Taking Sides: Monster Magnet vs. the Housemartins

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Prompted by a question from Shookout on another thread, I've immersed myself in the music of the `Magnet of late, but recently noticed an absence of Housemartins of my iPod, so have really been listening to large quantities of both in the past couple of days. So let's review, shall we?

MONSTER MAGNET: Long of hair, short of inhibition. Beloved by both NY scuzzrockers and the Grunge corps (Matt Cameron of Soundgarden was oft-spotted wearing a Monster Magnet shirt back in the day). Forged by ex-Shrapnel lead singer Dave Wyndorf and powered by a love for science fiction, drugs and galactic evil. Most likely to be encountered wearing leather and sneering. Looked and sounded like the bastard offspring of Motorhead and Steppenwolf. Rock furiously.

the Housemartins: Short of hair, long on genuflection. Incongruously driven by a love for both Karl Marx and Jesus Christ, the Housemartins evidently chose to overlook Marx's dictum that "religion is the opiate of the Masses" and crafted jangly pop for pious proletariats. Split up and paved the way for the Beautiful South and Beats International and, later, Fatboy Slim. Most likely to be found wearing cardigans and sipping tea. Look and sound like Smiths fans with an extra chromosone. Rock wimpily but are still damn catchy.

CHOOSE!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 21 July 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

I need to spend more time with MM -- which record, Alex?

I do lurve the Housemartins.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 21 July 2005 23:23 (twenty years ago)

i've only recently been getting into monster magnet. they're pretty fucking cool.

― bela lugosi meets a brooklyn gorilla (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 21 July 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard Monster Magnet, but I do loathe anything to do with the Housemartins/Beautiful South. So on that basis - MM (and since there's also the possibility they were named after Frank Zappa's 'Return of the Son of Monster Magnet').

― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Thursday, 21 July 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

This one is the equivalent of asking an alcoholic to decide between BEER and WHISKY so therefore a DRAW.

Oh alright, the Housemartins win on penalties.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Thursday, 21 July 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

Avery Keen-Gardner, your guess is correct. God damn, Monster Magnet rules. This one isn't even close. The Brothers of the Bell would eat the Housemartins for breakfast.

― westy, Thursday, 21 July 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

housemartins, but only b/c i'm not overly familiar w/ monster magnet.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 22 July 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

That this is not already a savage beatdown makes my heart weep.

"Ego, The Living Planet" > The Housemartins. The rest of the MM catalog just pours on the gravy.

I won't speak for Alex, but the early stuff (Spine Of God, Superjudge) is still what does it best for me. Dopes To Infinity had a rock-radio hit ("Negasonic Teenage Warhead") and the aforementioned "Ego," and is totally worthwhile but doesn't slap me quite as silly. Powertrip is pretty epic too.

Not as familiar with their post-90s releases - can anyone comment on God Says No?

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 22 July 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

I love the the early Monster Magnet, particularly "Spine Of God" and the "Tab" ep. The ep with their cover of Howlin' Wolf's evil on Glitterhouse was amazing, too. Way better than the version that showed up on their A&M debut, "Superjudge".

I have a real soft spot for the Housemartins, though.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Friday, 22 July 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

rogermexico, God Says No is one of the best ROCK albums ever. First lines

Waking up, I watch another sun go down
Another day spent underground
In my world of pills

And I was thinking how the world should've cried
On the day Jack Kirby died
I wonder if I'm ill, yeah

I'll never trust myself again
But I don't care, no
Just set that plastic world on fire
And watch it MELT

It gets heavy there and never lets up. Totally worth your time. I like it much more than Powertrip. Not that Powertrip is bad or anything, but there isn't remotely a bad song on God Says No. The remake of "Medicine" is better than the original. "Gravity Well" is this weird voodoo blues you have to hear to believe. "Silver Future" was in Heavy Metal II. I could go on.

― westy, Friday, 22 July 2005 02:51 (twenty years ago)

You had me at "the day Jack Kirby died"

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 22 July 2005 02:56 (twenty years ago)

(PS - Alex this one is genius)

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 22 July 2005 02:56 (twenty years ago)

It's such a good song. It's such a good album. You could probably find it used for like $5 without looking too hard.

― westy, Friday, 22 July 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

::ahem:: I am now listening to "Melt". It does indeed rule. Not quite six minutes; feels like a good thirteen or so.

Special shout-out to the false ending prior to the big solo at 2:53.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 22 July 2005 03:17 (twenty years ago)

The album keeps on rolling. Next one "Heads Explode" starts

Keep that thing in your pants
You got nothing for me, no
Your sister knows how to dance
And she might be more my speed, yeah

Dude can write. He pulls off heavy, trippy, ballsy, and funny all together. Not an easy thing to do.

