The Hooters -- Were they, in fact, Creepy Christians?

"all you zombies" is more crypto-christian than "broken wings," i concede. better video, too (they end up sticking this skinhead w/ a derby hat on a meat hook, if i remember).

"And We Danced" is about the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.

how sad is it, that we remember the "all you zombies" video?!?

except for girls just wanna have fun, she-bop, and money changes everything.

yeah, that was robert hazard -- i forgot about that, i thought it was a hooters song. my bad!

"And We Danced," of course, is utterly classic. As is "Time After Time."

it's actually kinda police-y, and no melodica!

Someone on International Feel should do a remix of "All You Zombies"

I saw them open for Squeeze in '86. One of them looked like Bill Murray.

ha, i saw them open for squeeze too, think it was 1985 tho at the pier in nyc. never liked them.

I dunno re: the original question, but I'm impressed at how well Nervous Night holds up to my ears. I had the cassette back in the day and played it constantly for about a year or two before moving on and not looking back. Helps me make sense of a lot of the stuff I was interested in next (I dunno, like, the Silos). Could also draw a pretty straight line to the Counting Crows from here.

> There was a mini-wave of early-mid-80s liberal/spiritual stuff (U2, Simple Minds, there were some others too)

definitely add The Call to that list

Waterboys maybe?

lol at this thread, as if there weren't a pile of Jewish songwriters that wrote Christian-y stuff. From Irving Berlin to Dylan and Leonard Cohen on down.

I found this interview bit with them from 1986:

Despite this, The Hooters aren't all fun and games. "All You Zombies," the first single, contains many biblical references scarcely veiled within the lyrics. "It's more spiritual," explains Hyman, "not literal as a religious song. We're getting a lot of mail with questions." King laughs, "They think we're a Christian rock band. 'Are you like Amy Grant?' " "It's more historical than religious," says Hyman, bringing back the seriousness of the subject. "People really relate to it—there's a lot of differing meanings. It's good as a writer to trigger thoughts." "We don't like to preach," states King, "If the song says anything, it's use your own mind and make your own decisions. Don't blindly accept somebody else's word."

From another interview:

Hyman told us: "I think the spirituality of it wasn't premeditated. I think everyone is a spiritual person in whatever they believe or not. There was no real agenda on our part. I know it got banned on several stations, which interested us - there were some Christian stations that refused to play it. There were articles - we never understood the controversy that much, but it stimulated activity. For a writer, that's the best thing you can do."

But then there's this, more recently:

... says Eric Bazilian from his home in St. David’s, Pa. “To me, it’s just what we’ve been doing all along. We’re just a band. We’re not a pop band. We’re a rock band doing some unexpected Christian tunes and musical influences. The fact that we use mandolins, accordions and saxophones makes it interesting. I think the fact that we have a Celtic folk influence makes it interesting and that our lyrics attempt to speak to the human condition.”

"unexpected Christian tunes"? I don't really know what the hell he's talking about here, maybe that he and Hyman are not Christian and the band is not a Christian rock band, but some people assumed they were and they didn't mind the attention?

Anyway, growing up around Philly, they were definitely popular enough that I actually bought the *fourth* album (Zig Zag; I had to look it up) the day it came out.

this band seems incredibly wack and lame to me

Good thread, esp. quotes. For sure, the Old T. and much of the New are pop-ready, if you can handle the consequences---just ask Cecil B. DeMille, King ov Bible Movies in the Silent and 50s Technicolor Ages, though I don't think he ever had to deal with much pushback (his topless maidens were pre-Code, for one thing).
in the early 80s, the USA (cable) Network had an original series, The Hot Spot, in which a mobile recording unit would set up clubs and maybe other venues of major cities for a few days: The Hooters had a whole Faces-like, mod-pub-rock reggoid thing *down*, more or less in passing, on the way to "All You Zombies" etc. Also, in Musician: Player and Listener (magazine)'s "How I Wrote That Song," one of 'em got tired of his wife raving about L.Cohen, and started "What if God" or whatever the exact title is.

set up *in* clubs

"All You Zombies" is kind of a jam.

Living in Philly it's easy to get sick of "And We Danced" because it's everywhere.

This is my Nervous Night deep cut. Sorta Byrdsy in the chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8BdWrOSaOk

honestly don't think i ever noticed the lyrics back in the day, because they are goofy as fuck

decent song tho; tasty guitar break

yeah i said tasty

^^^was speaking of 'all you zombies'

'and we danced' is like john cafferty* + a touch of toad the wet sprocket, although the 80s keyboards give it away

* i.e. sub-springsteen

I always thought All You Zombies would have been a good one to slip to Cyndi Lauper when they were recording with her, because she'd kill the vocal on that.