1964 with Scott Morgan on vocals, who would go on to sing in Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Fred “Sonic” Smith and other notable Detroit musicians after the MC5 split up in the mid-70’s.  His vocals on their cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning” are outstandingly soulful and raspy; the guitar quickly leaves the traditional blues and becomes wild and feedback laden, almost psychedelic.    “Leaving Here” is another wild blues and R&B rave-up that also touches on 60’s garage rock like the Troggs or the Electric Prunes.  “I Need You” really apes early Kinks, such as “All Day and All of the Night”.

Before he became legendary as the guitarist then bassist for the Stooges, Ron Asheton played bass for another Ann Arbor R&B/blues outfit, the Chosen Few.  Only one song is available on iTunes, “It Just Don’t Rhyme” is organ-heavy British Invasion-influenced electrified R&B, with twangy Duane Eddy/Mickey & Sylvia guitar solos.  It’s a little more stereotypically 60’s but is still fun stuff.

The Scot Richard Case or SRC are another Detroit/Ann Arbor electric blues outfit but one that became much more psychedelic in their later career.  Their first single, “I’m So Glad”, from 1967, is available on YouTube and is similar to the cut by the Chosen Few above, with twangy, almost rockabilly guitar solos and lots of organ.  But most of the cuts off 1968’s SRC album show a much more psychedelic direction.  “Interval” starts with a high pitched guitar solo, wending its way eventually into soft vocal harmonies that bring to mind early Pink Floyd or even a less countrified Byrds; “Daystar” from the same album has a mellower, even more Byrds-like feel.  “Up All Night” is similar but with even wilder tremolo guitar, veering almost toward a more harmonized Steppenwolf.  “Turn Into Love”, has almost a girl-group or Motown feel, with the guitar more buried in the mix and the vocals and especially the female backing vocals much higher in the mix. 

Another band that achieved renown when one of its members achieved more widespread fame are the Pleasure Seekers.  Formed in 1964 by sisters Patti and Susie (soon to be Suzi) Quatro (formerly Quatrocchi), the all-female Pleasure Seekers became a hugely popular local draw in Detroit, mostly for their wild R&B raveups.  “What a Way To Die” is a good example of their sound, with its driving garage rhythm and Suzi’s raspy, wild girl vocals punctuated by shrieks and screams by the backing singers.  You can really hear the germ of Suzi’s eventual 70’s style here.  “Never Thought You’d Leave Me” is more sedate and sounds more like the Shirelles or Shangri-Las, with a dominant, swirling organ sound.

Parallel Lines

The coolest woman who ever lived.

The first album I ever bought was Parallel Lines by Blondie, probably around 1979 or 1980.  I had been a big Blondie fan for a couple years before that, having gotten into them fairly early because my aunt, who is just two years older than me and more like a big sister, had gotten into them really early and was (and still is) a HUGE fan.  She may have actually been a fan before “Heart of Glass”, I can’t remember, but if that’s true I’m not sure how she’d have heard of them.  She lived in upstate New York (upstate meaning about 30 miles from the Canadian border, closer to Montreal than Manhattan) and I’m not sure if they were getting much airplay outside of the NY area before “Heart of Glass” hit.  Anyway, she had Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, and Eat to the Beat on 8-track (I know, how incredibly archaic) and I/we listened to them constantly.  (The other 8-tracks I remember her having were the Knack’s Get the Knack, Candy-O by the Cars, a compilation that had “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benetar and “Cars” by Gary Numan; this is right about the time new wave was really making inroads in America). 

