Post-Punk, New Wave, No Wave & Friends!

[Carolian]

I'm almost finished with RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN by Simon Reynolds, a fucking awesome book describing the rise and fall of post-punk. I've stumbled into a lot of killer bands from this book, too.

CONTORT YOURSELF FIVE TIMES!

[Keepcoolbutcare]

I'm almost finished with RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN by Simon Reynolds, a fucking awesome book describing the rise and fall of post-punk. I've stumbled into a lot of killer bands from this book, too.

care to list some of them?

I've been all over Wire recently, would love to dig deeper.

[Carolian]

I'm almost finished with RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN by Simon Reynolds, a fucking awesome book describing the rise and fall of post-punk. I've stumbled into a lot of killer bands from this book, too.

care to list some of them?

I've been all over Wire recently, would love to dig deeper.

Sorry to respond so late, but here are some that I think are absolutely stellar. I don't know what you've heard, so I'll just list my favorites.

(And yes, Wire fucking rules.)

Gang of Four--Probably the kings of the genre. Andy Gill's guitar style was so incredibly revolutionary--jagged and noisy, playing choppy bursts of melody that functioned almost like an extension of the rhythm section in terms of driving the song. Tom Morello's style owes a lot to Andy Gill, and a hell of a lot of bands--Rage, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Andy Gill produced their first album), Big Black/Shellac, Fugazi... Hell, Franz Ferdinand's whole style is basically Gang of Four lite, without the lyrical depth. Almost every song on "Entertainment!" is absolute gold.


Mission of Burma--Awesome post-punk with arty overtones. They were really, really notorious for their insanely loud live shows; they actually had to break up for almost twenty years because their singer was losing his hearing. What I really love about MoB is how effortlessly they switch styles--moody stuff like "Mica" and awesome balls-out rock like "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate". They're kind of like Wire in terms of their love for surreal lyrics, but they're not as--funky, I guess? I dunno how to describe it. Still, they're another "musician's band", and one of my favorites. I'm going to see them in Cleveland in July. I can't wait. I'd recommend "Vs." as the album to listen to.

Public Image Ltd.--One of the first post-punk bands, fronted by none other than Johnny Rotten himself. I love the Sex Pistols, but PiL was fuckin' awesome, letting Lydon express himself a lot better. Jah Wobble's bass and Steve Levene's guitar work brilliantly together, and it's one of the most innovative sounds in history, basically laying the course for the next decade of music. Try the songs "Death Disco", "This Is Not A Love Song", "Religion", "Annalisa", or "Public Image".


The Birthday Party--Part of the No Wave scene, the far-more-chaotic offshoot of post-punk, and fronted by Nick Cave, of Bad Seeds fame. The Birthday Party made some of the darkest, noisiest, most terrifying music of the '80s, with Mick Harvey's dissonant, jangling guitar rising above the clanging mess of the drums and bass. Over all of it, Cave yowls, sings, and screams some of the most bizarre lyrics I've ever heard: "OH, LET ME DIE BENEATH HER FISTS.../I JUST WANNA MAKE LOVE/TO MY ZOO-MUSIC GIRL!!" The songs "Zoo Music Girl", "Dead Joe", "Happy Birthday", "King Ink", and "Cry" are some of the best.


Buzzcocks--One of the first punk bands to really bridge the gap between punk and post-punk. "Ever Fallen In Love" is still one of the best "love songs" ever written. They had a punk attitude with an emotional, melodic temperment (not to say punk couldn't be those things). They were a lot more playful than most of the other bands I mentioned. Check out "Ever Fallen In Love", "Boredom", "What Do I Get", "Orgasm Addict", or "Fast Cars".


The Contortions--Another awesome No Wave band, they incorporated horrifically dissonant jazz riffs and purposely ugly sax hits into songs about sadomasochism and racism. James Chance yelps his completely insane lyrics over a jazz-inspired pandemonium. Fucking awesome. Try anything off of "Buy".


Big Black--Equally inspired by post-punk and industrial, Big Black was an amazing band. Steve Albini's guitar--bursts of noise and feedback--combined with his intense vocals makes for some awesome music. Albini's guitar style was directly inspired by Andy Gill's, only with most of the groove stripped out of it and replaced with harshness. Try out anything from "Songs About Fucking", plus the amazing song "Kerosene".

