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
On August 19, 1969, the (prime time ABC version of the) Dick Cavett show featured several popular musicians.
pt 1 -
pt 2 -
pt 3 -
pt 4 -
pt 5 The Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby and Stephen Stills had rushed back from a show they did at a festival. Jimi Hendrix couldn't get back in time, but
appeared later. The third guest, Joni Mitchell, skipped Woodstock to make sure she was on time for
this broadcast, but a month later she wrote
a cool song based on what she saw on TV and heard from friends.
[more inside]
posted by msalt
on Dec 7, 2011 -
16 comments
The Wipers were a tight and catchy post-punk band founded in Portland in 1977. Today they're best known for covers by
The Vivian Girls and Nirvana (
Return of the Rat, and esp. D7 -
studio, live
1 2 3 4). But the originals are pretty interesting too. John Peel said of their first album "Is It Real": " 'It is one of punk's great albums by perhaps the most unappreciated band of all time'."
[more inside]
posted by msalt
on Jun 6, 2010 -
23 comments
Dig! Destroy The System. The entire film about the Brian Jonestown Massacre's rivalry with the Dandy Warhols (after a 30 second ad). One week only on Pitchfork TV.
posted by msalt
on Oct 2, 2009 -
56 comments
Love Story: the 2006 documentary about the obscure, semi-legendary 60s L.A. psychedelic band Love, and its leader Arthur Lee. One week only on Pitchfork.TV
previously 2001 and 2006 [more inside]
posted by msalt
on Oct 24, 2008 -
38 comments