I think I paid something like $7.50 for Parallel Lines on cassette, a HUGE cash outlay since I was only like 13 years old and didn’t have a job, so this was like two month’s worth of my one dollar weekly allowance.  But I thought it was a good “risk” of money since I literally loved every single song on that album, and still do.   As anyone who reads this blog knows by now, I’m much more of a “singles” person in terms of how I approach most music----my MP3 collection is “wide and shallow” rather than “narrow and deep”—I typically only have a couple of songs by any given band, and rarely collect ALBUMS; hell, I still haven’t even ripped most of my CDs because I don’t want to clutter up my MP3 collection with a lot of filler songs that I don’t want coming up on random play, I usually just want the “hits”.  Parallel Lines may be the exception to this rule in that I honestly like every single song on that album.  Ironically, I think the song I like least is their most popular and famous song, “Heart of Glass”.  It has less to do with it being an out-and-out disco song and more to do with it just being overplayed back then.  So many of the other songs on that album are outstanding too, including the ones that showcased their harder, more aggressive sound, such as “One Way Or Another”, “11:59”, “Hanging On the Telephone”, and my personal favorite, “Will Anything Happen?”, the latter two of which were written by Jack Lee, formerly of the seminal LA powerpop band the Nerves.   But the mellower songs are also outstanding, such as “Sunday Girl”, which is a sweet pop confection; “Pretty Baby” (supposedly written about Brooke Shields), and “Picture This”.  I also love the weird, new wave-y songs like “Just Go Away” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too”.   But one of my all-time favorite songs is “Fade Away and Radiate”, with its big, startling drumbeat and Robert Fripp’s screaming, acidulous guitar weaving around Harry’s dreamy vocals.  The song almost sounds like a deconstructed 60’s girl group song updated for the 70’s. 

I’m almost as big a fan of Blondie’s second album Plastic Letters and their follow-up to Parallel Lines, Eat to the Beat.   Plastic Letters is definitely not quite as good as Parallel Lines but it definitely has some standout moments.  I love the album opener, “Fan Mail”, it’s just a lush big, fun song and I love the chorus of “for the bells in my ears, keep ringing”.  Jimmy Destri’s keyboards take center stage here, not unexpected given he wrote this song.    Another favorite is “Youth Nabbed as Sniper”, with its fantastic chorus (“moving streets all make me lonely, come to me, and be mine only”).  “Contact in Red Square” is silly but fun, a Russian spy romp with swirling Cossack keyboard and guitar swirls.  “Detroit 442” is almost heavy metal like, Debbie Harry’s voice almost sounding like Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics.  “Denise” “I’m on E”, and “Love At the Pier” continue the 60’s girl group sound of their first album.  Probably the best song on this album is bassist Gary Valentine’s “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear”, which walks the line between a 60’s feel and a 70’s new wave feel. 

Eat to the Beat is an album that gets very little love from critics.  Most of the criticism of this album stems from the fact that it didn’t produce any standout hit singles like “Heart of Glass” from Parallel Lines, and it doesn’t have the same cohesion of that album.  Both are certainly true but this also greatly under-sells the quality of this album, which is truly phenomenal.  In fact, it contains, in my opinion, the best Blondie song ever:  “Dreaming”, which is such a pitch perfect powerpop song that it blows everything else in their catalog away.  The song is driven by Clem Burke’s  magnificently propulsive drumming; I actually consider Burke to be one of the greatest rock drummers ever and this song is exhibit A as to why I think this is true.  The other standout track here is “Accidents Never Happen”, another clairvoyance romp similar to “Presence Dear” off Plastic Letters.  “Atomic” is more lush disco, with an even more soaring vocal than “Heart of Glass”, though regrettably it never achieved anything near the same success.  I also love the big, lush, soaring sound of “Union City Blue”, which is slick and catchy, as well as “Shayla”, with its lush, swirling keyboard beginning and evanescent vocals by Harry—it almost seems to presage the whole indie shoegazer trend from more than a decade later.  “Die Young Stay Pretty” is another silly song, with its calypso beat (a precursor to their much more successful foray into Caribbean sounds, “The Tide Is High” off Autoamerican) and morbid lyrics.  Finally, “Slow Motion” is sweet, straightforward pop that’s also worth a listen.

Blondie’s fifth album, Autoamerican, yielded two more massive hits, “The Tide is High” and “Rapture” (which combined the disco feel of “Heart of Glass” with what may well be the first rapping most white people had ever heard), but was much more uneven.  But this is not to mean it wasn’t good either; “T-birds”, for example, is another piece of slick, catchy rock in the vein of “Union City Blue”.   Often I think Blondie get tarred with the brush of their own success; Parallel Lines was such a phenomenal, unified album, with every song sounding similarly excellent, that all other releases are thought to pale in significance.  But another thing to keep in mind is that Blondie were very much a band of their era, and back then it was not unusual at all for a band to put songs on an album that represented more than just other attempts at hit singles.  Not every song is intended to be a hit single, some songs are simply experiments, new ideas, fun concepts the band wanted to play with.  Perhaps more than any group in the 70’s, Blondie experimented with different styles and sounds—reggae/calypso, rap, bar band R&B, disco, powerpop, heavy metal, new wave, 60’s girl group, bubblegum, 60’s hippie folk, etc.  I think too often they get overly criticized for these experiments when in fact they were fun and adventurous, exactly what rock in general and new wave in particular was supposed to be about but was often lacking.  On some Blondie albums it was impossible to predict what the next song might sound like, and to me that’s a wonderful thing, not a deficit as most critics claim.