After asking a few of my friends, they recommended some other bands that I haven't heard a lot of, like The Fall (Manchester post-punk--their earlier stuff is the best), The Slits (a chaotic all-female post-punk group), Pere Ubu (hometown boys from Cleveland), Husker Du (on "Zen Arcade", at least), The Pop Group (check out "Thief of Fire" or "She Is Beyond Good And Evil"), Social Unrest (try "A Dragon in the Kremlin" or "Night of the Long Knives), and Killing Joke (some of the scariest industrial-tinged post-punk ever made--listen to "Eighties" to hear the riff Kurt Cobain stole for "Come As You Are"). The Cure's earlier stuff was also a lot more Gang of Four/Wire influenced; check out "Killing An Arab" for some Wire-y goodness.

If you listen to any of this stuff, you gotta drop me a PM or something and tell me what you think. Really, if you're interested in this stuff, I can't recommend this book enough. It blew me away.

(That was my last-ditch effort to make this post on-topic. Did it work?)

(Jesus, this is a long post. Sorry, for everyone who doesn't care, heh.)

[Seppuku]

Over the last year Post-Punk/New Wave has gone on from being something I looked at sceptically to my favourite type of music by far. I love the fact that the music sounds like gorgeous pop songs played on a cruise ship and thus given that strange off-kilter feel about it. It was probably rock music's most malleable time- where everyone took a different path, and each of those paths became an institution.

So you had Magazine (formerly of the Buzzcocks) with their singer and writer, Howard Devoto, who is a British Dylan, but with a much better sense of the absurd, and the keyboard-driven music is brilliant once you've adapted your ears to the whole new wave sound.

And then you've got bands like The Associates, with their Bowie-OD'd-on-amphetamines sound, with a singer, Billy Mackensie, who could hold his own at an opera.

Then there is Orange Juice, who gave that book its name with the song Rip it Up, and their fey metrosexual proto-indie music. I'll admit, I much prefer them to The Smiths; they were dubbed Perfect Pop at the time they came about (buy The Glasgow School if you want evidence).

And then you've got bands like The Cocteau Twins, who still sound like nothing you've ever heard, and haven't dated a day.

Plus, my personal favourite, Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes. He once released an album with a picture of him naked in a giant tortoise shell on the cover, and that's a pretty good indication of his fractured personality. And, despite being one of Britain's best, most bizarre lyricists, it's the hooks he comes up with that make his songs so great.

New Wave is like late 70's reggae, the deeper you get, the further you have to go- divine free-falling. Love it.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

just to let ya'll know, I split these posts over to the music forum.

a thousand salaams in the general direction to both of you...as I said in my pm to Carolian, I've heard of most of these bands, but didn't really know where to start my digging.

[Seppuku]

Sweet split KCBC. You know, believe it or not, I was thinking this morning I might create a New Wave thread, but I figured it probably wouldn't take off. As far as I know the term comes from the Clash track, I'm So Bored With the USA with the line: "I'll salute the new wave and I hope nobody escapes".

So, seeing as how I'm currently on the phone, I'll type out a list of my personal Top 11 New Wave albums with one hand.

RETROSPECT EDIT: I'd probably include bands like Suicide, Pere Ubu, Josef K, 23 Skidoo, This Heat, Cabaret Voltaire, Josef K and The Red Krayola (circa Soldier Talk) if I were to do this list now (considering half the albums I put on there aren't even technically New Wave or Post Punk).

11)Talking Heads - Fear of Music. I think they call this kind of music polyrhythmic, meaning you have one guitar doing one melody to one time signature, and another doing something completely different, and it all ends up sounding like it belongs together. Then again, that's not why I like this album, I like it because of the great songs- Animals, Cities, Life During Wartime and Heaven being my favourite.

10) The Clash - Sandinista. I probably should have put London Calling on there, but I think this is their best. I know some people aren't too big fans of this, but it's just got so many classic songs that there's not much to complain about. Ironically, the most "Clash sounding" song on there is a cover, Police on my Back. If you can stomach dub reggae, and you like to experiment, then you can't go wrong with this.

9) Magazine - Real Life. Some would give it to The Correct Use of Soap, but I personally prefer their debut. All of these are genius swirly pop songs, with dark quotable lyrics.

