This Was the Modern World

If they hit on you then you slam 'em right back.

2006-01-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

This album is a passion of mine. Soft Cell in general is a passion of mine, but I have a particular love of this album. There's something in me that makes me want to spread the word about things I like, particularly if I feel like it's not getting the respect it deserves. That can certainly be said for Soft Cell, especially for their last album (reunion record Cruelty Without Beauty excepted).

It's called This Last Night in Sodom, and it is fantastic and weird. There is something of the pop album about it, but other than that it is just completely strange. The rhythms are jerky, the subject matter rather bizarre, and all in all it is a remarkable record for a group known for a Top 40 hit. This is not a pop tart's album. This is the missing link between "Tainted Love" and Marc Almond's later collaborations with Coil, Foetus, and others too much to mention, as well as Dave Ball's work with Gavin Friday and Genesis P-Orridge. It's also weirder than you think.

It's a shame it's out of print. If any album needs to be readily available, especially in the current musical climate, it's this one. This is what so much of modern electro artists need to hear, the combination of dance and drama and general uneasiness. I may not be making it sound too appealing, I realize. But it is. Those that like their pop strange like me, or who has a very wide description of what pop is should know this record and love it the way I do.

I've been a fan of this album for awhile, but this song has been in my head lately. The Nine Inch Nails song of the same name came up in a few things I've been reading, which made me kind of pouty. "There's a better song called that!" I thought to myself. "They should be talking about that song!" So I'm doing what I can in service of This Last Night in Sodom and its leadoff track, "Mr. Self Destruct".
Soft Cell: Mr. Self Destruct

And another entry in my German 101 series. I was thinking about this song today because in class we're discussing what you do during the day, or tag. So I was walking from class and thinking "fur einen Tag." Which is a line in the German translation of David Bowie's "Heroes", entitled "Helden." This song is quickly becoming useful in German class. Native German speakers talk fast. By a non-native things are easier to understand. Konntest du schwimmen. We've been using "schwimmen" lately, too…
David Bowie: Heroes/Helden

Every Morning I Wake Up and Stub My Toe on the Same Bloody Piece of Furniture (To My Soul's Amusement)

2006-01-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

Do you think Morrissey realizes he's Morrissey?

As in, do you think he's in on the joke? Do you think he realizes how utterly hilarious he is, and can laugh at himself? It's something I've been thinking about lately, ever since Mozza released the tracklisting for his upcoming album. It made me think about his last album, and the titles of the songs off his last album. Do you think he realizes how ridiculous a 45-year-old man, whom most would consider to be rather handsome and intelligent, writing a song called "Let Me Kiss You" where he asks the person he's interested in to "close your eyes and think of someone you physically admire".

Part of me hopes he does. I like someone who can laugh at himself, and there's a lot to laugh at. He strikes me as a very witty man. His interviews are consistently funny and I always found the humor of the Smiths to be what made them so phenomenal (and what's so often missed in Smiths covers). So it would seem that Morrissey should be able to understand how funny he is, and embrace that, and in some ways play up to that.

On the other hand, as much as I think that the ability to laugh at oneself is extremely important, if Morrissey realizes how ridiculous he is and yet still writes the same sorts of songs (sample titles of The Ringleader of the Tormentors, the new album: You Have Killed Me, Dear God Please Help Me, I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now) means that he's by necessity dishonest and rather mercenary. It would imply that Morrissey is keeping up his super-emo persona for the interest of being the Morrissey that people want, so he can sell his records.

So where is Morrissey? Is he intentionally being ridiculous? Is that just how he still is, even at 40-whatever? Does he have a thing for tough guys? I think the last bit is true, anyway.

I kid because I love. Seriously.
Morrissey- The National Front Disco

This song came up in conversation today. I love a good story-song, one that can make me feel like I'm in a novel or at the very least a good short story. This one definitely fits the bill. I feel a plot unfolding. I'm trying to identify the characters, to figure out their backgrounds and personalities. It's great fun. I love bisexual S&M love triangles. At least, that's what I think it's about, and that's what's important.
Leonard Cohen- Master Song

Siebenundzwanzig

2006-01-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am taking a break from German homework to remind me why it is I wanted to take German in the first place.

It's not so simple as one reason, actually. It's a combination of reasons from an honors degree to timing to having friends and relations who know the language and can help me out when I get stuck. But there is one thing that is keeping me motivated through what I know will be a difficult quarter, and that is my current inability to pronounce the word "einstürzende".

As in Einstürzende Neubauten, of course, one of my favorite bands of all time and one of the best things to come out of Germany. I've been a Neubauten fan for awhile now, and my inability not only to understand them but pronounce them has been very frustrating. I want to discuss my favorite songs. I want to discuss the band, in general. I want to tell people what the symbol on my T-shirt is from. Yet I keep running into my problem with the first word and particularly that damned umlaut.

I've been trying and it hasn't been working, so now that I need to work on a language and the timing fits perfectly I am going to actually learn some German and learn to deal with Einstürzende Neubauten. For they deserve it. They are one of the most innovative and creative bands to exist and still exist. I just saw one of their 25th anniversary concerts (in London in the spring) and they were as amazing as ever.

Their name translates to "Collapsing New Buildings" and it suits them. They're known for their work with nontraditional instruments, such as shopping carts, jet engines, wire, olive canisters, and broken glass. It is industrial music in the truest sense of the term, made from machinery and inspired by construction. It bears more resemblance to the current crop of noise artists than modern industrial music. This is not dancefloor music. For the most part. I'd probably dance to it.

Really, what Einstürzende Neubauten are is avant-garde. There are very few bands who could have such a claim on the term. They go beyond boundaries, beyond what is a rock band or an industrial band or even a band. This is experimental, but occasionally a pop song comes out of it. That's what sets them apart. It reminds me of something my creative writing teacher said about ee cummings: he could get away with what he did because he knew how to write normal poetry.
Einstürzende Neubauten: Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.T
Einstürzende Neubauten: Haus der Lüge

Love and hate, what a beautiful combination

2006-01-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

I was watching a show on celebrity feuds on VH1. I love watching crap on VH1, and I love pointless celebrity feuds even more. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe I'm just a voyeur, or perhaps I am a student of human nature. I prefer to say the latter. It is often how I think. One of my favorite things is looking at things that are considered pointless from an intellectual perspective. Reclaiming them, perhaps.

