Archive for the ‘Alternative’ Category

Remembering Michael Been

Posted: March 17, 2015 in Alternative, Rock
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Who’s Michael Been, you might ask? Michael Been was the singer of the rock band The Call. In my opinion, one of the most underrated bands of the ’80s. Today would have been his 65th birthday so I thought I’d take the opportunity to repost a blog entry from last September.

Taking Another Look at The Call

The Call was an American band that had mediocre chart success in the eighties. Their lyrics were politically charged and there was a passionate, anthem-like quality to their music. They were considered rock but there was definite new wave influences. The Call were critically acclaimed and admired by some of the biggest acts of the time but for whatever reason they were never able to achieve commercial success. Maybe it was because lead singer Michael Been just didn’t have the look that the MTV generation wanted. He was stout and scruffy and wasn’t the flashiest of front men, but he could sure belt out a song with as much emotional sincerity as the best of them.

They also had quite a long run, having been active from 1980 to 2000. Their biggest chart success was with the single “Let the Day Begin,” which reached No. 51 on the Billboard Charts in 1989. (Side note, this was Al Gore’s campaign song for his run in 2000). But it was their earlier material that made me a fan. Sadly, Michael Been died in 2010 at the age of 60. He was on tour as a soundman for his son’s band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club when he had a heart attack at a show in Hasselt, Belgium. I’ve always regretted not seeing them in concert, as I hear they were a pretty great live band.

One of my favorites from the group is “The Walls Came Down.” A song that combines biblical references with an anti-war message. The year was 1984, after all. It’s a pulsating, urgent song with plenty of Michael Been howls.

 

“Everywhere I Go” is a single off of the 1986 album Reconciled. It was no secret that Michael Been was deeply religious, and it’s on full display on this track. Another guitar and drum-driven tune with Been at his growling best. Listen closely and you can hear Jim Kerr of Simple Minds and Peter Gabriel on background vocals.

 

Classic Video: The Smiths

Posted: February 11, 2015 in Alternative, Classic Videos, Post-Punk
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When it comes to classic songs of the eighties, you can’t get more classic than The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” Some have called it the “Stairway to Heaven” of the eighties. I remember hearing the song on college radio in the mid-eighties but didn’t see the video until years later. Included on the album Meat is Murder, which was released 30 years ago today, the song was originally intended as a B-side. But with the perfect combination of Johnny Marr’s haunting guitar and Morrissey’s somber lyrics, it was destined to be the group’s biggest and most enduring song.

Known for its swirling, dreamy guitar work, the song was the result of much experimentation with reverb, rhythm tracks, and harmonization. Marr told Guitar Magazine that achieving the changing pitch of the guitar (vibrato) took some time and he has since forgotten how to recreate the slide guitar sound. He also lamented that not writing down the process on the slide part has been “one of the banes of my life.”

Upon hearing the single, the record company, Rough Trade, didn’t think much of it and felt it didn’t represent The Smiths’ sound. Plans for the song as an A-side were thrown out and it became a B-side to the 1984 single “William, It Was Really Nothing.” Despite this, the song was picked up by British DJs and later that year was the most requested song on many prominent shows. Although it failed to chart upon its initial release, it wasn’t until its re-release as a single in 1985 that it made the UK charts (reaching #24).

The US release of the song, by Sire Records, was accompanied by an unauthorized video. The band was not a fan of the video and thought it was degrading. Regardless, it gave the band great exposure in the US and helped make it their most famous song. The track has gone on to make numerous lists of best songs of the eighties, topping some lists as the greatest song. Although it might not be the greatest representation of The Smiths’ “sound,” it definitely earned all the accolades and its place in the annals of best and most influential songs of the decade.

 

Movie Soundtracks: Smithereens

Posted: January 16, 2015 in Alternative, New Wave, Post-Punk, Soundtracks
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Back in the early ‘80s, the USA network featured a show called Night Flight on Friday and Saturday nights. The show focused on alternative music (showing videos that were censored on MTV or banned on other programs), cult movies, and documentaries, among other topics. This was in the relatively early days of cable and networks were on the lookout for original and unique material to lure the younger demographic. This is where I saw many music documentaries and cult and B movies, and where I came across a movie called Smithereens (directed by Susan Seidelman years before Desperately Seeking Susan). Released in 1982, it’s a gritty movie about the dwindling New York City punk scene and doing whatever it takes for that “15 minutes of fame.”

