At the end of November, 1979, this band was just a year and half old and had played fewer than 40 sets. They had a handful of embryonic songs influenced by Television and Magazine, and a 3-month old, 3-song EP with
two decent
songs. Then they went to London to play a bunch of gigs behind that EP, and in just 6 months, over 40 gigs, they exploded.
They watched in the studio during the January 1980 recording of “
Love Will Tear Us Apart,” wooing Joy Division’s producer Martin Hannett; appeared on TV that month with
a song they had only played 4 times, and released a
forgettable single at the end of February. Suddenly new songs poured out at a remarkable rate:
”Twilight”,
“Things to make and Do,” “
A Day Without Me”,
”Trevor” became
”Touch”,
”Silver Lining” transformed into
a second single (produced by Hannett). They signed a record contract in March, and immediately began recording a
stunning debut album. By the summer they had more songs: a
psychedelic/sexual horror tune, and a
hot new single.
It all became
bloated and sucky commercial and atmospheric soon after, but for a while there,
boy did
they rock. [more inside]
posted by msalt
on Jun 30, 2012 -
127 comments
Live from 1999, it's
the unaired pilot for The Jon Brion Show! With special guests Paul F. Tompkins, Grant-Lee Phillips, Mark Oliver "E" Everett, Greg Behrendt, Elliot Smith, Rickie Lee Jones, Robyn Hitchcock, Cheap Trick, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
[more inside]
posted by Iridic
on Sep 6, 2011 -
13 comments
"I decided I wanted to buy the Dorsey Brothers’ mambo record. However, I did not have the required 39 cents." Over at
The Comics Journal, cartoonist
Kim Deitch (previously), son of animator Gene Deitch
(previously), has been posting a wonderful, rambling memoir about the music in his life.
Part 1: The Dorseys and Beyond "Watch for Russ Columbo playing some hot violin in
this one."
Part 2: An Early Education - Jazz, folk and the ’40s - Alan Lomax, Jelly Roll Morton and jazz fandom
Part 3: Our hero stumbles on the birth of television, specifically,
music on televisionPart 4: Rock ‘n Roll - "
For a lot of Americans it was like the whole damn African jungle had landed in the middle of Ed Sullivan’s stage"
Part 5: Rocking Forward [more inside]
posted by mediareport
on Aug 7, 2011 -
3 comments
The year 1964 was a watershed period in British music. Before that year, British popular music was barely heard outside of the U.K. But when the Beatles achieved American success, a seemingly endless number of British bands and singers were suddenly able to crack the American market.
By the end of 1964, some enterprising filmmakers decided to create a cinematic year-in-review to highlight this new wave of British music talent. The result was “Pop Gear,” a strange but jolly little production that serves as a celluloid time capsule for that remarkable musical year.
The features opens with footage from a November, 1963 Beatles concert in Manchester -
She Loves You [more inside]
posted by carsonb
on Oct 28, 2007 -
24 comments
Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists.
[YouTubeFilter, via] [more inside]
posted by carsonb
on Sep 16, 2007 -
32 comments
Every Third Word Is A Bleep Hey, hey, it's The Osbournes.Yep, Ozzy has his own TV show now.
I just thought America needed to see what a normal family was really like says Mrs. Osbourne.Ozzy won't be getting subtitles, though.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet
on Jan 16, 2002 -
22 comments