Blondie’s work is also united by the incredibly powerful sexuality of Debbie Harry, so that even the weakest song on any Blondie album still retains bits of her smoldering sensuality.  Its hard to emphasize what an icon she was in those pre-Madonna days.  Nowadays its almost expected that every chanteuse or other female pop star will parade around in a minimum of clothing, but back then Debbie Harry was a sexual icon even though she rarely was scantily clad.  Instead, Debbie exuded a mature, sophisticated sexuality; she was in her 30’s, definitely not some little girl but a mature, intelligent woman.  Plus she was COOL, I would actually say she’s the coolest woman who ever lived, and that was a huge part of her appeal too.  To compare her to Britney Spears or even Madonna is impossible—they were sexy little girls and Debbie Harry was a cool, hip, attractive WOMAN.  She was absolutely iconic in terms of her attractiveness and beauty--there have been a lot of successful female rock and pop singers since her but nobody has ever even approached her combination of icy beauty and downtown hipness.  Even still I’d probably rather hear Debbie Harry recite the phone book than listen to anything by any contemporary female artist.  I actually pity kids these days—what’s so exciting about some overly made-up young slattern parading around in next to nothing?  Well, okay, I DO get what’s exciting about that, but, at the risk of sounding old, to me what’s REALLY arousing are MYSTERY and ALLURE, and nobody has had that like Debbie Harry. 

Running On The Spot

Purple Hearts

As punk started to implode in England in the late 70’s, many musicians started to apply the energy of punk to other genres.  At the same time, many artists were starting to look back at the past in an attempt to rediscover prior genres of music.  One musical sub-culture that emerged and became immensely popular was the mod/ska revival of the late 70’s.  Mod, originally short for modernist, was originally a movement in England centered on dandy dressing, motor scooters, and dancing; musically mod was heavily influenced by American R&B and soul as well as Jamaican ska.  Groups like the Who, the Kinks, and the Small Faces.  In the late 70’s there was a growing movement to fuse the energy and excitement of punk with the sound and look of 60’s mod.

Foremost among the bands pursuing this approach was the Jam.  Originally formed as a sort of pub rock band in the early 70’s by singer/guitarist Paul Weller, the Jam eventually evolved toward a more straightforward mod sound by ’76.  Their first single, “In the City”, has the high energy of the punk of the Pistols and Clash (and even has the same descending chord structure of “Holidays In the Sun” by the Pistols, which it preceded by several months) and a heavily Who and Small Faces influenced sound.  “The Modern World” off their second album, This Is the Modern World, is another killer track with a great opening and more of a buzzsaw guitar than their earlier work and a wild, feedback-laden solo.  “To Be Someone”,  “A Bomb on Wardour Street”, and the title track off their third album All Mod Cons, continues to pursue this high energy punk-infused mod sound, with lots of big pulsing bass from Bruce Foxton.  “The Eton Rifles” off their fourth album Setting Sons is a little slicker in sound but has a big bold chorus.

But to me the Jam’s finest hour remains their final album, the Gift.  From the bombastic, echoed beginning of “Happy Together”, which may come the closest of all their many songs to the feel of classic Who, this is a terrific album.   “Ghosts”, the next song on the album, is arguably their finest effort; a slow, quiet, introspective song with a very subdued guitar line and Bruce Foxton’s big bass throbs and little horn accents toward the end, this is one of the best songs to come out of England in the 80’s.  “Carnation” is another slow, bass-heavy song, while “Town Called Malice” is much more uptempo, with blasts of Hammond organ and a snappy beat—it was the big hit from this album.  Finally, “Running On the Spot”, like “Happy Together”, is a peppy, catchy song with a singalong chorus.  These five songs are easily some of the best songs to come out of the mod revival.