― westy, Friday, 22 July 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

Housemartins win easily, but no disrespect intended to the sweaty, leather-clad balls of Magnet:
(Also: Housemartins not really Christians - comedic ruse.)

― kit brash (kit brash), Friday, 22 July 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

Ordinarily I'd vote for leery nihilism over righteous anger, but as a resident of Hull I'm obliged by law to vote for the Housemartins.

Anyway, "Build" destroys anything ver Magnet ever did. It's not always about flexing your balls, people.

― Anti-Pope Consortium (noodle vague), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

Housemartins - if only for Think For A Minute (slow)

― mzui (mzui), Friday, 22 July 2005 07:43 (twenty years ago)

the housemartins. come on, their drummer went to jail for hitting someone with the wrong end of an axe. you gotta love that.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 22 July 2005 07:52 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, you'd never spot the real bad-ass out of those two photos.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 22 July 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)

The last MM album was not very good :(

But the ones before it were very good indeed, so they win easily.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 22 July 2005 08:10 (twenty years ago)

I have "dopes to infinity" and rate it, never felt the need to own anything by the Housemartins(and in fact hated them as twee pop at the time, though in retrospect they don't seem so bad.)

So, Monster Magnet for me.

Comparing the two, it does occur to me that there are an awful lot of references to god in MM lyrics.

― Soukesian, Friday, 22 July 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

Both classic, in different ways. The Housemartins SHOULD be utterly crap but have a hint of catchiness that saves them; Monster Magnet SHOULD be the best band that ever walked but have an ounce of rubbishness that leaves them lagging behind.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 22 July 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

Now, what would a Housemartins cover of "Tab" sound like?

― nick ring (nick ring), Friday, 22 July 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

Sitting on a fence...

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 22 July 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Housemartins tested the boundaries of everyday society, calling for outright revolt of the cardigan-clan masses. From windscreen graffitti to commiting methaphorical arson on religion they were the true rebels, the ones placing musical personal ads before they were on the back of every weekly paper.

MM had the look, Housemartins had the substance.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Friday, 22 July 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

Housemartins not really Christians - comedic ruse.

Is this true? I always wondered why the devout angle was absent from the music of Beats International and the Beautiful South (or at least as far as I noticed). Was it all a joke?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 23 July 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

I quite liked that the Housemartins' soon-to-be-Fatboy Slim bassplayer claimed he'd never even have listened to music like the HMs if he hadn't been in the band. But unless there are polite nudges towards proletarian revolt woven somewhere into MM's comicbook spectaculars the Housemartins have it! (great thread, Mr. In NYC)

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 23 July 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

Alex - yes. See the video for Caravan Of Love*: it was not actually accepted practice for chorist youth to shave crosses into the side of their heads to represent their devoutness.

*actually see all their videos! they're all great, and COL is the least funny of them. my favourite trope is how after Hugh Whitaker is sacked as drummer, he keeps trying to sneak into the background of the subsequent promos and abduct his replacement...

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 23 July 2005 06:10 (twenty years ago)

I don't know what Monster Magnet sound like. Housemartins on the other hand bring up strange memories of me dancing on a dancefloor with friends of mine at "Brit Pop night". Housemartins 1, Monster Magnet 0.

― Hydrochloric Shaved Weirds (Bimble...), Saturday, 23 July 2005 07:11 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha ha! From an interview when they split:

Q: Your religious connotations have been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Can you finally put us straight?
Paul: How can you say it's a wind up when Stan has just spent the last month in a monastery in the Scottish Highlands, as a retreat?
Q: Is this true? What exactly were you doing there?
Stan: Retreating! No really, I've needed time to think and a monastery was the most spiritually relaxing place to do this. I've been really concerned about the Australian Aboriginal problem and it was really doing my head in towards the end of last year.
Q: So do you want to end maintaining the claim that you are genuine Christians?
Stan: We're as much Christians as anyone else. A lot of people who claim they are Christians are not really, like the Pope for instance.

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 23 July 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

x posts

Hugh wasn't sacked, he left because he didn't like being a Pop Star. Everything else OTM though.

― Anti-Pope Consortium (noodle vague), Saturday, 23 July 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

(yeah obv given his hanging around for the videos, worded for effect)

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 23 July 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah sorry kit just woke up.

― Anti-Pope Consortium (noodle vague), Saturday, 23 July 2005 09:57 (twenty years ago)

I've needed time to think ... I've been really concerned about the Australian Aboriginal problem and it was really doing my head in towards the end of last year.

Um, WOW. There's no reason not to take this entirely at face value is there?

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 23 July 2005 10:02 (twenty years ago)

HOW CAN YOU SAY IT'S A WIND-UP

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 23 July 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

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