8 ) Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy. This was released right after they learnt how to reign-in their manic feedback into something resembling a melody (although they managed to keep their fans satisfied with broken-speaker fests like In a Hole). They were still just as cool when they got a little more laid-back, take a listen to Some CandyTalking. This is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's ground zero.

7) Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation. Arguably the biggest influence on the New Wave after The Stooges and The Ramones. Hell wrote the template with the album's title track and apart from the last track, every song's a killer. Lines like, "I was sayin let me out of here before I was even born/it's such a gamble when you get a face" told a generation of impressionable musicians that The Monkees are officially dead.

6) The Adverts - Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts. This band were definitely Voidoids fans. Their most famous song, Gary Gilmore's eyes, was about a man getting the dead serial killer's eyes grafted-in and getting taken-over by his soul (influence on the Simpsons there). This was music at its most basic and its most thrilling.

5) The Jam - Setting Sons. This started out as a concept album, showing 2 kids growing up and one taking an anarchist stance, and the other falling back into comfortable routine. It didn't end up stretching over the whole album, but those songs that survived show Weller at his best. And the rest of the album's great too (apart from a pointless cover of Martha Reeve's Heatwave).

4) The X-ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents. Their singer Poly Styrene went onto become a nu-age flower child, but when she released this album there was nothing hippyish about it. This has got a lot of antisceptic sci-fi imagery, and, strangely for a punk band, it's driven by a saxophone as much as it is by guitar.

3) Cocteau Twins - Treasure. It could be any one of their albums, but this one is probably their most gorgeous. The singer, Liz Frazier, has probably the most luscious voice of anyone I've ever heard (she was even used on all 3 Lord of the Rings movies), and the fact that she sings in about ten languages only adds to the mystique. I can't recommend this group enough.

2) Associates - Sulk. Well I already went on about this band, and this is their best album by far. Apparently the duo were completely bat-shit crazy with ambition at the time, and although it was probably impossible to realise the ideas streaming through their heads, this is still brilliant. Watch out though, there is an "edited" version released in the U.S. where they changed the production into a more radio-friendly style

1) Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream. Their apocalyptic grind almost made you want to believe in the New Wave's ground zero attitude, and, as if to prove their point, they Banshee'd up The Beatles' Helter Skelter into something much more sinister. I don't think there have been any more sexy and terrifying vocalists than Siouxsie Sioux, and the songs she wrote are just dripping with energy. My favourite track is probably Nicotine Stain. They went in a completely different direction after this, but I don't think they ever beat their debut.

[Carolian]

Oh man, Siouxsie and the Banshees fucking ruled! "Love in a Void" is probably my favorite track, but hell, it's hard to go wrong.

Plus, Siouxsie Sioux was hot as hell. Doesn't hurt.

[Seppuku]

That's gotta be the longest post I've ever written. And I managed to juggle talking on the phone and typing at the same time.

Siouxsie Sioux was a fucking sexbomb. Still is, I saw them play last year and she looked like the ultimate scary Milf.

[Brocktune]

i know ive mentioned it before, but one of the greatest new wave records to come out of england is "Playing With a Different Sex" by The Au Pairs
i cant fucking get sick of that record. the follow up "Sense & Sensuality" is pretty good too, but not quite as good. think of like a lesbian gang of four, but with less dissonant guitar work. i cant stress enough how much i love this fucking album. i implore you all to track it down.

Pere Ubu are pretty cool too. they are pretty far out there though. it took me a while to warm to them, but eventually i came around. really great stuff.

sepp - good call on "Fear of Music". that one has always been my favorite too. although, 77 really started to give it a run for its money. but ultimately, FOM wins.

[TheBaxter]

i've gotta second (or third) the siouxsie love, and i'll provide pics to back it up...

[unikrunk]

Big Black - Songs About fucking was my favorite album in high school.

Seriously, playing detuned guitars with nickels instead of pics, and a drum machine to boot?

Thank you for the awesome, Dr. Albini!

[Seppuku]

i know ive mentioned it before, but one of the greatest new wave records to come out of england is "Playing With a Different Sex" by The Au Pairs
i cant fucking get sick of that record. the follow up "Sense & Sensuality" is pretty good too, but not quite as good. think of like a lesbian gang of four, but with less dissonant guitar work. i cant stress enough how much i love this fucking album. i implore you all to track it down.