This show was playing Erasure. Which might prove everything. I can't listen to Erasure in large doses. I don't even have one single Erasure album, which is usually a terrible taboo in my book. Yet what Erasure does well it does very well, and that is be utterly ridiculous.

There is a skill to being over-the-top and ridiculous. Not everyone can do it well. There is a line that has to be maintained. It's a very difficult task, being brilliantly ridiculous, and I can't think of a group that does it quite so well as Erasure. Of course, ridiculous, like many other fields, is often in the eye of the beholder. Some find Erasure to be far beyond the line of awesomely ridiculous and into the area of irritating. As I said, I can only handle them in small doses myself, so I can only imagine how they must seem to someone who doesn't have my synth tolerance.

Yet they are brilliant in their way. Their best songs are phenomenal slices of pop, and as my mom always said, a good pop song is a beautiful thing. Plus, if you ever want to try exercising, it's some great workout music.
Erasure- Drama!

Speaking of ridiculous synth-pop, this is a favorite of mine. It's by an Australian group and has been turned into a terrible EBM cover. Yet this is the original. Six and some minutes of pure over-the-top synth-pop. Right now.
Real Life- Send Me an Angel

What were you thinking of?

2006-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

Liverpool is known for one band. There is no getting around that. Yet more than one band came from the town, more than one good band even, and even without the big name Liverpool would still have a respected place in music history.

One of my favorite Liverpool bands is Echo & the Bunnymen. I've been listening to them a lot since I came back from vacation, because I'm in Seattle and it's winter, which means rain. Echo & the Bunnymen sound great in the rain. A lot of Northern English bands sound great in the rain. I didn't appreciate the Bunnymen enough until I came to Seattle a few years ago and found grey and rain. Now, of course, I love them.

I suppose this is psychedelia. That's what I keep reading. I'm not sure I understand that description, though. To me, psychedelia is fairly light and often nonsensical, and can't be improved by the rain. I have a vision of psychedelia that involves paisley and the sixties, and while there is nothing wrong with that it isn't how I see a lot of the eighties bands that get the psychedelic title.

That is evolution. The best way to be influenced is to not make it everything that you do. Echo & the Bunnymen take the influence of psychedelic music and make something else entirely, something that is more than just replaying their old records. They add levels to it. Build upon what was. In the process they make something new, something that is far enough away from old psychedelia. Something darker and often sadder. Something that sounds great in the rain.
Echo & the Bunnymen- The Back of Love

All music scenes tend to be rather incestuous, and Liverpool early-80's neo-psyechedelia is no exception from this. The admittedly batshit Teardrop Explodes singer Julian Cope was in a band with Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen before forming The Teardrop Explodes. Cope is an interesting figure. He did a lot of drugs and spent a year collecting toy cars. Often, though, he's rather brilliant.
The Teardrop Explodes- Reward

2005-12-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning thinking of the Pogues. That happens sometimes. Not always with the Pogues, but occasionally I'll wake up and have a song in my head. Today it was a Pogues song.

I like the Pogues. I like Ireland. I've always been kind of fascinated by the country, despite having absolutely no Irish in me. However, Irish music has not always been something I've enjoyed. A friend of mine did step-dancing competitively and went through a period where all he listened to was traditional Irish much, and I nearly went insane.

The Pogues are different, though. It's not just Irish music, it's punk music, a combination rising from the Irish diaspora. They were a London band thinking of Ireland. They also had a charismatically insane singer in the form of the shambling Shane McGowan, the poster boy for why you shouldn't drink too much. Also for why you should brush your teeth. As the Pogues grew in popularity and prestige, Shane grew more and more erratic, missing dates and recording sessions and causing the other Pogues to kick him out of the band.

But whatever the case of Shane, the Pogues were a fantastic, singular band. The more recent Irish punks don't do it quite the same. They do just the right combination of traditional and new, infusing the older with punk's energy without losing the respect for it. There is also the storytelling gift of McGowan. For all his faults he is a brilliant poet, and the Pogues show that off brilliantly.

Two Pogues songs today, one a traditional and one a McGowan original, both from second album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash. The traditional is sung by the Pogues' original bassist, Cait O'Riordan, who would go on to marry the album's producer Elvis Costello. The other one is, of course, sung by Shane. Enjoy.
The Pogues: I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day
The Pogues: A Pair of Brown Eyes

2005-12-19T23:18:00.000-08:00

Wow. I am the worst blogger ever, seriously. I'm sorry. I blame finals, which are now done. I am now officially done with this quarter. Off to the next.

So today to celebrate I watched the recent Elvis Costello videos collection. I believe it's called The Right Spectacle. I love music video collections. I buy them whenever I can, particularly if I haven't seen most of the videos, which was true with this one.

I love Elvis Costello a whole insane lot. The videos are awesome, particularly the early-80's one. The thing about Elvis Costello videos is that he is into it. You wouldn't expect that of him, but he's throwing himself into the acting and whatever they're doing in the video. It's pretty fantastic. He's more into it than any member of Duran Duran, even Simon. The effects are often cheesy and the filming is odd, but they're very enjoyable. Elvis dances. It's great.

I love Elvis Costello for obvious reasons. He is a great songwriter. He is a great singer. He is incredibly creative, fascinating as a person, and there is not enough space on the blog for me to post all my favorite Elvis Costello songs.

I also highly recommend the Elvis Costello remasters that Rhino did. Is there anything Rhino can't do? These ones are particularly fantastic because they sound great and they have an extra disc of bonuses and they cost the same as they would be without the extras. A particular favorite from the remasters is this version of "Man Out Of Time", the original version according to the awesome written-by-Costello liner notes. This is the rough version, the version that the screaming intro and outro in the album version is from. Pretty neat, huh?
Elvis Costello: Man Out of Time

Also, it's the end of the year. Obviously. And like everyone else, I have a best-of-the-year list. I debated posting it here, since this is a retro blog, but even I listen to new music occasionally. So I made a list of it to send in to the Rainydawg music director. This is the list of albums that I really liked this year. I was discussing it at a party of station people and got slightly scornful feedback, but I care not. These are the albums I truly enjoyed. I may be missing some great records that I just didn't hear, but of the ones I did I liked these. In this order, actually.

1. Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better
2. The Decemberists: Picaresque
3. Sleater-Kinney: The Woods
4. Gogol Bordello: Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike
5. Antony & the Johnsons: I am a Bird Now
6. Xiu Xiu: La Forêt
7. Sigur Rós: Takk...
8. New Order: Waiting For the Siren's Call
9. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
10. The Real Tuesday Weld: The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid

Of course, they have little to do with this blog, so here's a song by The Normal instead. One of the two they ever released. And it's not "Warm Leatherette".
The Normal: T.V.O.D.

