Shona Laing was fairly well known in her native New Zealand for years before finally scoring an American record deal in the late 80s with fledgling indie label TVT Records (who, a year later, would sign Clevelander Trent Reznor). Laing’s first U.S. album, 1987’s “South”, generated two light rotation MTV hits, “(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy” and “Soviet Snow”.
“(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy” is a strange little thing, all violins and, er, JFK samples looped around a nice little melody about being glad one is not a member of the seemingly cursed family. Words not mentioned in the song include, “assassination”, “Compound” and “Chappaquiddick”.
Follow-up single, “Soviet Snow” is a bit less metaphoric, focusing on the then-recent Chernobyl disaster. Not quite pop music subject matter, yet this song crossed over into the Dance Charts – I remember hearing it quite a bit at the Nine of Clubs, Cleveland’s premiere alternative music dance club back in the day. Ah, the Nine of Clubs…there’s a series of entries in and of itself…
”(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy” peaked at #14 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart in 1988. “Soviet Snow” peaked at #32 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart that same year.
You know what the world needed more than anything in 1987? A group of white Australians trying to recreate the funk rock that was The Time! Missing Morris Day? Don’t worry, folks! Here's Wa Wa Nee's Paul Gray!
Well…not quite. I mean, Wa Wa Nee didn’t have a mirror-toting Jerome. Maybe that was the problem.
Wa Wa Nee hit the Australian charts in 1986 with a huge single, “Stimulation” that got to number two there. The next year, they had another hit, this time in America, with “Sugar Free”. Ah, “Sugar Free…”
Fire in your head, river in your bed Two hundred dollar, see his face go red Lost in a world where nothin' is nothin' Burnt pretty bad, can't get another hit-ah
Oh, my love and me, oh, we're sugar free Oh, this oughta be, burnin' up, breakin' down Oh, my love and me, oh, we're sugar free Oh, ever wanna be, burnin' up, breakin' down
Is it about a hooker? A proponent of Sweet ‘n’ Low? Who the fuck knows. It was catchy and goofy fun, though. Unlike the Time, however, it hasn’t aged well. “Sugar Free” scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40, so it came time to release their secret weapon, their big Australian hit “Stimulation”.
Nah, no one else here heard it either.
After Wa Wa Nee broke thru with “Sugar Free,” they went on to – come on! Say it with me. We all know this by now, people. – record one more album, then break up, forever Lost in the ‘80s.
”Sugar Free” peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987. “Stimulation” failed to chart.
Sometimes you go through your old albums and run across one that leaves you scratching your head, wondering “why did I buy this?” This happened to me the other day when I stumbled upon my vinyl copy of Balaam and the Angel’s “Live Free or Die,” released in 1987.
I can vaguely remember being introduced to Balaam via my metal-loving fellow Wendy’s employee friend Tony, who I talk about in length, here (part two is coming someday, I swear). Tony knew I didn’t care much for metal, but figured with my new wave/goth/alt. leanings, Balaam might be right up my alley.
Admittedly, they did carry some Cult-isms about themselves and wrote some catchy little melodies. I remember shocking Tony when I mentioned that the single, “I Love the Things You Do To Me,” sorta sounded like the Replacements. In fact, in retrospect it sounds like something off of “Don’t Tell A Soul,” a Replacements album that wouldn’t come out for another two years. Tony didn’t see it that way at all…after all, the Replacements “sucked hard” and this “rocked.” Okay, then.
I recall liking this quite a bit at the time, but I’m hard-pressed to explain why now. It’s really not that good, outside of the two singles posted here. Some of it dovetails into completely banal pseudo-pop metal a la Poison, complete with “oh, yeah”s and “uh!”s, but wrapped in a semi-pretentious goth sheen. It was also mastered VERY. LOUDLY. so even if you had the volume fairly low, you had to turn it down even lower to make anything out besides sonic sludge. However…
…Balaam did hit two homers with the singles. Both are more power pop than anything else, goth, metal or otherwise. Lyrically, meh, but your toes’ll tap a bit. This was one of the first albums I ever bought in the CD format, but that CD has been long lost in one of my several moves since 1987, so I grabbed these tunes off my still-virginish vinyl (and yes, they were on Virgin).
Balaam had an album and an EP before this release, and a couple of LPs since, but I’ll be damned if I ever heard ‘em.
"Come warmer weather / let's get together and do it again"
In 1985, a bunch of my best fag hags and I went to see Adam Ant in concert at the Cleveland Music Hall. It was far from a sold-out show, as Adam was on the downslide, supporting the Vive Le Rock album that was basically DOA in the States (although I dug it). As empty as the 3,000-seat theater was during the headlining act, it was nearly desolate earlier when the opening act took the stage.
It was a quintet dressed all in black, playing equally dark music with strange synth tones, scratchy guitar and sardonic, almost spoken-word vocals. It took a few minutes and a few bars of their current single "Far Side of Crazy" for me to figure out this was the new, Stan Ridgeway-less Wall of Voodoo of "Mexican Radio" fame. Two years earlier, lead singer Ridgeway and two other founding members left the group after tasting mainstream chart success, just after playing the Us Festival. The remaining members soldiered on with new vocalist Andy Prieboy, releasing Seven Days In Sammystown in 1985. This was the moody LP the band was promoting when they were met with complete disinterest on the Adam Ant tour. I think I was the only guy who clapped after "Ring Of Fire" and "Call Box". In fact, I think I was the only guy there. But hey, everyone loved "Mexican Radio"!
