New Wave (2)

 

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Painted Bird

I didn’t learn of Siouxie and the Banshees until some of their late 80’s hits made it into airplay in the U.S.  But they had a huge impact on New Wave and experimental rock in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80s.  Siouxie was a fan of the London Punk scene when she was asked out of the blue to fill an empty slot at a local festival.  She formed a band on the spot, and they soon became underground legends.  No one wanted to sign a female-led act (sound familiar?) but after a guerilla campaign by their fans, they did get signed, and immediately hit it big.  Here is a 1982 performance of one of my favorites by them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jmB4xgNWw

 

OMD – Joan of Arc

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark wrote two songs about Joan of Arc, one literal and one metaphorical.  They were both released in 1980.  This is a remaster of the first one. OMD are still recording and performing almost 40 years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7HpfVuZwc

OMD – Maid of Orleans

Here is the second OMD song with a Jeanne d’Arc theme.  Live version with full orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px6tjpOwCHk

Martha and the Muffins – Saigon

Here is one of the coolest early 80’s groups, Martha and the Muffins.  Martha Johnson and Martha Ladly formed and led this group through several lineups. Johnson is still recording and performing.  Ladly is now a professor at the University of Ontario.  This is my favorite by them—irresistible groove, great performances by the Muffins (their male bandmates), and a brooding sense of loss over something that never was.  

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4wXzDw_EWU

Alphaville – Big in Japan

Another group that helped dispel the fog of the 70’s.  There is something about early 80’s New Wave that is hard to describe—the combination of catchy, danceable grooves with a sense of dread and foreboding in the vocals and lyrics.  I can’t help but think that the artists sensed we were partying on borrowed time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjGl-pq4RxQ

 

 

Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy

I think one of the things that gave popular music such a jolt starting around 1978-79 was the explosion of openly gay bands.  Alphaville, Bronski Beat, the Communards, Erasure, the Smiths, the Pet Shop Boys, Boy George…just a few years before, it would have been unthinkable for them to be out.  Suddenly, they were everywhere. They got wide radio play and were the mainstays of urban clubs.  It’s not clear that the college kids dancing to this stuff even knew what it was about, but it doesn’t matter.  Here’s one of my favorite songs from that time. It’s desperately sad but you probably danced to it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88sARuFu-tc

The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way

Jimmy Somerville left Bronski Beat to co-found the Communards, and they had a number of hits including this 1986 cover of Thelma Houston’s Disco classic “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. Sarah Jane Morris did the tenor track, while Jimmy sang the soprano lead. If you watch closely, their band is mostly women. Everything about them was transgressive, but that didn’t stop this number from becoming perhaps the biggest party song of the ‘80s. At the end of the video, they flee the stormtroopers who have come to arrest them. A reminder of how far we still have to go until people can just live their lives safely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RHBAd5YUR8

Grace Jones – I’ve Seen That Face Before

Grace Jones was almost literally a Black Swan.  A successful fashion model at a time when Black people were all but invisible in that world, she bent all the rules with her cross-dressing, androgynous look and intimidating persona. She was already recording music in the 70’s, mixing genres and styles and refusing to stay in the lanes traditionally reserved for black musicians.  This is her breakout hit from 1981.  I love the mashup of tango, reggae and Parisian street chanson. She borrowed liberally, and in turn influenced a lot of artists, including, to my ears, Blondie and the whole New Wave movement. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIN3IE3DHqc

Grace Jones – Walking in the Rain

One summer night in 1986, I went with some friends to the reopening of a notoriously wild nightclub in San Francisco’s Mission district. In addition to the dance floor and bar, there was a new courtyard with a large fountain in the middle. At midnight, in the middle of a set of songs by Grace Jones, with the crowd fully amped, Jones herself emerged, naked, from the fountain. I have no idea how they did it. She strode regally through the crowd and disappeared into a room behind the bar. I can’t think of anyone else who could have pulled that off. This is not her biggest hit but it's my favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dclzdZVX978