It's all such fun.

2005-12-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of updates. I'd had some weird computer issues (DiskWarrior to the rescue!) and I got myself a new iPod (The Black Marquess) which took a long time to update. I have also been writing a paper. This is finals week. It is hard.

I'm taking a break from studying Psychobiology of Women to update. As I am studying a class with that title, I figure I should focus on one of my favorite women in rock. Now, that could mean a lot of people. There have been many women who are just incredible, and I could spend a long time just going over them. Today, though, I'm going with one of the queens, the one and only Siouxsie Sioux.

Siouxsie was one of the original punks. She was also one of the originals to wear Nazi insignia, but we can forgive her for that, can't we? She was a luminary in that original scene, playing in a band with Sid Vicious before forming her own group. What she's known for, though, is her contribution to the goth scene. She can be credited for inventing the look of the early goth girls, and it's clear that the Banshees are one of the seminal bands of the movement.

Of course, she's separated herself from the scene, but they all do that. I won't get into Andrew Eldritch here.

I was lucky enough to see Siouxsie last year. She was absolutely brilliant, and still an incredibly commanding performer. When it comes to the oft-abused term "women in rock" (Madonna? Sheryl Crow? Get real), very few can be ranked higher than Ms. Sioux.
Siouxsie & the Banshees- Christine

Like anyone who is awesome, Siouxsie has her share of admirers and imitators. One that isn't mentioned as often is Scotland's Altered Images. In fact, they can owe whatever success they had to Siouxsie and the Banshees, as they sent in a demo tape that impressed the group enough to have them open several dates to them, and have Steve Severin produce some of their early work. I first heard of them from the awesomely bubbly "Happy Birthday", which still ends up on every single birthday mix I make. From that song alone one would assume that they were some sort of Scandinavian pop group. That impression changed the first time I heard more than "Happy Birthday", which was really more of a bright fluke than anything else. The real Altered Images are darker, but with chirpy vocals. It's a pretty interesting juxtaposition.
Altered Images- Dead Pop Stars

The TV sound

2005-12-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

So I love Duran Duran. It's something that I've never hidden, and lately I've been feeling vindicated with my Duran love. Everyone lately is namechecking them, and I believe it's about time.

They fall into my leftfield pop category, although some might put them more pop than leftfield. Still, there is something endearingly weird and slightly off about Duran Duran, despite the model girlfriends and the top-10 hits. They were an art band. They wanted to be Roxy Music.

No one personifies that desire like my hero Nick Rhodes. Nick, for those not in the know, is the keyboardist of Duran Duran. He formed the band with bassist John Taylor when he was 16. He got married in the mid-80's and wore a pink tuxedo and more makeup than I know how to put on. They have since divorced, but it was still the best wedding ever. He released a book of Polaroid photographs and was the voice of a Canadian fighter pilot in the South Park movie. And he still wears eye makeup and fabulous suits.

Why do I bring up a description of Nick Rhodes? Because he proves a lot about Duran Duran. There was always something more to their pop, some theory and art to it. Even their rise was a bit artier than normal, which is hard to think of now that the music video is so utterly common. As Duran Duran was starting to rise, however, it was a whole new field to experiment with, and they went to it with gusto.

That has been one of the complaints about Duran Duran, that without videos they would be nowhere. This is ridiculous for a lot of reasons, but I'm not going to mention them now. Instead, I want to raise the question- what's wrong with videos? If done well, they are art as much as any other form of entertainment is. David Bowie knew that extremely early, and in their way, so did Duran Duran.

Perhaps it's what seems to be the standard bias against visuals in music. Visual presentation is extremely important and extremely maligned, and again, there is no better representation of that paradox than Duran Duran. Visuals contributed to their rise, but also to their lack of respect until now.

Of course, for them, that's changing. Time makes the heart fonder or something like that, but now the music of Duran Duran is talked about in glowing terms. It's overdue in my opinion, but what do I know? Listen for yourself. This is my favorite Duran Duran song, but it's hard to pick.
Duran Duran- Careless Memories

In the comments a little while ago the "Starry Eyes" compilation came up. It's one of the DIY series that Rhino put out awhile back, the second "UK Pop" one. These were great compilations, ones that I've plucked up every time I'm lucky enough to spot one. They deal with punk in a very broad sense, going into power-pop and more experimental things as well. Most of the best songs from the DIY series ended up on either the No Thanks! or Left of the Dial boxsets, but for whatever reason many from this particular compilation didn't. I don't know why. So since it's hard to find, I'm going to be posting my favorite cuts of the DIY series for the next whenever.

My mom is really into a jam band from New Orleans called The Radiators. This isn't them. Rather, this is a short-lived pop-punk band from Dublin that contains a future member of the Pogues. They released two albums and disappeared by 1979. But here's proof they existed.
The Radiators- Let's Talk About The Weather

Manifesto

2005-12-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am going to see Pretty Girls Make Graves and Andrew WK. I'm looking forwards to this, as the former band have a part in the origin story of This Was The Modern World.

The idea for this whole blog/radio show/thing comes from two main sources. First is a party I went to my senior year of high school (so about 4 years now) where I met a guy who was dressed nearly exactly like Elvis Costello on the cover of his first album. I mentioned it to him, and he said he'd never heard an Elvis Costello album. I thought it might be hipster irony, but he was serious. I was shocked. How could you like music- and this boy liked all the right bands of the time period- and not be aware of Elvis Costello? Particularly if you're dressed like him. It was mindblowing.

The other was when I heard of the band Pretty Girls Make Graves. They were pretty popular at my school at the time. I liked them, but I couldn't help but sneer that these kids who liked the band had probably never even heard the Smiths song they are named after. So with these two ideas in my head I made my very first This Was the Modern World project- a mixtape for the aforementioned boy dressed like Elvis Costello. But the idea stuck, and when I got to college the next year and discovered Rainydawg I knew I had to turn this mixtape into a show. I wanted to educate my fellow students into the great music from the past. It's important to know your history.

So here I am now, a junior at the University of Washington. My collection has expanded, and This Was the Modern World has turned into a whole slew of ideas for me, of which this blog is the first. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep expanding.

So here's a bit of what started it all. The Smiths and Elvis Costello. Both are top-10 favorites of mine, so they'll get a bigger post in the future, but I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today.