In the wake of the Jam’s immense popularity, many other bands surged forth to produce more mod revival music in the late 70’s.  Arguably the two next best bands to the Jam were the Purple Hearts and the Chords.  The Purple Hearts released just two albums in their heyday (though like most bands they have reformed and released some newer work in the 21^st century); their magnum opus was 1980’s Beat That! (which is available on iTunes).  The songs here are less political, less overtly Who influenced, but often were catchier and more soul-influenced.  “Jimmy” has a staccato guitar riff and a big, soaring chorus and is a major standout, as is “Frustration”, which has a slightly rawer guitar sound and a driving bass line.  “Millions Like Us” became a mod anthem, and the title track is perhaps the best tune on this excellent album, a heartfelt ode to avoiding early fatherhood that echoes “News At Ten” by the Vapors in its rejection of settled normalcy.  If you only download two songs by the Purple Hearts, these are the two to take.

The Chords, also from London, were another standout mod revival band.  The Chords sound very very similar to the Jam but their lyrics were often more pointedly political.  Their outstanding song is “Maybe Tomorrow”, a fantastic high energy mod rave-up with a wonderfully big bold chorus.    Other standout songs from their 1980 album So Far Away are “British Way Of Life”, “Now It’s Gone”, “The Way It’s Got To Be” (my next favorite song after “Maybe Tomorrow”), and “What Are We Gonna Do Now”.  Anyone who likes the Jam will love this band.

Originally from Lewes, Sussex, the Lambrettas (named after the scooter of choice for most mods) released several outstanding singles, including their outstanding song “Dance”, with its sweet guitar and driving backbeat; “Poison Ivy”, which is really more ska than mod; and “Another Day (Another Girl)”, which is very influenced by the Small Faces.

The Merton Parkas had two excellent singles, “Face In the Crowd” (the title of their sole album), which had a twitchy guitar and a very propulsive rhythm section, and “You Need Wheels”, which has a excellent R&B rhythm and an almost ska chorus.

Secret Affair’s sound was much bigger and brassier, with heavy horn flourishes on songs like “Time For Action”, but could also be more guitar-driven as on “Soho Strut” and “Glory Boys”.

At the same time the mod revival was occurring, England was undergoing a similar revival, this time of ska.  Ska was Jamaican music that predated reggae that had elements of calypso and American R&B.  The majority of English ska bands were on the label Two Tone, and often music of this period is called Two Tone or Two Tone ska to differentiate it from first-run 60’s Jamaican ska.  These bands went on to even bigger success in England and America than the mod revival bands, which aside from the Jam and a only in few markets never made much of a splash in the U.S.  But the English Beat, the Specials, and Madness all had top 40 hits in England and America both.    The English Beat were hugely popular in Southern California where I grew up in the early 80’s, and their cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown” as well as their originals “I Confess”,  “Mirror In the Bathroom”, “Ranking Full Stop”, “Best Friend”, and especially “Save It For Later” were all big hits at my high school. 

“Pressure Drop” by the Specials is a fantastically catchy and danceable song that was featured on the soundtrack to the late 90’s John Cusack movie “Grosse Pointe Blank”.   Their early singles “Nite Klub”, “Concrete Jungle”, and “Gangsters” are all wonderful, memorable horn-driven ska.  But their greatest song, and one of the greatest songs to emerge from England in the last 60 years, is “Ghost Town”.  Essentially a protest song about the effects of Thatcherism as well as increasing racism on the economy of their city of Coventry, this song represents both a lyrical and musical high point to the ska revival and is as powerful as anything the Pistols released. 

The Specials broke up in 1981 shortly after the release of “Ghost Town”, and vocalists Terry Hall, Lynval Golding, and Neville Staple formed Fun Boy Three, who achieved some fame for co-writing “Our Lips Our Sealed”, which was first recorded by the Go-Go’s but later re-recorded by FB3 and became a hit in England for them as well.  Jane Wiedlin had dated Terry Hall and the song was written about the intrusive presence the English tabloids were on their relationship.  Two other standout tracks by Fun Boy Three are “The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum”, with its stilted, syncopated beat, and the jaunty “The Telephone Always Rings”, which almost sounds like the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry”.

Its hard to overstate how popular the mod and ska revivals were in Southern California where I grew up.  Many of my friends were hardcore mods who rode scooters and wore parkas and black suits and bands like the English Beat and the Jam were hugely popular even though to my knowledge they never toured there.  But mostly through the radio station KROQ and through the nascent field of music videos these bands developed quite a massive following then.  I can still remember seeing the video for the English Beat’s “Save It For Later” and just being blown away at how cool they seemed.  In the 80’s and 90’s many bands infused their sound with mod and particularly ska influences, and several achieved lasting fame, including the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (their song “Where Did You Go?” was featured in the Alicia Silverstone movie Clueless and they also performed “Someday I Suppose” in the movie as well), Goldfinger, Operation Ivy, Sublime (from my home town of Long Beach, CA), and the biggest of all, No Doubt. 