Yikes!

I had an old girlfriend who used to listen to them constantly, and they scared the fuck out of me. She went from being a bookish wallflower, to being a full-on "knickers constrain my womb" nutjob. To be fair, I don't think it was completely the Au Pairs' fault- if I didn't want to drudge-up some nasty memories I'd play them all the time myself- it's her bull-dyke friend I blame. Lesbians and feminists are cool with me (some of those Suffragettes were teh hot), but not when they're your girlfriend.

That being said, I'm gonna have to go and use this old image from my Photobucket account, just because...

[Carolian]

Oh, man, forgot all about Au Pairs. Yeah, "Playing With A Different Sex" is a fucking awesome album. My favorite song on there's probably "Armagh". "We don't torture... WE DON'T TORTURE..."

And as for those pictures of Siouxsie?











I approve.

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

This book sounds coolness, but I'm dying for somebody to put together a
book or docu about the NO WAVE 'movement'; stuff like Glenn Branca,
Theoretical Girls, DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, et al. I think the
time is ripe; groups like LIARS are very No Wave, as are groups like
Melt Banana; I know the Chicago scene is very tuned in (or would
detuned in be more precise?) to the No Wave thang, and the New York
underground scene as well (where No Wave never really left, it just
changed outfits)...

I think NO WAVE is really the sort of jumping off point for post-punk --
Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore were both are part of Glenn Branca's
early ensembles, and the fingerprints of that music are all over Sonic
Youth, Swans, et al -- and represents the most challenging music of the
movement; atonal bliss, alternate tuning skronk, thick slabs of droning,
nerve shattering, mind expanding (or destroying) bliss...

Likewise THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, PiL, and the first Nick Cave album are
very No Wave; I guess they kinda straddled the line between No Wave
and Post Punk.

I was really disappointed while watching the excellent Punk:Attitude docu,
when they get around to talking to Glenn Branca and talking about No
Wave, they gave it more of a passing glance than an in-depth look...

And I remember a few years back the book TAPE DELAY which
documented some of this stuff, but I think its long out of print...
(I knew I shoulda got that dang thing!)

[Carolian]

Yeah, ZZS, if someone wrote a book about No Wave, I'd weep with happiness. Hell, I nearly did just from finding RIP IT UP, so...

There's a whole chapter devoted to No Wave, but yeah, it does leave you wanting more.

[HollywoodBabylon]

I'm almost finished with RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN by Simon Reynolds, a fucking awesome book describing the rise and fall of post-punk. I've stumbled into a lot of killer bands from this book, too.

CONTORT YOURSELF FIVE TIMES!

I've read it as well, as it's a brilliant book, very informative and detailed. I think there's a CD of the same title that the author has compiled, which has just been released. Two other books I'd really recommend to go side by side with this one are 'Punk Rock' by John Robb (which has just been published in paperback) and the outrageous and funny 'Please Kill Me: An Oral History' by Legs McNeill and Gillian McCain - a firecracker of a book.

[DrillerKiller]

I'm just wondering if XTC fit into the title category...

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[TheBaxter]

i say yes.

i love XTC, they are my 2nd favourite band.

[Brocktune]

I'm just wondering if XTC fit into the title category...

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

yes.
absolutely
well, at least up through black sea.
maybe english settlement.

[Brocktune]

speaking of all of this stuff, has anyone besides me seen the film "Jubilee"?

[King Of Nowhere]

i love XTC, they are my 2nd favourite band.

they were good , but they were only making plans for Nigel !

[Seppuku]

Yep, I've seen Jubilee, and it's strange seeing how many names became C-list celebrities in Britain. You've got Toyah Wilcox (Quadrophenia), who went on to make a bunch of piss-poor songs in the 80s, and appear on I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, you've got Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror), who hosted the Crystal Maze, and Adam Ant (haha I just got his name at last. Funny guy). The film itself is inspired...I wouldn't say it actually pulls it off, but it's worth a watch, especially so you can get to see the early Banshees doing their thing.

As far as XTC goes, anyone know where I should start? I've got a DVD with a couple of their live performances, and they seem right up my alley. English Settlement? Orange and Lemons? Just name the album and I'll buy it.