The Smiths- Pretty Girls Make Graves
Elvis Costello- Less Than Zero

For the first time in my life I'm sure

2005-11-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

I was raised on the Replacements. Among other things, of course. My parents are very into music, which was passed off on me, if you haven't noticed. My father always loved the Replacements and soon after I started getting into music I became a fan as well.

The sound of the Replacements is what I think of when I think of rock music. It's hard to qualify "rock". It's a very broad category, with a lot of options. Is Depeche Mode rock? Culture Club? Kraftwerk? This gets into semantics and the sort of genre delineations that music critics love. But when I think of rock in the less-broad sense, as electric guitars and drums, I think of the Replacements.

To me they're kind of the essence of what is right with the form. They were drunk and disorderly with beautiful, emotional songs. I have a feeling of them as a direct rock band, which isn't a category I tend to gravitate towards. I like my rock bands to sound less like classic rock bands and more…well, odd. And while some might call the Replacements odd, I call them basic.

They also continue my tradition of loving an album that isn't loved by history. Pleased to Meet Me seems to get a lot of criticism, that it's too clean and produced. This might be because it was released after they kicked Bob Stinson out of the band. However, when I first heard it I didn't know any of these things, and only knew that it had some awesome songs. This seems to be a bit of a trend with me- I also love Wild Mood Swings by the Cure and Earthling by David Bowie. Of course, I've learned to love other albums, but this was the one that got me hooked, and I was always fascinated by this song. It's as dark as anything the Cure ever did…
The Replacements- The Ledge

So that's rock, I guess. Hard to say what rock really is. This is rock too, but different. When I first learned about Cromwell's New Model Army in history class in high school, I thought that would make an awesome band name. Apparently, I wasn't the only one, as the post-punk band New Model Army was formed in 1980. I first heard this song from a goth compilation I picked up. The more I've learned about them, the less they have anything to do with goth. They're a bit darker, but really, they're a political post-punk band. They even get some folk influence in on them.

I just fell in love with this song. It's hard to find a lot of New Model Army records, although I heard a rumor that remasters were on the way. Here's hoping.
New Model Army- Vengeance

Whew!

2005-11-29T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, that was a trying week. I get very cranky without my computer. However, now I have lovely things to say about the Apple repair people. The Thin White Duke (if you've ever seen an iBook that's an apt name) is back, files intact, and they even cleaned it.

I'll have a real update tomorrow, but until then here's a repost that was requested. I am but the humble servant of my readers…
Zones- Mourning Star

If you didn't catch it the first time, download it now. It's still one of my favorites.

Delay

2005-11-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

My dear iBook the Thin White Duke (if you've ever seen an iBook it makes sense) has fallen victim to the logic board problem that seems to be plaguing others of its kind. As a result, updates will be halted until it returns from iBook Repair Land. It's very hard to update without my files being around, and I don't think the school would like me hauling my hard drive in and hooking it up to their computers for who knows how long.

Anyway, hopefully it'll be back soon and updates can resume. Until then, have a lovely Thanksgiving.

The new black

2005-11-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

Foetus goes with everything.

Or at least, some incarnation of J.G. Thirlwell does. He's one of those guys who is a deity in a certain subculture (in this case, industrial) but rather unknown outside of it. Industrial has a lot of those when I think about it.

Thirlwell is a man of many talents and many pseudonyms. His main act is mostly called Foetus, although Foetus releases come under many different names (Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath, Foetus Interruptus). Wiseblood is the duo with Roli Mosimann, formerly of Swans. As Clint Ruin he does a whole lot of collaborations. Steriod Maximus and Manorexia are instrumental. He also does the music for one of my favorite current TV shows (that's The Venture Brothers).

Confused yet? Don't be. All you need to know is that he's brilliant.

Most descriptions of Foetus involve the word noise in it somewhere, and that's certainly apt. Foetus tends to be a sonic assault, loud and clanging. But that doesn't stop it from having a certain pop sensibility as well. I know some purists would be up in arms about me calling any Thirlwell project pop, but in some ways a lot of the Foetus work I'm familiar with is. Dark, twisted, screwed-up pop, but nonetheless pop. There's a lot of fun and bizarre humor to Thirlwell's work. So much of noise and industrial takes itself so seriously, and that's certain not what is going on here. The humor mixed in to the sonic blowout is what makes Foetus stand out so much. That and these are some seriously great songs.
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel- Clothes Hoist

Thirlwell also works well with others, particularly others that I'm fond of. I recently got myself a copy of the Marc Almond and Foetus collaboration Flesh Volcano, something I'd been trying to find for a long time. It's not the only Thirlwell/Almond collaboration (the first Marc & the Mambas album has memorable moments from Thirlwell), but it's a particularly interesting one. While to casual fans of both artists this collaboration seems odd, Marc's voice is well-suited to the frantic industrial crush of Foetus. Truly, two great tastes that taste great together. I would really like some chocolates right now.
Marc Almond & Foetus- Flesh Volcano (Slut)

Too much time on my mind.

2005-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

I would like to talk about New Order.

As it is mid-November and I enjoy music, I am putting together my top-10 records of the year. While doing so, I gave another listen to the newest New Order album (Waiting For the Siren's Call) and decided that it is a good album with some fantastic songs (Krafty is still awesome) but a fatal flaw. Namely, the lyrics are far too often God-awful.

Now, Bernard Sumner is not known as a top lyricist. New Order reviews always make fun of the lyrics. I don't think that's entirely fair. Yes, he's not Ian Curtis, lyrically. But that's an impossible bar, and when you actually look at a lot of the New Order lyrics they're pretty good. True Faith, for example, has great lyrics for a pop song (I've always been fond of "when I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me / now that we've grown up together, they're afraid of what they see"). The Perfect Kiss is affecting. There's always been an understated intelligence to New Order lyrics, and despite the critics I've always thought they were interesting.

But things change, and while enjoying a recent listening of Waiting For the Siren's Call I often found myself cringing. Critics had always said New Order lyrics were awful, but now they really are. One of my favorite tracks on the album, "Guilt Is A Useless Emotion", features both the lines "Real love can't be sold/it's another color than gold" and "you sure know a lot for a girl". What?

So what happened? How did this happen? I spend a lot of time on buses so I think about this stuff, and I've come up with theories.