The film follows a narcissistic young girl named Wren (played by Susan Berman) on her quest to find celebrity in the NYC punk music scene (only to find the scene has moved to L.A.), and all the toxic relationships and misadventures that go with it. Wren doesn’t necessarily have any talent but doesn’t let that get in the way of ruthless ambition. The film also stars punk legend Richard Hell as a musician in a one hit wonder band (Smithereens) that she desperately wants to hook up with in order to get her ticket to L.A. The film, which had an original $20,000 budget, didn’t fare well with critics upon its release. Despite this, it was the first American independent movie invited to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. It has also gone on to be praised for its realistic look at the slums of the Lower East Village, its portrayal of the early ‘80s music scene, and its great soundtrack.

The soundtrack is a mix of new wave, pop, and post-punk and features several songs from the New Jersey group The Feelies. Other artists who contributed to the soundtrack include Richard Hell & The Voidoids (“Another World,” “The Kid with the Replaceable Head”), The Raybeats, Dave Weckerman, and a gem by ESG called “Moody.” Although the movie doesn’t quite live up to its soundtrack, it’s worth checking out as a great time capsule of the period and, of course, the music.

The opening scene of the movie features The Feelies’ “The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness.” It also shows how Wren illegally supplements her accessories.

 

Wren dancing in slow motion to The Feelies’ “Original Love.”

 

The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Darklands

Posted: January 6, 2015 in Albums, Alternative, Shoegazing
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I’ve recently succumbed to the vinyl trend, which means I’ll be spending way too much money on music I already own. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a stash of albums from my teen years that my mother had the good judgment to not throw away. Unfortunately, I soon realized I’d need to start expanding my collection. After purchasing a new turntable, the first “new” albums I bought were Echo & the Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain and The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Darklands. Bypassing the temptation to purchase JaMC’s Psychocandy, I opted for their sophomore effort. After playing the album from front to back, the decision was a good one. From the opening guitar strums of “Darklands” to the haunting “About You,” the album still holds up.

The first song I heard from Darklands was “Happy When it Rains.” It was featured on MTV’s 120 minutes and was soon captured on video tape, and found lots of play on my cassette player. Tired of the electronic synth music of the mid-eighties, the Reid brothers decided to bring back guitar-based music. Moving away from the feedback and noise pop of their debut effort, Darklands was more melodic and was oddly simultaneously dark and optimistic. The album, recorded by the brothers with the aid of a drum machine, was a critical success. I’m sure it’s the first of many JaMC albums I’ll be purchasing in the near future.

One of my favorite songs from the album, “Happy When it Rains.” The video features the Reids at their moping best.

 

“April Skies” was the first single released from the album and reached #8 on the UK charts. The only single by the group to break the top ten.

 

Band Profile: Kitchens of Distinction

Posted: January 4, 2015 in Alternative, Band Profiles, Shoegazing
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The English trio Kitchens of Distinction were considered a precursor to the shoegaze movement of the late ‘80s. Formed in London in 1986, they were often compared to The Chameleons and Cocteau Twins, due to their swirling, psychedelic sound. The group was also known for their blunt lyrics and outspoken views, which most likely contributed to their lack of mainstream success. Taking their name from a home décor company that specialized in kitchens and plumbing fixtures (guitar player Julian Swales saw the ad on the side of a bus), the group was active for ten years before disbanding in 1996. During that time, they released four albums and several EPs and singles.

The group’s first single, 1987’s “The Last Gasp Death Shuffle” was named single of the week by NME and got the band signed to One Little Indian Records. This led singer Patrick Fitzgerald to put his career as a medical doctor on hold and devote his full attention to the band. Their first two singles for the label, “Prize” and “The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule,” made it on “NME Writers’ 100 Best Indie Singles Ever” list. Although the future looked promising, the mainstream music industry didn’t embrace the band, largely due to lyrical content. (The song “Margaret’s Injection” was a fantasy about killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.) Also complicating matters was that Fitzgerald was openly gay and the lyrics often reflected this, which didn’t sit too well with the general public. Although finding moderate success on US college radio in the early ‘90s, the group faltered in the mid ‘90s. They were dropped by their record label during that time and decided to disband. They reformed in 2012 and released an album, Folly, in 2013.