[King Of Nowhere]

Yep, I've seen Jubilee, and it's strange seeing how many names became C-list celebrities in Britain. You've got Toyah Wilcox (Quadrophenia), who went on to make a bunch of piss-poor songs in the 80s, and appear on I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, you've got Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror), who hosted the Crystal Maze, and Adam Ant (haha I just got his name at last. Funny guy). The film itself is inspired...I wouldn't say it actually pulls it off, but it's worth a watch, especially so you can get to see the early Banshees doing their thing.

As far as XTC goes, anyone know where I should start? I've got a DVD with a couple of their live performances, and they seem right up my alley. English Settlement? Orange and Lemons? Just name the album and I'll buy it.

Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-1992

should be a good place to start , dont know how much it'll cost you though

[Brocktune]

sepp, how did i know that you would have seen jubilee. i almost mentioned that i thought you would have seen it in my post. but i thought it would be presumptuous and rude to say it.

what you dont like toyah wilcox?

dance
love me-he

yeah, she was shit.

dude, if you are going to get into xtc, start with "black sea" or "white music". my favorite record is white music which is like their second record i think. its more unconventional than black sea. but black sea is a more even record, and much more polished. god, they are both so fucking good. i cant decide.

ok, black sea is how i got into them, so should you.

[Brocktune]

Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-1992

should be a good place to start , dont know how much it'll cost you though

fuck that!

greatest hits albums are for little girls and housewives.

[King Of Nowhere]

Fo ssil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-1992

should be a good place to start , dont know how much it'll cost you though

fuck that!

greatest hits albums are for little girls and housewives.

maybe , but there is a reason they call it greatest hits ! anyway my point was it would be a good place to start as it gives you an overview of all their work ( sort of) rather than just the one album .

[Seppuku]

Hey I can't thank you two enough. I'd probably get the singles album KON, but it's the most annoying thing in the world when you really get into a band and start buying the albums, and then you've got no idea what to do with the compilation.

Still not sure what to go for, but I guess Jacko said it don't matter if you're Black or White, so I'll flip a coin. Landed on heads, so Black Sea it is.

I'll come back here in a couple days when it comes through the mail and tell you how much I loved it. (Or demand my money back from Brock! ).

[Brocktune]

dont worry, if you hate it, i will buy your copy from you.
autographed, of course.

[St. Alphonzo]

Plus, my personal favourite, Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes. He once released an album with a picture of him naked in a giant tortoise shell on the cover, and that's a pretty good indication of his fractured personality. And, despite being one of Britain's best, most bizarre lyricists, it's the hooks he comes up with that make his songs so great.

His song "Vegetation" is friggin' great. It's the most slap-happy, fun dance tune in history with suicide as it's subject matter.

I didn't really want to kill myself
But there just was no other way
Now I wait for you darling in my graveyard bed
And each day brings you closer to me
and my vegetation

Fuckin' genius.

[Seppuku]

You mean Double Vegetation, right?

No way can I disagree with you there, he makes the most addictive dancey music and then adds on about 58 layers of madness underneath. That's pretty much the whole Peggy Suicide album for you.

[St. Alphonzo]

Is it called "Double Vegetation"? My bad.

I really need to delve further into his catalogue. Recomendations on where to start?

[Seppuku]

He's one of the few guys who I'll blindly follow, whatever he releases.

His most accessible album (the one with Double Vegetation on it) is Peggy Suicide. He's got a habit of breaking an album into 4 parts, and every one of these sides is killer. My favourite of his though is his second LP Fried, the one with him naked in the tortoise shell...that's not the reason why I like it so much, but because it's got some stunning songs. The best, Reynard the Fox, is set from the point of view of a fox in the middle of a fox-hunt, and I don't think anyone other than Cope could make a song like that.

If you end up liking those two you've got a hard road ahead of you, because for some reason most of his back-catalogue's been deleted. Some of his best albums: Jehovahkill, St Julian, 20 Mothers and World Shut Your Mouth aren't out anymore. It's a bummer because there are some classic pop songs on all of them. That's the main thing with Cope, he had the Acid Casualty reputation, but it's easy to forget the guy was a master of making good pop music.