We Are The One

SF's Crime.

It has taken me a long time to get into the San Francisco punk scene, which in some ways is surprising given that I’m from California (Southern California however, and as anyone knows, NoCal and SoCal are basically like different countries, let alone states) and given that I’ve read about it for so long.  But recently I’ve rectified a giant hole in my music collection by obtaining some classic SF punk songs by some of the legendary early groups.

One of the very first punk bands (although they never described themselves as such) were Crime.  Originally formed in 1975 intending to become a glam rock group, they eventually settled on becoming a heavy, intense garage rock band.  Sadly, none of their work appears to be available on iTunes but there are many of their out-of-print singles on YouTube.  I particularly like “Hot Wire My Heart”, which is slow and sludgy and sloppy but very catchy, and “San Francisco’s Doomed”, which is faster but still very sloppy and intense—on these tunes they sound like a Frisco version of the Germs, very shambolic and glitter-influenced.  “Crime Wave” is loud and brash and punchy, sounding kind of like a less polished Dictators or Weirdos.  “Dillinger’s Brain” is more garage-y sounding, with lots of reverb on the vocals and heavy bass. 

The Nuns are another early SF punk band, fronted by the legendarily beautiful Jennifer Miro.  Again, their work is not available on iTunes but several of their early singles are on YouTube, including “Decadent Jew”, with its tinkling piano and repetitive, catchy riff and vocal structure.  This sounds a lot like the stuff the Stooges were doing post-Raw Power.  “Suicide Child” begins with an eerie keyboard and spoken word intro but then erupts into a strutting, sleazy riff and almost sounds like something off 45 Grave’s Sleep in Safety.  “Do You Want Me On My Knees” starts with a heavy, almost heavy metal, hardcore riff and emphasizes Jennifer Miro’s oozing sexuality for the refrain. 

Another female-fronted SF punk band were the Avengers, who many consider to be one of the best, if not THE best, punk band on the West Coast in the 70’s.  Their best known song, the anthemic “We Are the One”, starts with a speedy riff and heavy high hat while singer Penelope Houston belts out the optimistic lyrics.  “The American In Me” is another great song, that edges toward X Ray Spex and Penetration territory.  But my favorite song by them is “Thin White Line”, which is similarly anthemic but even catchier; this song more than any other really reinforces the incredible strength and power of this band, who must have been incredible live.  iTunes has a couple of compilation albums with singles and live cuts that gives some indication of how terrific this band was, and several other singles are available on YouTube. 

Negative Trend explored a heavier, Stooges-influenced sound.  I recently downloaded “Meat House” from an EP available on iTunes, which is heavy and intense, with a descending riff that reminds me of something I’ve heard, I just can’t remember what, but this is big, bludgeoning guitar rock.  “Mercenaries” is another great Negative Trend song, although I actually prefer former frontman Rik L. Rik’s solo version better.  I also like “I Can Laugh About It Now” and “Dead Wrong”.

Two bands I know little about are U.X.A. and the Lewd.  Again nothing on iTunes but a few songs are on YouTube, including “Social Circle” by U.X.A., which is fast, almost proto-hardcore, with excellent female vocals.  The Lewd alternate male and female lead vocals; on “Suburban Prodigy” and “I’m Not Pretty” (the guitar of which is reminiscent of “Lexicon Devil” and “Circle One” by the Germs) the male vocals are interspersed with female backing and the song is fast and fun.  “Magnetic Heart” features Olga deVolga on lead vocals and an ominous bass line. 

The Sleepers features Ricky Williams on vocals; Ricky played in several SF bands, including Crime and Flipper (legend has it he was kicked out for being “too weird”, which is saying something).  “Seventh World” starts slowly and ominously but picks up midway through, though this is still less hard punk and leans more toward post-punk.    This is even more true on “Los Gatos”, which sounds like some of the eerie, off-kilter music Bauhaus was making at about the same time; Williams sounds a lot like Peter Murphy here too, which makes this resemblance even more obvious.