“The Last Gasp Death Shuffle” was the band’s first single and sounds like a combination of early Echo & the Bunnymen and Talking Heads.

 

The group’s debut album, 1989’s Love is Hell, produced the single “”The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule.” It found the group moving towards a more psychedelic sound and is considered “a perfect Kitchens moment.”

 

More Cold War Videos

Posted: December 14, 2014 in Alternative, Cold War Videos, New Wave, Synthpop
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It’s time to post more cold war videos. As I had mentioned in a previous post on the subject, the ‘80s were filled with videos of nuclear war, nuclear bombs, and world annihilation. During the early ‘80s, the threat of war was an integral part of our lives. We saw it on TV, read about it in the papers, heard about it in songs – and there was no shortage of songs on the topic. So here are a few more videos about the dreaded destruction of the planet that poured out of our television sets at the time.

“Stand or Fall” is the first single off the The Fixx’s 1982 debut album Shuttered Room. Singer Cy Cumin wrote the song out of frustration over decisions being made by Ronnie and Margaret. The video, directed by Rupert Hine, was banned by some UK shows due to what some considered a violent depiction of a horse falling to the ground. The horse in question had been in several movies and was trained to fall on command. As luck would have it, on the day the video was shot the horse would not comply with the command to fall and was brought down by a rope. In the early days of pre-MTV Europe, most videos were shown on kids’ TV shows and this was deemed too graphic, as they felt the horse looked as if it was dying. The song charted both in the US and the UK but was particularly successful in Canada, reaching the top 40.

 

The video for the 1983 Men at Work song “It’s a Mistake” doesn’t ponder the question of whether or not war will take place but a matter of when and how. Meant as a parody of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, the video takes place in an underground bunker as the future of the world is considered. The song was the third single from the album Cargo and reached #6 in the US but only reached #34 in their native Australia. In the video, Colin Hay portrays an officer wondering whether or not his men will be called to go to war. The video ends with Hay accidentally pushing the “button” by stubbing out a cigarette in an ashtray unfortunately placed next to the button.

 

Although the OMD song “Enola Gay” references the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, it was meant to bring attention to the cold war of the ‘80s. The song was the only single released from the 1980 album Organisation, the group’s second album. Upon its release, “Enola Gay” received critical praise. Critic Dave Thompson called the track a “perfect synth-dance-pop extravaganza” and NME listed it as one of the best 100 songs of the ‘80s. The song also caused controversy as some who were unfamiliar with the bombing of Hiroshima thought it had a pro-homosexual meaning. As a result, the song was banned on some radio stations in the UK. Regardless, the song was a huge international success and became the group’s first top 10 UK hit.

 

In Praise of Early Pretenders

Posted: November 3, 2014 in Albums, Alternative, New Wave, Post-Punk, Rock
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I’ve been a fan of the Pretenders since I saw the video for the song “Message of Love” back in the very early days of MTV (it was the 19th song played on the channel’s debut). Their videos were in heavy rotation back then, and I looked forward to seeing every one of them. Though they would go on to greater fame later in the decade, my favorite period from the band is the early eighties (before the drug-related deaths of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon). There was something quite magical about the original line-up of Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers, Honeyman-Scott, and Farndon that the mid-eighties lineup lacked.

My favorite album from the group is their self-titled debut, released in 1980. The album is a mix of hard rock, punk, and pop, and the songs move seamlessly from raw rock to lyrical beauty. Although “Brass in Pocket” was the most successful single, I preferred other songs such as “Kid,” “Stop Your Sobbing,”and “Tattooed Love Boys.” The album debuted at #1 on UK album charts and made the top 10 on the US charts. Rolling Stone ranked the album as the 155th best album of all time, and 20th best album of the ‘80s (Slate Magazine has it at #64 of the ‘80s).