I'm sure you'll enjoy whatever you listen to, but try Peggy Suicde and Fried first of all.

[St. Alphonzo]

Thanks. I'll pick 'em up!

[Seppuku]

Oh yeah and one of Cope's songs, Greedhead Detector, has the best chorus I've ever heard. Let me see if I can get the lyrics right: "Fuck fuck fuck you fuck you fuck you". I'm surprised I never put that on the Perfect Lyrics thread.

Enjoy the music Alphonzo.

[DrillerKiller]

As far as XTC goes, anyone know where I should start? I've got a DVD with a couple of their live performances, and they seem right up my alley. English Settlement? Orange and Lemons? Just name the album and I'll buy it.

Brocktune is bang on the money with Black Sea and White Music, but I'm shocked that he left out their masterpiece - Drums & Wires. It's their most consistent album, there's not a single weak song on there to tarnish it's reputation (unlike 'Somnambulist' and 'All Along The Watchtower' on the other two - so I reckon anyway), and it starts of beautifully with 'Making Plans For Nigel' and then somehow gets better and better.

It's a thing of beauty. From English Settlement they toned everything down and became a bit lighthearted, but White Music, D&W and Black Sea are the most musical and quirky things they've ever done. Nonsuch ain't so bad either.

[TheBaxter]

well it's too late but i would've recommended english settlement, that's the bridge album which best combines the earlier, more energetic "live" material with their later poppier studio stuff.

i wouldn't recommend white music, that and go 2 sound completely different from their later stuff. black sea or drums & wires are both good for an earlier, rawer xtc.

i'll also recommend apple venus, which is the complete opposite spectrum from the early stuff, lots of acoustic and symphonic songs.

[Seppuku]

"It's in the order of their hedgerows/it's in the way their curtains open and close". I've listened to the album twice so far, and I can already tell it's gonna take a place of pride at the top of my album-heap. I've always been an LP person, but that first track, Respectable Street, made an XTC fan out of me within the first three seconds. Thanks for the recommendations guys, and there's no need to get your knives out over what I should turn to next- I'll probably snap them all up eventually. They're like The Kinks with keyboards. Which in my book is a very, very good thing.

[Brocktune]

I've always been an LP person, but that first track, Respectable Street, made an XTC fan out of me within the first three seconds.

thats is exactly what happened to me. only i heard "respectable street" live. i was like whoa?!?! this song is fucking awesome!! so i had to buy the record, and learn how to play the song and all that. man that is a good record. glad to hear you arent disappointed!

my favorite track changes all the time. right now, its "paper and iron".

love that record!

[Seppuku]

It seems like I've had Pink Flag since before I started listening to music, but I picked up Wire's Chairs Missing alongside that XTC album, and the fucker's left me speechless. I'd have sold my soul to have been the one to write Outside Miner, but I guess being able to listen to it's almost as good. I can't believe this is the same band who cut the 20-second songs on Pink Flag, it's just mind-boggling. There's just so much luverly artsy goodness, and the lads learnt how to write a chorus as well.

I also picked up 154, which doesn't quite scale the same heights, but if you think of it as being a darker continuation of the same album it plays-out much better.

I ain't gonna lie though, Eardrum Buzz really irritates me.


Soooo where to go next. I've never really got into New Model Army, so I might pick up an album or two of theirs, and then I've gotta stretch out my Fall collection (they don't 'arf churn 'em out, I'd probably go bankrupt if I ever got the idea to buy them all), and I wouldn't mind buying a couple Mission of Burma albums too.

Fuck me, when will the consumer whoring madness end?! I think of my Post Punk buying spree as being akin to Susan George's rape scene in Straw Dogs...I love it really. (Don't blame me for being a sick bastard, blame Peckinpah).

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

WIRE's Chairs Missing is their true all time classic. It was the first
album of theirs that I heard (picked up because of the BIG BLACK
connection; Heartbeat) and I totally loved it.

Then I picked up Pink Flag and was like... what the fuck? Is this even
the same band? I mean, not that its a bad album, its cool for what it is --
basically just straight up punk with some arty moments -- but Chairs
Missing is an arte-rock, post-punk classic, and Pink Flag doesn't
strike me as all that different or indistinguishable from any other quickee
70s punk album...

