So Why Did You Have To Be So Nasty?

Ah, the ongoing animosity of the Brits for the Germans.   Here is a little early punk nugget from Adam & the Ants that extols the virtues of "curls of the Deutscher Girls".   Deutscher Girls was originally from the soundtrack of the 1978 Derek Jarman film "Jubilee" but in 1982 was released as a single A side with overdubbed vocals due to the risque subject matter  -"nazi" has been changed to "nasty" and "Camp 49" to "lover of mine".

In my book that opening guitar salvo is one of the most breathtaking openings to any pop song.  Ever.

They Laid Down the Law

My college friends and I were a little hot bed of new wave aficionados in the prairies of NW Oklahoma.   We saw the Talking Heads in Norman, OK during their "Fear of Music" tour, caught The Pretenders and The Go Gos at the OKC Zoo, and rented the local roller rink for a new wave/punk evening.   I cannot skate but I remember being plastered while skating to The Clash.

Of all the new wave groups that sprang forth in the late 70's, the B-52s were the most near and dear to my heart.   Total nerds.   Just like us.   By the time of their third release in 1982, some thought the bloom was off the rose.  As we now know, Mesopotamia was supposed to be a full fledged album with ten tracks.   Something went amiss and they tangled with producer David Byrne, so the release was cut back to an EP with just six tracks.  It was definitely a new direction, but they jettisoned the new sound immediately and never returned. 

Here is the title track.  From the moment that Fred mispronounces Mes-a-pa-ta-mia I was hooked.  The monster hand claps just sealed the deal.   This has to be one of the greatest grooves of the 80s, what with the funky bass and the counterpoint between the various vocal parts. 

 I'll meet you by the third pyramid!

 

Never bring me down

There once was a quartet of young women from Los Angeles who wrote and performed wonderful music in the vein of The Byrds and The Beatles. They released an EP and a LP of incredibly charming power pop and the future looked bright. Then the worst that could happen happened. Their talent got them noticed and they became popular with their third release. And it was all downhill after that.

The Bangs become Bangles. The girls who had previously shared singing and songwriting duties turned into a front for the girl singled out by the record company as the "lead" singer and they began to have hits with songs by outside writers. Their own material was miles above the dreck that was foisted on them - the wonderful Prince-ly Manic Monday notwithstanding.

But enough on what went wrong. Those first two releases have nothing but right on them. Here is their first single from the EP Bangles released in 1982. The Real World is a miraculous reincarnation of the 1964 Byrds, with a dash of harpsichord to boot. When the harmonies come in I just swoon!

I'm just the oily slick on the windup world of the nervous tick

Elvis Costello has mentioned that he has always wanted to write a song with only one chord. But given his gift with melody and harmony he has always failed miserably. Both Imperial Bedroom and Blood and Chocolate kick off with songs in this vein, and both of them have enough chord changes to destroy his intention. In the first instance, Beyond Belief contains perhaps his most perfect wordplay. I will spare you any awkward analysis and instead embarrass myself by mentioning that I spent an entire Saturday long ago learning all the words so that I could sing along. Thanks to the amazing production work of Geoff Emerick that entire LP remains near the top of my desert island disks list. It was a one-off experiment in fancy studio trickery, never to be repeated in the EC & the Attractions canon. Still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.