One of the best songs off the album is “Tattooed Love Boys.” It’s three minutes of pure energetic rock, and has a great guitar riff by Honeyman-Scott. The video is smoky and sweaty and fits perfectly with the song.

 

“Kid,” the second single from the album, shows Hynde’s emotional range as a singer. It reached #33 on the UK charts and music critic Stewart Mason stated that it was “probably the Pretenders’ masterpiece.”

 

Band Profile: Translator

Posted: October 7, 2014 in Alternative, Band Profiles, New Wave, Post-Punk
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Translator is another band that slipped under my radar back in the ‘80s. I was familiar with the song “Everywhere That I’m Not” but other than that, I knew very little about the group. After checking out more of their music, I was surprised to learn that they are American. With their updated Merseybeat sound, I thought for sure they were British. Not surprisingly, one of the band’s biggest influences is the Beatles. They had little commercial success, but their stripped down psychedelic, guitar-based sound appealed to college radio audiences.

Translator formed in L.A. in the late ‘70s and their first album, Heartbeats and Triggers, was released in 1982. It contains the single “Everywhere That I’m Not,” which remains the group’s most identifiable song. They recorded four albums throughout the ‘80s, and maintained underground popularity during that time period. In 1986 they recorded their last album, Evening of the Harvest, which saw the band move to a more mature, nuanced sound. The group broke up shortly after that release and pursued solo careers. They continued to reunite over the years, and released an album in 2012, Big Green Lawn.

“Everywhere That I’m Not” is the band’s first single and put them on the college radio map.

 

The single “Un-Alone” is off of their second album, No Time Like Now, released in 1983. It received some radio airplay but the group was never able to match the success of their first single.

 

R.E.M. on Letterman

Posted: October 4, 2014 in Alternative, Live Performances
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In looking up early live performances from R.E.M., I came across their appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in 1983. It was their first national TV appearance, and the performance was quite raw and contained no shortage of enthusiasm. Besides performing two songs, they also gave a mini-interview. Michael Stipe, known for his shyness, sat quietly in the background while Mike Mills and Peter Buck handled Letterman. They started with “Radio Free Europe” and finished with a song that was so new it did not yet have a name. It would later evolve into “So. Central Rain,” which would later show up on their second album, Reckoning.

Here’s the band performing “Radio Free Europe,” with Michael Stipe hiding behind his hair and Peter Buck doing his signature shuffle.

 

The yet untitled “So. Central Rain.”

 

Side note: This November, R.E.M. will release a 6-DVD box set (REMTV) that spans 30 years of live TV and concert performances.

U2’s The Unforgettable Fire

Posted: October 1, 2014 in Albums, Alternative, Rock
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U2’s The Unforgettable Fire was released 30 years ago today. The album was very important to me growing up, and still continues to resonate with me. Although Boy might be my favorite album from the group, The Unforgettable Fire is a close second. I have to admit, I don’t listen to much of U2’s post ‘80s music. When I do add them to playlists, it’s mostly material from their first four albums (“Gloria” currently being the song of choice). To some degree, they were my favorite band during this time. In retrospect, my appreciation of their earlier work has waned but at one time they were my rock & roll heroes.

Partially recorded in Slane Castle in Ireland, The Unforgettable Fire is U2’s fourth album. It was a big change from the previous War, with its militaristic sound and pulsating guitar. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were brought in to produce the album (after the mutual parting with Steve Lillywhite), ushering in a more atmospheric and experimental sound. The whole second side of the album has a dreamlike quality that flowed like no other previous recording. The biggest hit off the album, “Pride (In the Name of Love),” is the only song that sounds like a traditional U2 song. It peaked at #3 in the UK, and reached #33 on the US charts.

The lead song off the album, “A Sort of Homecoming,” shows how much their sound had changed. Instead of the hard drumming sound of War, it has a soaring, rhythmic quality with a toned down guitar. Although not on the video clip below, the album version has Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders on backup vocals. She also sings backup for other songs on the album but is credited as Christine Kerr, having been married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds at the time.

 

“The Unforgettable Fire” is the most orchestrated single off the album. Back in the mid-eighties, MTV started showing world premiere videos and this was one of them. I remember eagerly anticipating getting my first glimpse.

 

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