Instead we find an upbeat Farfisa-driven garage rock band, led by singer Mike Pocius and guitarist Mickey Crnich (the primary songwriters). Pocius was also a visual artist who created the record sleeves. They were early to the garage rock revival: back in 1978, their contemporaries were the Hypstrz, the Slickee Boys, Plan 9 and DMZ. [Edit: forgot about the Droogs!]
The group had their own label, Disturbing Records (sometimes listed as Disturbing Records And Filmworks). They released records by fellow Chicago bands ranging from ska to synth pop, including this one with a young Al Jourgensen and this one by Nicholas Tremulis, who signed to Island Records in 1985, and who joined the short-lived Fauntleroys in 2014 with Alejandro Escovedo, Ivan Julian, and Linda Pitmon. The Fauntleroys' record Below The Pink Pony is well worth hearing.
Pocius and Crnich (with longtime drummer Al Scum) released five singles (1978-1984) and five albums (1984-1995). They returned for two more CD's of new material in 2001 and 2004. Many of the record covers included the statements, "Remember to have fun" and "We encourage home taping!"
Chicago label Pravda released a compilation album called A Decade Of Fun which includes single tracks on one side and unreleased songs on the other. Disturbing Records issued two anthologies of the band, Secret History (1997) and Apocalyptic Garage Rock (2012). None of these comps includes all of the tracks on the five singles.
I shared this set on the Twilight Zone blog earlier this year, so you don't need to DL it again if you found it there. European readers may think me prudish, but please know that the "C-word" is considered far more offensive to American ears, and is not used as casually as it is in the UK. If you said it on these shores, you would be perceived as extremely foul-mouthed and misogynistic. Many curse words have lost their literal significance: for example, you can call someone a SOB or MF without denigrating the person's mother, but "today's secret word" is inseparable (in the US at least) from the crudest of terms for the female sexual organ. It's not even a double entendre as a band name, unlike Snatch or the Slits or any of the bands with the word Pussy in their name. This makes it all the more puzzling that a band would choose this name, since you couldn't say it on American radio or in polite company, and (as stated above) it would be easy to assume that the music would be tasteless and juvenile.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...
tinyurl.com/y8rwgh6p
Thanks for this jonder. The c-word is just about as offensive as one can utter in these parts too by the way. Less so down South in my experience. The opposite applies (or applied in the London of the 80s)to the word bxstard. I still remember a Cockney being amazed at a few of us Scousers calling each other bxstards over a few pints. Incredulously he said to his mate "Fackin' ell, that Scouse caant just called his mate a bawwstard". For Cockney accent try Hard Skin - who you know well! J in Liverpool :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful quote! I made the classic mistake of assuming that a nation's culture is monolithic. I should know better, having lived in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast of the US. In some respects they might as well be separate countries, and of course there are vast differences in culture and mores between city dwellers and rural folk.
DeleteI remember reading that "bastard" is a term of endearment in some parts of Australia, and that one town had a sign at the city limits that said, "Welcome to (Town) You Bastards".
To anyone reading this who is unfamiliar with Hard Skin, they will forever hold a place in my heart for making an album with guest female vocalists and giving said album the title "Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear".
J, I've got more Cvnts albums if you want them... ye randy Scouse git.