One of the strangest and most abrasive bands of all time was Flipper.  Formed by vocalist Will Shatter and guitarist Ted Falconi, Flipper made music that was intended to annoy.  At a time when most bands played songs that were short and fast, Flipper played songs that were long and/or slow.  Their three classic songs, “Sex Bomb”, “Love Canal”, and “Ha Ha Ha” are abrasive, sludgy, bordering on unlistenable.    These are all included on the Sex Bomb Baby compilation available on iTunes, as are several other releases from this notable band.  Shatter died of an overdose in 1987 but Flipper reformed in 1991 to make a Rick Rubin-produced album that showed that they still had the ability to make harrowing, intense songs (like “Flipper Twist”).  Their music would end up being immensely influential on both the avante-noise scene exemplified by bands like Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore as well as on the entire Seattle grunge scene.

On the less strident end of the SF scene were Tuxedomoon, who created atmospheric but poppy synth-driven songs.  “No Tears” reminds me of a cross between the Screamers and the Normal, at times almost abrasive but with a cheesy sounding synth line running through it as well.  Its B-side, “New Machines”, sounds like a cross between the Screamers and Gary Numan.  Both are excellent documents of the emerging post-punk synth sound in SF.

Factrix was a pioneer in the emerging industrial sound.  Heavily reminiscent of European industrial bands like Einstuzende Neubauten, early Cabaret Voltaire, and most of all Throbbing Gristle, their music contained throbbing, machine-like rhythms, feedback drones, samples, and other bizarre effects.  Their music is ominous and strange, reminding me of the movie Eraserhead.  “Theme From Now” has a thrumming, chunky bass line and screaming feedback; “Splice of Life” has a strange, throbbing, buzzing beginning and a rhythm backing that sounds like an industrial piledriver or other factory machine.  “Center of the Doll” starts with a more traditional drum line and slowly builds in intensity and sound, again sounding like something from the soundtrack of a very scary and awful movie like The Ring or Saw.  This is music for people who like their industrial music to sound truly industrial and not just bludgeoning.  None of their stuff is in iTunes as of yet but some brilliant and deranged person has put these and several other songs on YouTube accompanying snippets from old pre-talkie movies.  The overall effect is truly bizarre and disorienting.  Love it.

Post Punk Redux

Y by the Pop Group

While recovering from strep throat this week, I re-read “Rip It Up And Start Again”, the history of (mostly English) post-punk from 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds.  Reynolds, an Englishman who grew up in that era and who was clearly a fan of the music, is a former senior editor at Spin.  This book, though not without some faults, is an excellent documentation of some of the many bands that sprouted up in the wake of the initial punk explosion of ‘76/’77.  Reynolds successfully walks a fine line between didactic (the book is extremely comprehensive and well researched) and entertaining and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this captivating period of music.  As mentioned in a previous post, much contemporary music is influenced by work of bands from this era, so its interesting to learn more about these bands.

One of the interesting things that Reynolds points out in this book is that punk rock music represented a musical dead—once you’ve stripped things down to 2-3 chords and 2 minute songs, there’s really nowhere else to go.  Also, lyrically punk’s most famous cry was that there was “no future”, but in many ways this was empty nihilism—clearly there WAS a future, and it became the goal of post-punk to discover and create that future musically speaking. 

One of the major ways in which postpunk moved forward with this goal was by merging the energy and emotion of punk with other genres of music.  Reggae was an early such influence on punk; John Lydon of the Pistols was a huge dub reggae fan, while the Clash covered Junior Murvin’s “Police & Thieves” on their first album.  The Slits were one of the first white punk bands to record in an almost exclusively dub/reggae style; “So Tough” and “Typical Girls” off their first album Cut has the syncopated rhythms, echo-y dub feel and sing-song vocals of classic reggae.    Meanwhile, other postpunk groups sought to add elements of funk, American R&B, Northern soul, Krautrock, and even prog rock and disco to the mix.  The latter two might seem like blasphemy to hardline punks, since these were musical genres often thought to represent an opposition to punk’s energy and simplicity and authenticity, but if punk is REALLY an attitude of rebellion and contrariness, then what could be more rebellious and contrary than trying to make a disco punk song?

