"I DONT LOVE ANYONE"..... stands off as some kind of anthem. Its a subtle one at that but it works. Its almost TOO subtle when its played live. But what makes this work is not so much their live presence but in the details of the music. The keyboards in the middle take a tap dance on your raw nerve endings.
This is some very powerful stuff. This is from the album, "Tigermilk" which used to be somewhat of a rarity. Even though it was released in 1996 it soon became difficult to find. I had to find my copy in Manhattan -- even then it was an import and there was only one left.
This clip is from a live television appearance.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
GREAT NAME -- GREAT BAND?
Depends on who you ask. I only heard a handful of songs and from what I heard I like them. There is something about the song Bondage that makes this band stand out. There is a sense of honesty in these lyrics and an urge of desperation.
In the film, "Sid and Nancy" this song is blaring in the background in a club. I really have no idea if Spex ever played in the same line up as the Sex Pistols. They probably did but there is no hint of honesty in its origin. Rotten himself said a lot of things you see in that film never happened. I do admire when the Pistols set the story straight in the film, The Filth and the Fury.
But what about X Ray Spex? What was THEIR story? They were definately there when all hell broke loose thats for damn sure. Kid singer Poly Styrene got the ball rolling by placing an ad in NME magazine that read.... 'YOUNG PUNX WHO WANT TO STICK IT TOGETHER'. The band members joined as a result and after just 6 sessions they were playing at the Roxy. Whats even more amazing is that they made a cut on the famous, "LIVE AT THE ROXY"... that album had the address printed right on the album cover. The inside sleeve shows a very sleepy eyed pre-heroin Sid Vicious sitting at a table near the bar.
"ROXY" is great for another reason. If you crank up the volume really loud like I do you can hear conversations inside the crowded room. You can actually hear someone say, "ISN'T THAT SID VICIOUS OVER THERE?".
Styrene became a Hindu after many nights of hedonistic living. Many of those kids from the original London scene died from drugs. The ones that didn't went bloody bonkers teetering on the edge of sanity. Something significant did happen near the end of the punk scene that was well documented in books and in the film, "24 Hour Party People".... a flying saucer appeared over south London. For some reason that event made some of these people re-evaluate their lives and ditch the punk scene forever..... you can read about its effect in the book by Jon Savage, LONDONS DREAMING.
The Poly shown in the film Sid and Nancy is in her late 20's and is a blonde. The real Poly is just a kid with really distinctive teeth. She was a dynamo. There is something sinister about the band too because as you can see -- these kids really mean what they say. They snarl, they have concrete and simple sentence structure. But the most interesting thing about this band is that they are articulate..... but just enough. Overall they are quite reckless in appearance. Compared to the cleaned up New Wave bands this band comes off a bit rough.
Some would say there is a reason to fear them. They were for real, This was no put on.
Record company dollars didn't matter to them. This was the real deal and for that reason they should be feared. They didn't care about acceptance or rejection. And that is how all good art is created. They spit in the face of society and challenge what should be expected.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
When X-Ray Spex did their thing in 1977 it was hard to conceive it. We had to rely on what the rock journalists were saying and that had to be good enough. Even then they were horribly obscured for about 20 years. Significant bands like X Ray Spex
were lost in time.
Fortunately in this age -- interesting bands have a chance to see some daylight. Last January 19, Ladyfuzz blasted their "dancerella" type sound at the Buffalo Bar in London and made some headway. They attracted the attention of NME Magazine.
Living in this age without John Peel is a bit difficult. With no sonic pop radar it is tough to figure out who is worth listening to. I am quite certain that if he were here today he would give this band a good whole hearty thumbs up -- as they are quite interesting.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
This video is posted because it is sort of rare. It was rare when it was "popular". In fact, MTV rarely showed it. They were too busy hawking Thomas Dolby and Dexys Midnight Runners. If you wanted to see A REAL rock video with a heavy sound you had to sit in front of MTV for a full 12 hours. Maybe then... in 1981... you may see one.... but then again... maybe not. In most cases not.
Seeing this clip gave us kids a real glimpse at what a big "Rock Show" looked like. It was like looking into a crystal ball. Most of the kids in my neighborhood were bullshit. They never went to a real rock and roll show in their entire lives including me. Hell, I was 13 years old and couldn't get near a car. In fact, none of the kids in my hood drove. So seeing this video was about as real as it was going to get for quite some time.
And it had to make do.... for the time being.
I finally saw these guys in Maryland during the famous 1984 tour. I was in the tenth row and this song came on -- as it was the first song they played for the night. Someone threw a t shirt at Eddie and it landed on his fret board screwing up his riffs.... he threw it on the floor and kept playing. It was incredible to get that close to all of them.
As far as I can tell, this video was shot live. Aside from this clip MTV had one for, "Pretty Woman" which was banned for some reason. The only glimpse we got of that was on the inside sleeve for, "Diver Down" when it was on vinyl.
This video had a midnight movie feel to it. It was rare. They don't even have midnight movies anymore -- real ones -- hodge podge pulp culture ones --- in this video --900 cable chanel internet age. Look at what you kids are missing out on.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and
New York City.
THE KLAXONS - ROUGH RAVE UP
The address in the article was distinct... and .. concrete -- and if you weren't there you somehow felt inadequate -- which is odd. It read... 333 Old Street, London. The kids in the audience were somehow photographed in mid-trance as the lead singer from the Klaxons stood among them belting out a soul sending belly-up offering.... They were participating in something significant.
This works visually as the song delivers upon many levels.
The Klaxons are a self absorbed blended mix of rave, acid, dance and day glo. Something interesting has emerged once again from the streets of London. This time its excitement and flamboyant non-conformative attitude. Its almost as if the smelly hippy era never existed.
You can't get that from seeing live photographs of the band playing. You also cannot get the audio sound from a printed page. There is something beautiful in its delivery.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of http://www.beautyloungestore.com he has contributed to several blogs and podcasts such as…..http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
