Bands nobody ever talks about anymore in the "New Music Originators, Pioneers and Influences" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for $2 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewa

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tuff darts
cherry vanilla
dmz
dr. feelgood
the cortinas
eddie & the hot rods
the lurkers
chelsea
rich kids
brinsley schwarz
the boys
john otway & wild willy barrett
the yachts
bruce springsteen*
the nerves
the mutants
the dils
the zippers
earthquake
the bizaros
the boys next door

* - yeah, people talk about him still once in a while, but not as an "influence on new wave music." so he belongs here, sort of.

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

I like how they sneak in the Birthday Party at the end there without knowing it (since the name change hadn't happened yet).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 13:09 (twenty years ago)

brinsley schwarz

Other than the early wannabe-Crosby Stills & Nash period, totally great pub rock. Nick Lowe we love youuuuuuu.

― Confounded (Confounded), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the first album, when they were doing CSNY was boring. But the second one, when they were more like the Band, was great, especially the first side, the one with "Country Girl" and "Funk Angel."

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

The Bizarros influenced me a great deal!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

tuff darts' ersatz punk/rockabilly never influenced me, but robert gordon's recording of black slacks did. and he introduced me to link wray as well.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:01 (twenty years ago)

rich kids -vs- professionals

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

Didn't the Tuff Darts do "Your Love Is Like Nuclear Waste"?

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

Not to be confused with The Pousette-Dart Band.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

the lurkers are alright by me--the cream of the crop of '77 also-rans.

― owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

DMZ

Photo/blurb of DMZ in recent Rolling Stone...

― Venus Glow (1411), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Suffice to say I talk about the Yachts at least once an hour.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

The Dils were so damn good: "Mr. Big," "Class War," "You're Not Blank"

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

That's because you're the yachting type, nabisco.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

>Suffice to say <

Ha ha, I wonder if anybody else got this joke besides me!

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

KCOU once circa 1980 did a Yachts vs. Sparks battle of the bands on their lunch hour show, which I thought was a totally cool matchup.

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

For context, could you list a few names from that chapter that people still talk about?

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

KCOU? Is that the station the verious radio bars of NYC are originally named after? The story I heard was they bought the station's clock at a garage sale and then named the bar after it, so I guess it must have gone belly up a while back.

Was there something extra to nabisco's joke?

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

Greil Marcus says something about the Dils in Lipstick Traces that got me riled up. Something about them being, you know, just another bunch of guys who wanted to be like the Sex Pistols or something? (Don't have a copy of it here to look it up.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

>a few names from that chapter that people still talk about<

elvis costello
the pretenders
the clash
the slits
siouxie and the banshees
the police
the cure
kate bush
public image ltd
marianne faithful

grey areas, i guess:
joe jackson
the stranglers
stiff little fingers
magazine
the vapors
only ones

and i should have listed LIVE WIRE at the top (maybe I thought it just said wire. One guy in Live Wire has an excellent mustache.)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

oops, that was the ENGLAND list, not the ORIGINATORS, list, oh well...

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

so anyway new york dolls, david bowie, lou reed, sex pistols...you know, the usual crew.

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Chuck, nobody around here ever talks about the Only Ones except for me and maybe one or two of the Reading Massive.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Last night's final twenty seconds were terrific -- ramp the characters into really atypical behavior, then just pull out in the middle. (Also L is hot when she's mad.) Also: I usually get nothing out of TJ, but something about his turn on the roof was cracking me up -- the "just the opinion of a guy who thinks okay means okay" bit.

Suddenly there were a bunch of kinda absurdist jokes going, and lot more kinda "wet" gags (like the Romanian maid's cold look) -- hopefully that's just early-season entertainment, but I'm still not sure I like it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

Arf, sorry -- wrong thread.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

I thought that was going to have something to do with yachts.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

Right so probably the biggest Yachts single is "Suffice to Say" (see what I did there), which is like the laziest love song of all time -- it's one of those meta-songs that comments on its own progress ("there's an instrumental break, just after this"), and then the chorus is just kinda "Suffice to say I love you," blah blah blah.

I need to find whichever of these threads contains Klark Kent.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

I have no recollection of the Yachts from the first time around except for their name. The only song of theirs I am familiar with is "The Yachting Type" which was on one of those Rhino DIY comps.

Good luck. It took me a few minutes to figure out which thread contained Lene Lovitch.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

Didn't the Tuff Darts do "Your Love Is Like Nuclear Waste"?

Yes. And "Slash My Wrists" and "She's Dead." "I'd rather slash my wrists than spend my life with you, you, you." Had a really grand and direct woman-hating thing going on. Guitar player went into Sparks for the "Big Beat" album. Jeff Salen had the misogynist vibe nailed, took it over to Sparks for "Fill Her Up."

Whenever who controls the rights to DMZ decides to milk the meagre catalog once again, someone at Rolling Stone always ponies up. In this case it was for a Rhino comp, right? One good record with a good nasty tune, "Don't Jump Me, Mother," one record of demos, one live boot (among a couple) that I've never seen duplicated since I had the original vinyl. Flo & Eddie's production made that band.