The Pop Group, hailing from Bristol, were among the first groups mixing a heavy funk element into the punk mix.  Their music is not easy listening—it mixes funk, prog, and punk in a mish mash that’s often atonal and strident.  “She is Beyond Good and Evil” and “Thief of Fire”, off their debut album Y, are characterized by singer Mark Stewart’s yowling vocals (which fall somewhere midway between Tom Verlaine’s in Television and Sting’s in the Police) backed by staccato clips of funky guitar and bass.  After the breakup of the Pop Group, bass player Simon Underwood would join Pigbag, who’s one hit, the immensely James Brown-influenced “Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag” was a top 10 hit in England in 1981.

Swell Maps made equally difficult music, in this case combining the intensity of punk with the more strident aspects of Krautrock.  “Read About Seymour”, their first single, is available on YouTube and starts simply but ends in squalls of noise.  “Vertical Slum”, off their debut album A Trip to Marinesville, has a simple punky under-structure to which electronic noise and chanted backing vocals add a sense of chaos.

The use of electronics was another hallmark of postpunk, and the seeds of such future genres as industrial and electronica can be traced to this period.  An early pioneer was Thomas Leer, whose single “Private Plane” is one of the first postpunk songs to be created almost entirely from synthesized sounds; its influence on Gary Numan and his band Tubeway Army can’t be over-emphasized.  London’s 23 Skidoo created ominous soundscapes of tense, throbbing bass and samples vocals; “Porno Base” off their 1982 album Seven Songs is particularly scary sounding.  This is clearly the missing link between “We Hate You Little Girls” by Throbbing Gristle and “22 going on 23” by the Butthole Surfers.  Sheffield’s Clock DVA created proto-techno that owes more to Cabaret Voltaire; “Smokescreen”, which is on the Industrial Revolution Third Edition compilation on iTunes, reminds me of “Sensoria” by Cab Volt.  A Certain Ratio occupies an uneasy middle ground between the industrial noise of Throbbing Gristle and the dance techno of Cabaret Voltaire; “Forced Laugh” from their 1981 album “To Each . . .” has an ominous bass line that sounds a little like that of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” combined with swirling, ominous electronic noise and occasional horn-like bursts of electronic honking.  The Normal was the name taken by Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records; his 1978 single “Warm Leatherette” was a tribute to the car crash erotica of JG Ballard and features a repeating electronic skirl married to Miller’s emotionless, robotic voice.  The Passage sounds like a cross between the Normal and Joy Division, with Dick Witt’s vocals veering toward the stentorian baritone of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis at times, particularly on “Dark Times” from their second album For All and None (it and their first album Pindrop are both available on iTunes).  This music has a dark, foreboding timbre to it.

Speaking of Joy Division, Edinburgh’s Josef K made music that also captures the angular, anxiety-ridden feel of this legendary band.  A compilation album of singles, a Peel session, and some other unreleased material, Entomology, is available on iTunes.  I particularly like “Radio Drill Time”, which has a strident, repetitive guitar riff married to drab vocals and calls to mind “No Love Lost” by Joy Division.  “Sorry For Laughing” is more up-tempo and sounds more like their colleagues Orange Juice.

Another Scottish postpunk band that explored a sound that was more soulful and pop-oriented like that of Orange Juice was the Fire Engines.  iTunes has the compilation Hungry Beat, which contains several excellent offerings, most notably “Candyskin”, which has a plucky simplicity that makes it almost sound like one of the Velvet Underground’s more introspective pop-oriented efforts.  “Get Up and Use Me” sounds like a cross between the twitchy No Wave funk of James Chance and the Contortions and the guitar meanderings of Television.

Young Marble Giants, from Cardiff, Wales, was yet another band making quirky, edgy postpunk pop in the early 80’s.  They made simple, elegant songs structured around the sweet voice of female vocalist Alison Statton.  Their sole album, 1981’s Colossal Youth, is on iTunes as an extended compilation of their other singles.  “Searching for Mr. Right” has a very stripped down and spare sound, with a simple, repeating rhythmic electronic twitch, dabs of bass, and Statton’s calm vocals; it and a Peel session outtake, “Final Day”, remind me of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” in their simplicity and sparseness.  Similarly, the Durutti Column make repetitive but sweet piano-centered music that seems like it might be a precursor to the stuff the Jesus and Mary Chain made later in the 80’s.  I haven’t explored DC as much as I want to, but I did find “The Missing Boy” off their second album LC on YouTube (several of their later albums are also available on iTunes) and I like what I hear so far.  “Response”, of 1983’s Another Setting, has the interlocking, repetitive cadences of Terry Riley or Steve Reich’s avante-garde minimalism.