[Seppuku]

I think the worst thing about Pink Flag is the fact that it was such a major influence on mylovercore music. And I don't even know why...It's just a bunch of dudes doing their best New York Dolls impression. That's not a bad thing though, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

I think I would have defended the album more if I hadn't have heard Chairs Missing (and played it 10 times over the last 3 days), but I'm with ya now for sure. This thing sounds fresher than Richmond Fontaine or insert current buzz band here _______.

[raasnio]

Big Black--Equally inspired by post-punk and industrial, Big Black was an amazing band. Steve Albini's guitar--bursts of noise and feedback--combined with his intense vocals makes for some awesome music. Albini's guitar style was directly inspired by Andy Gill's, only with most of the groove stripped out of it and replaced with harshness. Try out anything from "Songs About Fucking", plus the amazing song "Kerosene".

Big Black made a ton of great music. Bad Penny comes to mind immediately. Albini has handled production for quite a few bands over the years and has, most recently, released and toured with his band Shellac. Of course it's nowhere near as good as Big Black, but the album At Action Park is pretty good.

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

I think the worst thing about Pink Flag is the fact that it was such a major influence on mylovercore music. And I don't even know why...It's just a bunch of dudes doing their best New York Dolls impression. That's not a bad thing though, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

As lame as this is, its probably such an influence on queercore 'cause its
called Pink Flag; which I suppose could be taken as a symbol of
Dumbledore pride? Although, aside from that, theres nothing on the album that
suggests anything overtly Dumbledore or dealing with Dumbledore issues /
concerns... other than the usual stuff that people of all genders and
orientations feel; like being pissed off at the government and/or grim
world events...

Speaking of which, even if that album is sorta 'meh' compared to Chairs
Missing, I love "Reuters." Thats a great song.

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

Big Black--Equally inspired by post-punk and industrial, Big Black was an amazing band. Steve Albini's guitar--bursts of noise and feedback--combined with his intense vocals makes for some awesome music. Albini's guitar style was directly inspired by Andy Gill's, only with most of the groove stripped out of it and replaced with harshness. Try out anything from "Songs About Fucking", plus the amazing song "Kerosene".

Big Black made a ton of great music. Bad Penny comes to mind immediately. Albini has handled production for quite a few bands over the years and has, most recently, released and toured with his band Shellac. Of course it's nowhere near as good as Big Black, but the album At Action Park is pretty good.

Steve Albini is a frikkin' genius; both in terms of writing, guitar wrangling,
and production... Of course, BIG BLACK was his best stuff, but I like all
the incarnations from RAPEMAN up to SHELLAC. I saw SHELLAC at one
of their few live gigs when I was living in NYC, and it was amazing. They
also totally ripped the NYC scene; theres kinda this jokey rivalry between
the NYC and Chicago scenes that I think is primarily good natured, but
sometimes seems mean... Albini always gives much love to Philly
though, and thats the most important thing (!!!)

Side note: I think the coolest thing about SHELLAC is that they made their
own amps. Thats badass geek tech awesomeness in excelsis dei oh.

[Seppuku]

I think the worst thing about Pink Flag is the fact that it was such a major influence on mylovercore music. And I don't even know why...It's just a bunch of dudes doing their best New York Dolls impression. That's not a bad thing though, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

As lame as this is, its probably such an influence on queercore 'cause its
called Pink Flag; which I suppose could be taken as a symbol of
Dumbledore pride? Although, aside from that, theres nothing on the album that
suggests anything overtly Dumbledore or dealing with Dumbledore issues /
concerns... other than the usual stuff that people of all genders and
orientations feel; like being pissed off at the government and/or grim
world events...

Speaking of which, even if that album is sorta 'meh' compared to Chairs
Missing, I love "Reuters." Thats a great song.

Hehe, I never noticed that before, but mylovercore is just my little nickname for hardcore music, just because of the damn tenacity of calling your music "hard" and then being the skinniest, whiniest bunch of White-Kids © on Earth. I've heard a lot of these bands cite Wire, along with Black Flag and Minor threat, as being a major influence on them, and I don't understand why.

I've got nothing against Dumbledore music, and I didn't realise there was even such a thing as gaycore...!