One, he's done too many drugs. This is a distinct possibility. Bernard got involved in the Madchester scene (after all, New Order profits paid for the Haçienda) and, from all accounts, enjoyed it immensely. So a lot of drugs were probably involved, and possibly that lead to a decline in lyric quality. Maybe? I don't know. I'm sure True Faith had a lot of drugs involved, so maybe this isn't valid.

Maybe it's a lack of inspiration. From what I understand, his life is going pretty well these days. He has a wife and two children (I believe this is correct, he doesn't talk much about his personal life), his band is enjoying a renaissance, he's over the loss of Ian Curtis….everything seems to be good. So what does a middle-aged man write about in such a situation? Apparently, airplanes and kind of lame love songs. No offense meant, of course.

That could also go into another theory. It was four years between Get Ready and Waiting for the Siren's Call, but it was eight between Get Ready and Republic. Perhaps the band wanted to get a record out in a shorter period of time, but Bernard didn't have much to write about.

Or perhaps it's more psychological. Enough years of saying that someone is a crap lyricist is going to sink in. Maybe he believes it now. Maybe he thinks that he's going to be criticized anyway, so why bother trying? I don't quite believe this, but it is a possibility my brain came up with.

Really, I have no idea, just too much time on my hands. I'm still debating if Waiting For the Siren's Call ends up on my final list, but that doesn't stop New Order from being one of my favorite bands of all time. Everything about them is fantastic, most of the time, from the mix of electronics and more organic instruments, the actual tunes, Bernard's voice, everything. So I love them a whole lot. Here are some good reasons why.
New Order- Face Up
New Order- Run

Went to a disco, I saw him there

2005-11-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

Whew! Monday already? I got completely distracted. European Union policy does that to you. Anyway, update!

It will surprise absolutely no one that I love the Cure. They were one of the first bands of retro-alternative that I got into in a serious way. I first bought Disintegration in my freshman year of high school and soon found myself collecting all their releases. I used to listen to Wish every Friday.

I'm not sure what it is about the Cure that makes me love them, and I think that's the best way to like a band. They write great songs and have never released a bad album, no matter what critics might say about their back catalogue, particularly their 90's work. That's enough of a reason for any band to be considered great.

The Cure are more than consistency. In a lot of cases it's the inconsistency that I love. The fact that Cure albums rarely stay the same, and that in an album they can do so many kinds of music. They write fantastic pop songs and heart-breaking dirges. They do everything. And yet they still get typecast as strictly doom-and-gloom.

I normally do one song, but I want to do two. Two different sides of the Cure. They deserve it.
The Cure- All Cats are Grey
The Cure- Catch

Speaking of songs I first discovered in high school. I purchased the Rough Trade post-punk collection at the height of my infatuation with post-punk (as a genre, not as a time period) and discovered this sheer oddity of a song. I don't know much about it other than what I read in the booklet, and that wasn't much. All I know is that it sounds like it was recorded by 14-year-olds, and I believe in the Disco Pope.
The Prats- Disco Pope

This is pop?

2005-11-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

Left-field pop is often how I describe my favorite kind of music. I love songs that are catchy and poppy but have a strangeness to them. It's one of the reasons I was so drawn to new-wave music in the beginning of my interest in music. It's pop, sure, but it's still strange, still fascinating. It's short-sighted to simply scorn pop music. Some is crap, true. But as my mom always said, a good pop song is a beautiful thing. A strange pop song is even better.

A great example of that is the music of XTC. There is no denying that XTC is a pop group, but there is also no denying that there is something fundamentally weird about them. The rhythms are jerky, the lyrics off-kilter. Their frontman hasn't performed live since 1982 owing to stage fright. They're clever, quirky, and generally very British, which combined is an easy way to my heart.

XTC has a lot of fantastic songs, and it's very difficult to find a favorite to post. In the end, though, I went with this 1982 classic, written and mostly sung by bassist Colin Moulding (I am a sucker for a good bassist). It was their first substantial British hit, and for good reason. Hear for yourself.
XTC- Making Plans for Nigel

On the other side of the pond, we have Oingo Boingo. Their lead singer has not withdrawn from the public, quite on the contrary. Danny Elfman is now one of today's most prolific and sought-after film composers. But like XTC, they are a fine example of left-field pop.

They're Californians in origin and originally came together to provide music for Elfman's brother Richard's film Forbidden Zone (which has just been re-released on DVD), calling themselves The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Deciding that they liked playing together, they shorted their name to Oingo Boingo, started playing gigs around Los Angeles, and soon gained a dedicated following. Albums followed, and even hits in the form of "Weird Science" and "Dead Man's Party", both of which can be found on many mainstream 80's compilations.

That isn't entirely my interest. I personally became interested in Oingo Boingo the first time I heard the song "Little Girls", which was only enhanced the more I heard from the band. Since then I've been snapping up the albums as soon as I find them. I don't love every song, but I love a lot of them, and that's enough.
Oingo Boingo- On the Outside

The Playboy centerfold leaves me cold.

2005-11-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Whew! Sorry for the lack of updates, but Halloween and midterms combined in a swirling vortex of messing up my schedule entirely. Things are quieting down, though, and Halloween is no longer upon us, so I should get back to regular scheduling. With all luck. Cross your fingers.

For today's update we have Joe Jackson. He's an interesting character, particularly coming out of the time that he does. Working-class but classically-trained, Joe cut his teeth working as the bandleader in the Playboy Club and eventually the pianist and musical director of a cabaret act called Koffee 'n' Kream. Seriously, that was their name. And all this in 1977, known for posterity as the year punk broke. His first albums were brilliant pop, and once he'd proved that he could write such things he moved on, experimenting with jazz, movie scores, and his first love of classical music.

He also wrote a memoir. As a connoisseur of such things, I recommend it highly, even if it’s entirely about his life before getting signed. His real name is David and he used to commute from Portsmouth to London every day. It also provides an interesting contrast to the other characters of the era, from a fiercely intelligent man who loves music in all its forms but was never handsome or cool.

I like Joe for a lot of reasons, but the one thing that stands out in a lot of the songs I particularly like is a sense of his bewilderment at the world, particularly with gender roles. There are very few men who seem sincere when writing about women, and Joe is one of them. His songs are even-handed even though written from the man's point of view, and often he seems genuinely sad that things are the way they are. Unlike the man he's most frequently compared to (that'd be Elvis Costello) his songs convey an attitude of respect. I, personally, like that in a pop song. It's all too rare.
Joe Jackson- It's Different for Girls

Concrete Blonde are a type of band. Mainly, they're the type of band that sometimes I adore and sometimes I can't stand. It's not a timing thing. There are just some songs that I can listen to over and over again and some songs that I hate. It's a strange thing. But when I like them, I like them. They were one of the bands to come out of the Los Angeles post-punk scene, but tend to have an down-to-earth quality that put them at home when they signed to I.R.S. Records in the late 80's (their name was a suggestion from Michael Stipe).