I can't tell you which I play more, Tuff Darts or DMZ, prob'ly neither.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:37 (twenty years ago)

Otway and Barrett's "Headbutts" has this ultra bizarro production - tinny drum machines, seemingly DI'd fuzz guitar, found percussion (Wild Willy had a wood obsession IIRC). I think it was banned by the BBC for promoting violence.

Wasn't it Gang Of Four who were heavily influenced by Dr Feelgood?

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

"They should stamp contaminated
Right across your face because..."

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't it Gang Of Four who were heavily influenced by Dr Feelgood?

No fucking way. Or a very good joke and I salute you.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

Wot, no mention of "Who's Been Sleeping Here?" by Tuff Darts, a super slice of power pop. I've never heard any of the above-mentioned tracks.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

Simon Reynolds - "Rip It Up & Start Again", p.113 : "Drawing on the jagged, choppy rhythm-as-lead style developed by Wilko Johnson of pub-rock trailblazers Dr Feelgood, Gill chopped out flinty harmonics and blah blah blah". Gang of 4 started out as a Feelgoods inspired r n'b band too according to the same chapter.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

That's news to me too.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

Simon Reynolds - "Rip It Up & Start Again", p.113 : "Drawing on the jagged, choppy rhythm-as-lead style developed by Wilko Johnson of pub-rock trailblazers Dr Feelgood

A crock. Then Gang of Four should have sounded a lot more like Solid Senders. I'll buy that anyone in Gang of Four could have been fans of Wilko Johnson, just like I'm a fan of Rick Springfield.

If Gang of 4 started as an r&b band they must have been seriously shitty.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

Maybe they're referencing Dr Feelgood to distance themselves from The Clash / Damned etc? Wilko is a great guitarist though, maybe one of the best non-superstar Brit players of that era.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

Agree there. Wilko Johnson had an inimitable style. My brother and I loved the Feelgood's American release and the single, "Back In the Night." They got one of the great putdowns in the Rolling Stone red book, something to the effect, sounds like a backing band for a singer who never appears.

Anyway, I have a 25 year retrospective of the Feelgoods issued on their label and when Johnson leaves, much of the distinctiveness of the band went with him. Brilleaux contributed a lot but subsequent guitarists -- like Gypie Mayo -- were conventional as opposed to Johnson's short-circuiting electricity.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:04 (twenty years ago)

The Nerves! Peter Case of the Plimsouls and Paul Collins of The Beat. The band who did the wonderful original of "Hangin on the Telephone." If you think Blondie's version is amazing, seek out the original. Some German label finally re-ished that ep a few years ago, to cries of joy in my household. They have a few other excellent tunes as well like "When You Find Out."

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

If someone hasn't already pointed this out, the Boys Next Door became The Birthday Party, and people still talk about them (well, I do, at least).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

The Dils get name-checked in Don Letts' latest punk documentary Punk: Attitude, although I forget by who, and Simon Reynolds' asserts in Rip It Up and Start Again that Andy "Gang of Four" Gill was a huge disciple of pub-rock shoguns, Dr. Feelgood.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Conventional he may be, but Gypo Mayo did yeoman's work at the reconstituted Yardbirds show that I saw.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I'm not trying to dis the guy. I like the Yardbirds' comeback thing, moreso his guitarring than all the guest superstars.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

The Nerves were great.

As for the Go4:
Simon Reynolds - "Rip It Up & Start Again", p.113 : "Drawing on the jagged, choppy rhythm-as-lead style developed by Wilko Johnson of pub-rock trailblazers Dr Feelgood

A crock. Then Gang of Four should have sounded a lot more like Solid Senders. I'll buy that anyone in Gang of Four could have been fans of Wilko Johnson, just like I'm a fan of Rick Springfield.

Go4 were MASSIVE fans of Wilko Johnson & Dr Feelgood, and Gill himself spent way too long a period of time raving to me about the huge influence that Johnson had on him as a guitarist. I'm not sure why you claim this is a crock, the band has been upfront and ravingly enthusiastic about their love of Dr Feelgood since their days on Fast Product!

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

I saw Gof4 in Edinburgh, before or maybe around the time of the first album, Andy Gill was definately copping some Wilko Johnson poses, and - only slightly less so - sounds. To be honest I thought this was well known and not even disputed. There's a great bit of film of Wilco period Feelgoods (Whistle Test I guess?) and Wilco is going pretty mental and, well sounding like early Gof4.

― sandy blair, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

The Cortinas - Fascist Dictator
It's such a great song.

― zeus, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

I am so not hearing nascent Gang of 4 in my first couple of Dr. Feelgood records. So, the Brit story is Gang of 4 copped Wilko Johnson's stage image of being spastic and lurching for their sound? But left the groove and R&B art behind.

I've no argument with anyone in genres professing love and "influence" from others in genres far away.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

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