The Counterforce No. 18
Lifestyle, The First Two Hours of MTV, Irvine Welsh's 'Skagboys', The Beaches, Lovesick, and more
Bit of a short one this week as I’ve been all over the place - a reading in New Hampshire and rehearsals in Boston. Which are for the Lifestyle show this Saturday June 10th at Faces in Malden, MA. If you’re in the greater Boston area, come on down. It should be a fun evening. I’ll be on guitar. We’re not doing any of the songs from when I was in the band 20 years ago, but the setlist is really good. We’re even going to be debuting one of the FoxxMachine songs. FoxxMachine is Sean and my new project, which more will be coming from soon. Think Depeche Mode and New Order. For Lifestyle think Depeche Mode and Duran, with a bit of New Order thrown in. There’s a later tune called ‘Glass’ that I really love and am psyched is in the set this Saturday. It’s exactly my sort of song - romantic major-key synthpop - and a lot of fun to make more ‘rock’ with my guitar playing.
After rehearsal on Saturday we watched the first two hours of MTV. Which was pretty mindblowing. Everyone knows ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ was the very first clip but I couldn’t have told you Pat Benatar was number two. Or that Rod Stewart had two videos in the first 15. The very Faces-y ‘She Won’t Dance With Me’ at #3 and then a complete stylistic turn of face with ‘Sailing’, complete with sailor outfit on a boat in New York harbour. The Pretenders also had two in the first 20 with ‘Brass In Pocket’ (#7) and ‘Message Of Love’ (#18), heroin use very obvious in the latter. REO Speedwagon too (a double dose of, not the skag), and with ad spots for their tour. It makes sense that the nascent TV channel, which the following decade would all but cease to show videos, would be scrambling for footage, taking from whoever had promo clips ready to go.
The complete list:
“Video Killed the Radio Star,” the Buggles
“You Better Run,” Pat Benatar
“She Won’t Dance,” Rod Stewart
“You Better You Bet,” the Who
“Little Suzi’s on the Up,” PhD
“We Don’t Talk Anymore,” Cliff Richard
“Brass in Pocket,” the Pretenders
“Time Heals,” Todd Rundgren
“Take It on the Run,” REO Speedwagon
“Rockin’ the Paradise,” Styx
“When Things Go Wrong,” Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
“History Never Repeats,” Split Enz
“Hold on Loosely,” .38 Special
“Just Between You and Me,” April Wine
“Sailing,” Rod Stewart
“Iron Maiden,” Iron Maiden
“Keep On Loving You,” REO Speedwagon
“Message of Love,” the Pretenders
“Mr. Briefcase,” Lee Ritenour
“Double Life,” the Cars
Very cool to see that Iron Maiden are in there. With a live performance of their titular tune, Paul Di’Anno still on vocals. Strange to see it credited as from ‘Killers ‘81’, and also for the plethora of Eddies that come out at the end rather than just the one. I also have always loved ‘Little Suzi’s On The Up’, knowing it first from the Tesla cover. But PhD got in there at #5 and have the first real film clip with some sort of plot, or at least acting, shown here, providing a blueprint for what would later be all over the screen. I keep looking at that list above and thinking how bizarrely they all hang together and if indeed it does represent something about the state of popular music at the time…
The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass reading in Manchester, New Hampshire was cool. It’s great doing these and getting to meet people you only know from the internet. Andrew, a big Pynchon fan, and lover of hefty tomes in general, came out and we chatted about books for quite a while, which I really enjoyed. Talking about Martin Amis, Andrew said that after Amis died he went to a bookstore that had a ton of his books on display. Not having read any yet, he didn’t know where to start, and thus overwhelmed, let them lie for now. I replied that I feel exactly that way about Anthony Burgess. And despite wanting to read more of him whilst I’m going through his biography, and having already read about 20 of his books, when faced with the sheer volume of text he produced, a week ago I panicked and went for Irvine Welsh’s Skagboys instead. Which, it must be said, I’m loving. Welsh really can write. Talk about sheer volume of text, all interior monologues, coming at scenes through various angles. There’s real Life there, a feel of full-scale vitality amassing out of his words. So much is over the top, too. Right away. The third chapter where Renton is back at work and they take part in the defecation contest, phew. Reminiscent in intensity of one of the opening scenes in Glue where they clip the dogs’ legs with garden shears. Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting, giving the sad circumstances in which they all first get hooked. But again, it’s full of Life - the hustle and bustle, the supposed invincibility, of youth. I’ve always had a soft spot for Spud, the nice guy just trying to do some good in this sad world who luck never seems to smile upon. There was a Spud section in Porno that had me in tears.
I’ve been on a big The Beaches kick since I mentioned them last newsletter. Four very attractive young ladies from Toronto playing trashy, catchy modern rock n roll. Seems to have it all, right? ‘Blame Brett’ has been an everyday earworm for over a week now, and the video is quite the eyeworm as well (and with that I think I’ve coined the worst possible term, not at all conveying what it’s meant to mean, which is that this is a damn good clip, sure to bring you back for more views.) Listening to their 2017 debut, Late Show, I was surprised to find my favourite songs coming at the end. I say ‘rock n roll’ but ‘Keeper’’s post-punky verse explodes into a big pop chorus
‘Sweet Life’ being my other fave. At times they remind me of Elastica, so, you know, awesome
Bummed I missed them at Boston Calling, but as is proving the case a lot this year, I was on tour myself. But they’re coming back around in October and I find they’re the band I’m most looking forward to seeing, with the album Blame My Ex, out September 15th, greatly anticipated as well
Another excellent new vid comes from Lovesick, the new project from Goolkasian (The Elevator Drops, The Texas Governor) and visual artist Heather Morgan. A cover of Future Islands’ ‘Beach Foam’, that sounds a hell of a lot like the Drops (a band I dearly love and will write more about one day). Lovesick released their debut Hoping This Is The End earlier this spring and just dropped a new record with Terry Palmer, which contains a new version of the wonderful ‘Sunset Highways’
SEVEN SONGS
INXS - ‘Don’t Change’. A perfect perfect song. This to me is the epitome of the passion one should make music with. Fun video too
Hako Yamasaki – ‘Sarusai’ (Wandering). Bodega Pop posted this on Twitter recently and I’m really digging it. Rainy evening whisky-soaked jazz in a smoky bar high above Tokyo
PhD - ‘Little Suzi’s On The Up’. ‘Suzi’ is one of the great rock n roll names, second perhaps only to ‘Jane’. Catchy as hell
Shrag - ‘Rabbit Kids’. Killer tune. One of my faves of 2010. Shrag were great, Helen’s lyrics always interesting. This one simmers with intensity whilst being great pop
The Cure - ‘A Few Hours After This...’ Perhaps my favourite Cure song. Was so cool hearing it and all those b-sides on the cassette of Standing On A Beach when I was in high school. Everyone’s going to see them lately, but alas, I will miss them once again, as my own events clash
Pat Benatar - ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’. My favourite Pat Benatar song by far. Perfection
GBH - ‘No Survivors’. Found my Clay Punk Singles Collection cd last night, always loved this tune. Really want to read Ross Lomas’ City Baby autobiography
I’m also collecting all these Seven Songs lists here on a monster Apple playlist