My mom thinks this song is terribly cheesy, and perhaps it is. One review I found called it a less successful Heart single. Ouch. But it's got a fantastic vocal performance and that's what usually tips the scales with me, and sometimes you want to be over the top. This was a top 20 hit, surprisingly enough, from a band that still gets played in goth clubs (write one song about vampires…). And I'm a sucker for it every time.
Concrete Blonde- Joey

Gawth Spectacular!

2005-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

Heya. Sorry for the late update, but I was busy getting tomorrow's awesome show together. I went to see the Decemberists last night and slacked off, but never fear! It's all set now, and I am very excited about it.

I'm doing this show because I've always had this goth streak in me. I don't claim to be a goth, I have too much respect for people who actually are to do that, but I enjoy the subculture. I like a lot of the music, a lot of the fashion, and as a result a lot of the clubs. Goth clubs are fun because there's usually a higher ratio of stuff I like to stuff I don't like.

The classic goth music holds a place in my heart. Mostly either critically ignored or scorned (you should read some of the reviews Bauhaus got when they came out), the early goth music is nonetheless some of the most interesting to emerge from the milieu of the punk splinters. It's dark and it's weird, and in a lot of cases it's pretty fantastic. Sure, there was some crap, but there's crap in every genre. Lately the early goth music has gone somewhat of a critical revival. It's far overdue.

Most of the big names were English. The Virgin Prunes were an exception because they were Irish. I love the Prunes because they might be the weirdest. They did performance art, had two singers, and were generally a very strange gathering. They're also the demented flipside of U2. Ever wondered why the members of a fairly straightforward band like U2 have strange names? It's because when punk hit Dublin, the kids who would make up the Virgin Prunes and U2 all hung out together and gave each other weird names. Some of this group of misfits became megastars, some of this group kept their credibility- although, to be fair, learning about the Virgin Prunes led me to rediscovering early U2. They still hang out. One of the 500 names Bono gave his son was Guggi.
The Virgin Prunes- Pagan Lovesong

This band, however, is English. From Leeds, which seemed to be common. I sent a mix to my friend that had this song on it, and she freaked out because apparently the lead singer is now the leader of a Celtic rock band she somewhat stalks. We had no idea about this. I mainly think that this is a awesome song, in the extremely overblown sort of way. Some people hate this song. Some people love it. But yes, we'll get by.
The Bolshoi- Away

Listen in tomorrow, for all this and more. The Halloween Goth Spectacular is here!

Are you looking for another girl?

2005-10-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

There is something about the mundane as a song topic that draws me. Sure, I love a song that is dramatic and over-emotional, but I love the flipside of that, too. Sometimes the simplest things are the most affecting.

Kristy MacColl was an expert at that. Her early Stiff work is an example of the mundane as art, of the sadness and sweetness of ordinary life. Daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl (writer of 'Dirty Old Town', among others), she started in music in her teens, signing to Stiff Records and eventually moving to Polydor. The early Stiff songs are just the sort of songs I tend to fall for- bittersweet relationship songs, sweetly sung with just the right amount of inflection to make it really moving.

I just heard this song recently and I've really fallen for it. It is simple. Your friend moves away, you miss him, you hope he's happy. There are little touches to make it specific, grounding the song in the reality that makes it so moving.
Kirsty MacColl- He's On the Beach

Of course, the masters of this form are the Pet Shop Boys. No one does heartbreaking and ordinary quite like them. Neil Tennant is the master of the exact inflection needed to truly make this style work. Every word is carefully chosen, even the throwaway filler important. I went through a time period of trying to write a story that felt like the way a Pet Shop Boys song sounded, and never quite got it right.
The Pet Shop Boys- Only the Wind

All I desire!

2005-10-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

Synthpop is a great love of mine. It makes up a large portion of my collection. I refuse to believe that it's of less importance than any other sort of pop music, or any more disposable. Definitions like that are always relative. But that's a whole other thing. The point is, I love synthpop.

You can't discuss synthpop without discussing the Human League, in its various forms. They're one of those stories that I love retelling because there's so much drama involved. They were one of the very first, out of Sheffield, England. Consisting originally of synth players Martyn Ware & Ian Marsh, singer Phil Oakey, and projectionist (that means he did visuals) Adrian Wright, their intention was to make pop music consisting entirely of electronic instruments. In 1977 that was a revolutionary concept. This lineup released two albums now considered to be classics, Reproduction and Travelogue. By 1980, the sound that the League had pioneered was becoming the rage, although they themselves didn't quite get the success they wanted, and internal tensions led to Ware and Marsh leaving the band. They left Oakey and Wright with the name (in exchange for 1% of their future royalties), and formed the production group British Electronic Foundation, and then combining with singer Glenn Gregory to create Heaven 17.

Wright learned to play a synth and Oakey recruited some girl singers he met at a disco. The revamped Human League ended up becoming one of the most successful and best-loved groups of the 80's, despite bickering in the press from the Heaven 17 members and a consensus that they "inventive" ones, rather than Oakey and Wright. Not to say that Heaven 17 were just underground elitists- 1983's The Luxury Gap produced several hits of their own (that somehow ended up sounding a lot like those Human League singles).

Today, though, both occupy a place of honor, and that's really the way it should be. Music wouldn't be the same without them.
The Human League- Love Action (I Believe In Love)
Heaven 17- Temptation

Double the fun!

2005-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

There will not be an update Friday, so today's will have twice the songs. There will not be an update Friday because I am doing something very important, namely seeing Bauhaus on their current reunion tour. This is extremely exciting. Therefore, to gear myself up, this will be a Bauhaus-themed entry.

Bauhaus is a wonderful band. Bauhaus is one of my favorite bands. Taking punk and combining it with glam, dub, horror films, and a hint of Catholic imagery, they birthed a new genre. Whatever you think about the evolved form of goth, Bauhaus is a fantastic band on their own merits, and finally critical opinion is heading in that direction.

