Which was the worst band to come out of the Athens, GA boom of the 80's?

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There were quite a few that wallowed in mediocrity, but none sucked as hard as Love Tractor.

― paul cox (paul cox), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 21:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Totally OT but once I was talking to somebody from Atlanta who went on and on about how shit Athens was. Anyway we got into an argument about something else altogether, but it was forgotten the next day. I said, "Just ignore what I said yesterday, I was doing crystal meth" and he said "No problem, I was smoking crack the whole time, I was probably being an asshole too." Wasn't there a band called Art in America? What a name. Kids on acid say the darndest things!

― dave q, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 21:25 (twenty-three years ago)

you know, Love Tractor were the first thing that came to my mind as well.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yup. They showed an Art in America video on MTV, and I remember that the freakin' band, song, and album title were all "Art in America."

Anyway. Love Tractor's vocal songs were often regrettable (in particular, the album This Ain't No Outerspace Ship, and especially the cover of "Party Train"). But their instrumentals were great...kind of a non-ethnic (non-ska, non-country, non-...) sounding Camper Van Beethoven or non-clinical (not a jab, btw) sounding Pell Mell. Certainly not the worst Athens band.

Hmmm...(thinking of what was on the Athens, GA: Inside/Out soundtrack). Maybe Dreams So Real or the Squalls.

― Ernest P., Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually liked Dreams So Real. I think. It's been quite a long time since I listened to "Rough Night in Jericho," so my affection may have dwindled.

― paul cox (paul cox), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:15 (twenty-three years ago)

there was a worse band than REM? Amazing.

― Charlie (Charlie), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Apart from the odd single, PYLON could be pretty dire.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Ack! Not Pylon. I'd have a hard time picking a song of theirs I don't like.

Kilkenny Cats were pretty one dimensional, though.

― paul cox (paul cox), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 22:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know if it's the worst, but it's the one that's always perplexed me...

Hindu Love Gods

― steve k, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:30 (twenty-three years ago)

You're probably referring to Art In The Dark - I think Art In America was from another region. I have Art In The Dark's debut EP, which is a total Chronic Town/Murmur ripoff. Still, it has its charms as a period piece.

Worst band? Guadalcanal Diary and Bar-B-Q Killers were both pretty bad.

― Mike Appelstein (mike a), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:31 (twenty-three years ago)

i dunno, but the best is obviously the homeless guy ethan was telling me about who plays nelly songs on a sears acoustic.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:32 (twenty-three years ago)

the indigo grrrrls.

― gygax!, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, but the Indigo Girls were from Atlanta. Different scene.

Swimming Pool Q's weren't too hot, either.

― Mike Appelstein (mike a), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:40 (twenty-three years ago)

there was a worse band than REM? Amazing.

I was just waiting for some smartass to say R.E.M. :-)

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 23:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually like all the bands listed so far except for Dreams So Real.

― brg30 (brg30), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 00:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I stopped in here after visiting the REM thread above. I went to school in Athens briefly during the Chronic Town/Murmur heyday, just in time to catch the town's active, quirky, and fun-loving music scene turn careerist and monolithic. While a great many of the boom bands were sickeningly unoriginal and misguided, the actual WORST BAND would have to be the Squalls. They should have been playing community potlucks, not clubs.

While Love Tractor was always a little underwhelming, they had a couple of nice tunes (I'm fond of their cover of Kraftwerk's "Neon Lights," which sounds as if it were written about Nashville instead of Dusseldorf or wherever). And while I hated the BBQ Killers the first several times I saw them, I came to enjoy their antics (more interesting than their music at least) and I still own their album, if only for the cover.

― Lee G (Lee G), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Am I the first current/longtime Athenian to post? Anyhow, Jess nails best act, although BBQ Killers get an honorable mention and 8-Track Gorilla's early years. Oh, and Star Room Boys maybe. Worst Athens act is a current Cat Power knockoff who go by the name of 'Lovers'. By a mile.

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 7 November 2002 05:31 (twenty-three years ago)

My brother goes to UGA..

I can't say I've heard many 80's Athens bands except for stuff like REM... the worst I've heard is Swimming Pool Q's.