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

I think the worst thing about Pink Flag is the fact that it was such a major influence on mylovercore music. And I don't even know why...It's just a bunch of dudes doing their best New York Dolls impression. That's not a bad thing though, but it's nothing to go crazy about.

As lame as this is, its probably such an influence on queercore 'cause its
called Pink Flag; which I suppose could be taken as a symbol of
Dumbledore pride? Although, aside from that, theres nothing on the album that
suggests anything overtly Dumbledore or dealing with Dumbledore issues /
concerns... other than the usual stuff that people of all genders and
orientations feel; like being pissed off at the government and/or grim
world events...

Speaking of which, even if that album is sorta 'meh' compared to Chairs
Missing, I love "Reuters." Thats a great song.

Hehe, I never noticed that before, but mylovercore is just my little nickname for hardcore music, just because of the damn tenacity of calling your music "hard" and then being the skinniest, whiniest bunch of White-Kids © on Earth. I've heard a lot of these bands cite Wire, along with Black Flag and Minor threat, as being a major influence on them, and I don't understand why.

I've got nothing against Dumbledore music, and I didn't realise there was even such a thing as gaycore...!

Ha ha! Oh man, I'm sorry, I thought you were coming from somewhere
else entirely! But anyways, yeah, theres queercore; its basically the
sameas hardcore, but, you know, Dumbledore (or bi); like specifically
dealing with Dumbledore or bi issues, usually highly politicized. TEAM
DRESCH was a big deal lesbiancore band a few years back I remember...
and lest we forget the noisy nowavey awesomness of GOD IS MY
COPILOT...

Not being Dumbledore myself, I don't feel the fire so much, but I love the
idea of it; basically anything that pisses off the hatemongering
rightwingers and speaks of pride to the outcasts and downtrodden is
awesome... its like the polar opposite of white power bands...

One of the most hilarious nights of my life was watching a a bunch of
queercore fans beating the crap out of these racist skins at a warehouse
show in West Philly many years ago. I mean, they (the racist skins)
were utterly humiliated (and, I highly suspect, for some of them, secretly
turned on). It was beautiful.

Its okay to hate the haters...

Anger is an energy!

[Brocktune]

Towers of London
when they had built you
did you watch over the men who fell
Towers of London
when they had built you
Victoria's gem found in somebody's hell

Pavements of gold leading to the underground
Grenadier Guardsmen walking pretty ladies around
fog is the sweat of the never never navvies who pound
spikes in the rails to their very own heaven

Bridges of muscles spanning so long and high
merchants from Stepney walking pretty ladies by
rain is the tears of the never never navvies who cry
for the bridge that doesn't go
in the direction of Dublin

And I've seen it in a painting
and I've seen it in engraving
and I've seen it in their faces
clear as children's chalk lines on the paving

Towers of London
la la Londinium.

sorry, im listening to it right now, and this is the slowest day at work EVAR!

[Seppuku]

Yeah that's a keeper.

Isn't there a band called Towers of London named after that track? I suppose there's the slight possibility that they might just be named after the actual towers themselves, but come on...what are the odds of that?

I heard a track of theirs the other day, and they're pretty shit really.

I don't know why I even brought them up...

I'm having one of those days too I guess.

[Brocktune]

Towers of London sounds like the name of an XTC cover band. the kind of band that populates our bars and clubs down here in sd. only problem is that there arent enough people in this town cool enough to like xtc enough to go see an XTC cover band enough that they would actually make any money. we get garbage like "Tainted Love: The 80's Tribute Band" where all of the members dress up like a different member of whatever one hit wonder band you liked from back in the day. fuck the one hit wonder crowd and mentality. motherfuckers.

[Seppuku]

I don't think they're so much an XTC covers band as yet another Sex Pistols copyist group.

I'm not so sure the Soft Cell Phenomona is restricted to SD, because here in Blighty there is a little thing called the Karaoke Singer, and they're taken quite seriously by another sub-species of human called The Northerner. (:wink:) Naw I think when you pick an interest like 80s No-Wave music you're pretty much damned to have to live it alone. I was in a club the other day and I briefly mentioned Talking Heads to this girl when we were talking music, and I got givem the most terrifying blank expression in return. I'm not too bothered though, it's all about the music right, and it just means I don't get these great songs tainted by hearing bowlderised versions coming at me from Classic Rock radio stations.