On all levels they were a force. Shy and stammering when the band was formed, frontman Peter Murphy turned into a madman onstage, shrieking and terrifying the audience, and Daniel Ash's guitar sound has never been duplicated. The rhythms provided by brothers Kevin Haskins and David J. (as well as David J's dub collection) were taut and sparse, adding another layer of spooky. But despite all the black and the reputation that goth would gain with time, Bauhaus had a keen sense of humor and the ability to not take themselves too seriously. Songs like Scopes and Small Talk Stinks prove that. They also had a unique way of doing things, as evidenced by their classic cover of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (their only top-20 hit). Critics at the time accused Bauhaus of being only glam, and specifically Bowie, copyists. Their response? Record what was possibly David Bowie's most famous song and release it as a single with the trademark Aladdin Sane lightning bolt over their Bauhaus face logo. They were truly a band who did things their own way, which is why their legend has survived.
Bauhaus- Dark Entries
Bauhaus- Swing the Heartache

All good things must come to an end, and reunion tours notwithstanding the same is true for Bauhaus. They broke up in 1983 due to tension in the band (mainly between Ash and Murphy). Ash brought drummer Haskins into his Tones on Tail project, while Murphy formed Dali's Car with ex-Japan bassist Mick Karn (it sounds exactly like you'd think it would). Those projects both fell apart by 1985 and J, Haskins, and Ash approached Murphy about reforming Bauhaus. He refused and started a solo career instead. Undaunted, they formed Love & Rockets instead.

While neither Love & Rockets nor Peter Murphy's solo career ever sounded much like Bauhaus, they both produced excellent work as well as hits (Love & Rockets with "So Alive" in 1989, Peter Murphy with "Cuts You Up" a year later). Murphy's voice improved in technique, soon taking its place among the best in rock. Love & Rockets explored the psychedelic and glam aspects underneath Bauhaus, becoming one of the most beloved of the 80s. Yet the memory of Bauhaus lives on, and with the rise of the young deathrockers it's unlikely that their influence will ever fade.
Love & Rockets- Yin and Yang The Flowerpot Man (Remix)
Peter Murphy- Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem

If you like the Bauhaus (and I hope you do), next week, in honor of Halloween, I will be doing posts entirely on goth. This will cumulate in next Saturday's all-goth radio show. Enjoy!

Hit it, pause it, record and play!

2005-10-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

My dad got me into Bow Wow Wow. My dad got me into a lot of bands, actually. He always had excellent taste, and many years driving in his car passed this onto me. When I started to express an interest in music he started discussing it with me. So I learned a lot from him. I also have to say my mother had an influence, but this post is mainly about my dad. My dad likes rock bands with female singers. By that I mean real rock bands with female singers, not whoever ends up on a VH1 countdown about "girls in rock". Blondie, X, Sleater-Kinney, etc.

Bow Wow Wow is certainly in that category. Lead singer Anabella Lwin was discovered by Malcolm McLaren while working in a Laundromat, at 14. This was after the breakup of the Sex Pistols and McClaren needed something else to do. He had been hired by Adam Ant for image advice, but instead decided to steal his band and pair them with Lwin (although he did introduce him to Burundi drumming). New band intact, McClaren had them embrace controversy whenever possible, whether it was having underage Lwin be photographed nude for album covers or by writing songs celebrating home taping. But the music itself wasn't neglected. Bow Wow Wow made use of the tribal drumming that McClaren suggested to Adam Ant, as well as the breathy franticness of Lwin's singing, combining it into some bizarre, fantastic pop. If all you know is I Want Candy, you know nothing.

Besides, Bow Wow Wow is where I got my name from.
Bow Wow Wow- C30 C60 C90 Go!

I don't know if my dad likes Liliput, but I'm sure he does. Formed in 1979 in Zurich as a result of a Sex Pistols show and originally called Kleenex (Kleenex-the-corporation made them change their name), they were one of the most interesting and influential post-punk bands. Four girls, a lot of noise, and some pretty catchy melodies to go with that. And some whistling.
Liliput- Die Matrosen

2005-10-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in updates, it's been crazy and busy and all sorts of adjectives here. However, I have decided on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule for This Was the Modern World (blog form). From now on, look for updates on those days. I promise that I'll be good. And, of course, there's a radio show on Saturday. If you miss said radio show, you can access it for a week afterwards on Rainydawg Radio, on the side where it says "Archive". It's Saturday 9-11.

Anyway, to the important stuff.

As I said in the last entry, I love compilations. They're great for discovering bands or finding songs that are otherwise out of print. An example of the latter- Adam and the Ants' "Deutscher Girls" (one of the best early songs), is not on any Adam and the Ants albums or collections, but it can be found on an odd little compilation entitled Punk You. Compilations are a great resource.

I found this band through a compilation. I was intrigued enough to purchase the album. Synth-pop is generally considered to be a specialty of the British and Europeans, but occasionally an American group sneaks through and Anything Box is one such group. Their first album was released in 1990 (so they're just barely scraping in) and produced this song, which I've been enchanted with for ages. They were always a group that the dance floor loved more than the charts and this song only got to number 65 when it was released, but in my mind it's a classic. Synth-pop can be beautiful and this proves it.
Anything Box- Living In Oblivion

It goes without saying since I do my show on a college radio station, but I am a college student. This quarter I'm taking two classes dealing with sexuality, which means that this song often comes into my head. Human Sexual Response were a band out of Boston considered to have great promise at the time, but kind of faded away after two records. However, before they could do that, they left the world with a great debut record and some really fantastic, irreverent, post-punk pop songs. This one is my favorite, and apt to come into my head during the long Sociology of Sexuality lectures. Really livens things up.
Human Sexual Response- What Does Sex Mean To Me?

2005-10-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

This summer I spent what most people would consider too much effort tracking down the solo career of Marc Almond. Marc has been one of my favorite singers ever since I first heard the entirety of Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (the influence of my father). That album not only made me re-evaluate the concept of the one-hit wonder, but it also gave me a love of the weirdness and contradictions that are Marc Almond.

Mostly known as a pop singer thanks to the still resonating Tainted Love, Marc nonetheless has quite the pedigree in goth and experimental music, working with luminaries such as Genesis P-Orridge, Nick Cave, and Jim Thirlwell of Foetus. His own work is an amalgamation of classic cabaret and dark dance, sprinkled with a few Jacques Brel covers for good measure. Picking the song for this post was difficult. I'm a big fan and I found a lot of his records this summer. I have every intention of making my way through most, if not all, of Marc & the Mambas' Torment and Toreros on the show and those might end up here eventually. For now, though, I'm going with the song that made me a fan of Marc's solo work.
Marc Almond- Mother Fist

A bit of a random one for the second song today, and a favorite of the show. I discovered this song from a compilation (I love compilations for finding bands) and have been a big fan of it ever since. Zones were one of countless power-pop bands to spring up in the late seventies and early eighties in England (1979 for this band). Formerly most of Scottish poppers Slik, a group that would also produce Midge Ure, Zones released one sadly forgotten album before fading below the radar. Interestingly enough, this particular song would become the Ultravox song Hymn, Ultravox led at this point by Ure, the only member of Slik who wasn't in Zones.