― Curtis Stephens, Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:33 (twenty-three years ago)

They're Atlantan

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 8 November 2002 05:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Cat Power ripoff?! dear lord!

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 8 November 2002 07:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Matos - back when Chuck Eddy was inviting submissions from ILxors (except me), um yesterday, I was thinking of doing a writeup on various Cat Power knockoffs and the cult of Chan Marshall (I even had a potential/awful title - "Marshall Islands", groan). I was going to involve Lovers, this Cat Power tribute that's floating around that's a little cruel to mock, invoke the new Smog comp, maybe call Tara Jane O'Neill unappreciated, I don't know. Anyhow, yeah, Lovers - uh, beyond awful (I have friends in common with the pseudoChan, who in turn are also friends with Conor Oberst, although less and less since he apparently has let success really go to his head. This town is hell sometimes.) If it was done as a joke (and I almost started a slo-core/ flake-core / moody Americana parody act where I would whisper or tremble sing AC/DC songs with someone occaisionally playing a piano note, but Will Oldham beat me to the punch with his "Big Balls" cover) it might be amusing at least but let me tell you there isn't the slightest trace of humor to this girl.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 8 November 2002 08:08 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Re: the squalls.
that fisrt song on inside/out is pretty ok, enought so to make me want to hear more. what a mistake. there were a lot of pretty terrible folky pop bands back then. all kind of new agey and gross.

― danh (danh), Friday, 23 July 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't remember the Squalls. I liked the Swimming Pool Qs a lot (*way* more than REM); I forget what Love Tractor sounded like in the old days (though their comeback album a couple years wasn't bad), but they definitely weren't as good as the Method Actors, whose 10-inch EP I wish I still owned, and I wish I also still owned the 10-inch EP by Pylon, who defintely had more than one or two good songs.

― chuck, Friday, 23 July 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

x is better than y who are better than z whose first album is better than the third album of q who sound a lot like s who really are just ripping off of l, whose first record is the best of all time, except for the fourteenth by d. maybe.

― opinions suck, Friday, 23 July 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

M is better than x, y and z combined.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, it might be fun to come up with a completely believable statement based on opinions suck's post, only with all the blanks filled in with band names.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

M (who has a 25th Anniversary of Pop Muzik compilation out!) was definitely better than Q, actually. Better than GQ, too! But not better than Boney M.

― chuck, Friday, 23 July 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

what about the dude who sang "Goodbye Horses?"

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm with opinions suck -- X ruled, at least until Billy Zoom left.

― briania (briania), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Billy Zoom's back, though...and when I saw them last year, he was totally macking on some girls in the front row and it was kind of disgusting.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

yikes - he's like 80 now right?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

man i haven't seen that nelly dude in forever, but motherfuckers playing bongos? still here.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 23 July 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

So who are better, the L.A. X, the Australian X, or the Dutch Ex? Q, GQ, or the Swimming Pool Qs? How confusing.

― mastodon, Friday, 23 July 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I wanna hear the Method Actors and Swimming Pool Qs now (actually saw the latter open for Lou Reed around '85 or so, but I don't remember what they sounded like). I like the Love Tractor album from '83 that I have (Around the Bend).

I wonder if there's any thread on Oh-OK and how great they were and how they don't get enough props for being the U.S. Young Marble Giants...

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 23 July 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i was going to mention oh-ok. last years comp was one of my favorites. i think they're much much better than the young marble giants, at least more enjoyable.

anyone know if it's possible to get any method actors stuff on cd?

― danh (danh), Friday, 23 July 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh-OK were definitely one of THE best Athens bands of the era. Up there with Pylon and early REM. I don't really see them as an American YMG other than both of being minimalist.

― mike a, Friday, 23 July 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Are the B-52s from Athens? Because they suck something awful.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 23 July 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

― danh (danh), Friday, 23 July 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Any of you Athens experts know anything about a group called the Upbeats? They seem to have released a promo-only 12" that includes a truly bizarre mix of good and bad influences. One song, "Jello Party Mania" has become a strange favorite of mine. The bad parts (terrible 80's fusion) would probably qualify them for this thread.

― dlp9001, Saturday, 24 July 2004 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"Don't really see them as an American YMG."

Meant pre-Matthew Sweet-era, obv.

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 24 July 2004 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

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