Two years later, the band attempted another stab for more mainstream success with Happy Planet and its first single, a remake of the Beach Boys' "Do It Again". The remake begins with a droning synth, like a heart rate monitor, that recalls the same effect the band used for their remake of "Ring of Fire" years earlier. It then turns into a detached, ironic reading of the song, draining the joy and replacing it was cynicism - kind of a neat move, complete with the Brian Wilson stamp of approval, since he appeared in the nightmarish, surrealistic video:
The extended version brightens the proceedings up a bit for the dance floor, but at seven minutes plus, it's a bit too much of a good thing. While "Do It Again" got plenty of play on MTV's "120 Minutes", that second mainstream hit failed to happen for Wall of Voodoo Mark II. This lineup would go on to record a final album in 1988, then dissolve. Skip forward to last year and in the great circle of pop life, Stan Ridgeway fronted a new Wall of Voodoo, opening for, of all people, Cyndi Lauper. I suppose Wall of Voodoo will always get stuck with inappropriate headliners.
"i like / when they talk real loud, try to tell you what they know"
Montreal's Men Without Hats have an unfair reputation as one hit wonders ("Men Without HITS! Har!"), but people tend to forget they had another fair-sized hit in 1987 with "Pop Goes The World", a fantastic candy concoction just as catchy as "The Safety Dance". Brothers Ivan (he of the booming voice), Stefan and (occasionally) Colin Doroschuk teamed with an ever-revolving lineup for four albums and two EPs in the '80s, and their catalog is surprisingly strong on hooks.
After "Safety Dance" conquered the charts, the band went with "I Like" as the follow-up single, a move I never quite got. While it's a fun song, it's much more an album track to my ears. I would have gone with "I Got The Message" instead, but hey...
The band tried their best to ride the "Safety Dance" momentum by bringing back the little jester and medieval wench who were so memorable in that video to co-star in the clip for "I Like":
...but it didn't help. Not a lot of people liked "I Like".
The Men pressed on and scored another minor club hit a year later with "Where Do The Boys Go?", then it was some dry times until "Pop Goes the World" hit in 1987. Two years later, the band released "Hey Men", a suprisingly guitar-based, T-Rex-ish glam rocker with some very enlightened lyrics. It was a more mature sound, and while it got some radio play on the more progressive radio stations like San Francisco's KITS, "Hey Men" ultimately failed to spark a return to the charts for the group. I dig the tune, but it's a little disconcerting to see them all with bandanas, mullets and guitars:
The band struggled on for one more import-only album, Sideways, which was even more guitar-oriented than its predecessor, before calling it a day. The Men returned in 2003, however, with a another new album, No Hats Beyond This Point, which marked the band's 20th anniversary.
Not bad for a "one-hit wonder".
"I Like" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1983.
We just talked about Gene Loves Jezebel recently, so why not feature a Lost B-side from the fey, scarf-twirling duo?
While I've previously lamented that today's featured song's a-side was a concession to Top 40 and AOR radio, the flip, "Bugg's Bruises" was old-school Gene Loves Jezebel, a nice fusion of goth trappings over pure rock, not too dissimilar to what The Cult were doing at the same time, albeit with an extra layer of, let's call it, "femininity". Or "feminess". Not an insult, by the way - I kinda dug it.
Unfortunately, "Bugg's Bruises" did not make the LP proper, sacrificed for Jimmy Iovine-produced sheen and more Top 40 grabs that never quite took. It lives on today though, thanks to TEH INTERWEBS. Enjoy.
"Bugg's Bruises" was the b-side of the "Motion of Love" single.
* All songs are for sampling purposes only. If the album is currently in print, you'll see an Amazon link to purchase it. Supporting artists is a good thing, since labels are run by soulless whores. I KEED! Sorta. Look, if you like it, and it's in print, support 'em. If you're the artist or copyright holder, a quick e-mail to me will bring the song down ASAP. But compliment my writing first.
* Don't e-mail me asking me to repost dead links or to send you a song you can't find. Believe it or not, I have a life outside my blogging. I KEED! But don't do it.
* One more, and this is a biggie -- do NOT hotlink directly to my audio files and post them on your site, big shot. That's just disrespectful, rude, and a theft of my hard-earned bandwith.
Now, get readin', get downloadiN', and play nice. I loves me some comments. Bring it!
Two years later, the band attempted another stab for more mainstream success with Happy Planet and its first single, a remake of the Beach Boys' "Do It Again". The remake begins with a droning synth, like a heart rate monitor, that recalls the same effect the band used for their remake of "Ring of Fire" years earlier. It then turns into a detached, ironic reading of the song, draining the joy and replacing it was cynicism - kind of a neat move, complete with the Brian Wilson stamp of approval, since he appeared in the nightmarish, surrealistic video:
or on 
We just talked about Gene Loves Jezebel recently, so why not feature a Lost B-side from the fey, scarf-twirling duo?