Get that?
Zones- Mourning Star

2005-10-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's on now.

2005-10-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

And I'm back!

The Internet is up and running at my new apartment, which means I'm back to blogging. I plan to get into a regular schedule here and make it something interesting, or at least vaguely entertaining.

Don't forget to tune in to This Was the Modern World the radio show. It goes on tomorrow, 9-11 PM Pacific Standard Time. I've just been working on the playlist and I can assure you it will be fab.

Speaking of fab, Klaus Nomi. This summer The Nomi Song, the documentary of his life, was released on DVD, which means I finally got to see it. It had done a tour of theaters that always seemed to conflict with something else, like leaving the country. However, I picked up a copy of the DVD and my love of this extraordinary talent was rekindled. An opera buff with a soprano range and a space-alien persona, Klaus stands completely unmatched in pop music. He was born in Germany in the mid-40's, moved to New York City in 1972, and had invented the Nomi persona by 1978. In 1979 he appeared on Saturday Night Live as one of David Bowie's backup singers and it seemed like he was about to take off.

Yet it wasn't to be. Klaus instead became one of the first well-known figures to die of AIDS, in 1983, after two albums. His memory stayed towards the fringes until recently, with the widespread release of The Nomi Song and revival of interest in the late 70's New York art scene. Hopefully some remasters will be in order soon.
Klaus Nomi- Lightening Strikes

And for something completely different, The Vapors. Nearly entirely known for the song 'Turning Japanese' and in a lot of cases one of the definitions of one-hit wonder. But that's not the whole story. The Vapors were discovered by none other than Bruce Foxton of the Jam and managed by Paul Weller's father, so they had quite a pedigree. Bad luck and bad timing contributed to their never quite getting another hit, but they definitely had better songs. This one is my favorite. Regular listeners have probably heard it before.
The Vapors- Jimmie Jones

And that's it for the night. I hope you all listen in tomorrow!

Remember!

2005-09-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Not a real music-filled update (I still don't have Internet at the new place) but something just as good. A reminder.

This Was the Modern World the radio show happens tomorrow! It's the first show of the new quarter and it's going to be awesome, if I do say so myself. 9-11 PM Pacific Standard Time (10-12 MST, 11-1 CST, 12-2 EST) make sure you're around a computer. Go to Rainydawg Radio to listen.

I'll get back to regular posting once I have Internet.

Everything I need to know about eyeliner I learned from glam rock.

2005-09-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

About to head back to Seattle, and Rainydawg. The show starts up again this Saturday. However, I'm going into a new apartment and I'm not sure when my Internet will be up and running (hopefully soon, I go through withdrawls). So until then, here's another update. With luck the next one will be soon.

Today's update involves Cockney Rebel. Cockney Rebel are one of my favorite discoveries of my high-school glam phase. Every teenager should go through a glam phase. It introduces one to a lot of weirdness and a lot of classics at a time when they're really needed. Also, while you're ogling the boys in Velvet Goldmine you're hearing some fantastic music.

Cockney Rebel are one of those such bands. I discovered them entirely through Velvet Goldmine and I'll acknowledge that. David Bowie wouldn't let his songs be used in the movie so other glam had to be found, and that lead to the use of Cockney Rebel. I went looking for their CDs. It took me on and off searching of a few years- they're still sadly obscure in the States. Eventually I got a couple of albums and was blown away. They're a strange band, a very interesting sound, and they deserve more recognition. I play this song a lot on the show- it's my favorite.
Cockney Rebel- The Psychomodo

Since I started discussing life lessons from watching Velvet Goldmine when you're 15, I'll continue the theme. What we have here is Brian Eno, but not the ambient, U2-producing Brian Eno we know today. This is the Brian Eno that just quit Roxy Music and was still rocking the bald-but-longhaired-with-eyeshadow look. His first solo album, Here Come the Warm Jets, picks up much where his work with Roxy Music left off and points to where he might be going in the future. Strange avant-garde slightly nonsensical glam. I fell in love with it at first listen.
Brian Eno- Dead Finks Don't Talk"

Welcome

2005-09-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new, improved, shiny black center of command and information dissemination for This Was the Modern World. Not only will this tell you everything that's going on with the radio show, but it will also function as a more standard music blog where I will be posting songs that I think you should hear.

There's a reason my interests include "forcing music on other people".

The show itself doesn't get running again until October 1 and it'll be starting at 9 o'clock PM Pacific Standard Time. Until then, here are a couple of songs that I picked up during my stay in London. I was there for approximately 3 months and accumulated enough music that I had to ship all the CDs back.

These two songs I will always associate with each other and with London, since that's where I heard the most of them. Eighties revival is in full swing and I can't say I'm not pleased, because that means we get loving remasters of the great music of the period. While it also leads to travesties like Rock Star: INXS and bad hair revival, remastered Japan CDs are worth it.

Japan were always ahead of the curve, anticipating fashion and music trends by a year or two, and in the late seventies and early eighties a year or two is an awful lot of time. They embraced make-up and synthesizers while most groups were embracing safety pins and badly played electric guitars. England wasn't ready for them, but they gained fame in Japan (isn't that surprising?) and by 1981 the sound they'd already been doing became the hot new thing in England. They had a completely bizarre top-10 hit ("Ghosts"), but one of the band members stole another's girlfriend and they broke up in 1983, soon to be eclipsed by bands who actually liked writing pop songs. "Quiet Life" is the title track of their 1979 album, which I finally found in England. I became a bit obsessed with this song. I could describe it, but how about you just listen for yourself?
Japan: Quiet Life

And the song that my head often pairs it with. If Japan were the inventors of new romantic, Visage was the embodiment. Lead by a club personality/promoter, and rounded out by a punk veteran and several members of Magazine, they are the ideal of a New Romantic band. Fashionable to a fault, dancy, electronic-based, and some would say a little pretentious, this song is the genre. If you don't love it there's no hope for you.
Visage: Fade to Grey