// Category Archive for: Three Of A Perfect Pair

Pylon, Gyrate

By Jimmy Ether

Rock punditry tends to beg for “who’s better” comparisons between bands. Either because they were rivals, peers, or part of the same scene. Beatles or the Stones? Nirvana or Pearl Jam? The Brian Jonestown Massacre or The Dandy Warhols? But if asked who from the 1980s Athens, Georgia music scene should battle it out for that trophy, you’re more likely to be asked “REM or The B-52s?” than you are to ever hear mention of the band Pylon.
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INXS, S/T

By Less Lee Moore

INXS was one of the bands that my peers actually made fun of me for liking, mispronouncing their name as “Ink-siss” and turning up their noses at my insistence that they were really good. I saw them open for Adam Ant in 1983 and became a fan of their video for “The One Thing” (including Michael Hutchence’s smoldering presence) which was aired frequently on MTV. During the Christmas season of 1984, I became obsessed with their most recent release The Swing, which placed them in an entirely new category of awesome (and should be written about at length at some point in the near future).

Soon after, when trolling the record stores, I chanced upon some of the band’s earlier albums, 1981’s Underneath The Colours and their self-titled debut from 1980. The sound they established and perfected with Shabooh Shoobah and The Swing was only hinted at on the somewhat-underwhelming Underneath The Colours album; their debut was something else entirely.
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Bauhaus, In The Flat Field

By Less Lee Moore

I first heard Bauhaus through a friend of a friend, but I first heard OF the band thanks to my frequent trips to Lakeside Mall as a teenager.

There was a cool-looking Chinese punk dude who also went to the mall frequently. He had spiky hair and wore a leather motorcycle jacket and a black T-shirt that said BAVHAVS. (I was soon to discover that he was a total lameass poseur, but that’s a story for another time and place.) In my ignorance, I thought that the band was actually called Bav-Haves until the aforementioned friend of a friend (or someone who took pity on me) set me straight.

Ah, those halcyon pre-Internet days.
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Three Bittersweet Songs to Walk Down the Aisle To

By Jesse Roth

Having hit that stage of my life where just about everyone I know is getting married, I have been somewhat forced to think about the details of my own wedding. From considering possible locations and times of the year, to who does (or does not) get an invite, I have a certain degree of confidence that I know what I want for my “big day” and possibly how to go about it.

This is all despite two very significant facts: (1) I don’t have any semblance of a significant other at the moment and (2) I’m not even sure I want a wedding when I do actually get married. Nevertheless, I am fully prepared when the time comes to plan a cost-effective, fun, reflective-of-me-and-spouse mini-spectacular . . . or just haul ass to the courthouse.

Though the jury is still out for me about about whether or not I want to dance at my wedding, I do know that walking down an aisle is almost unavoidable in most ceremonies, and usually involves some level of melodic noise. Over time, I have come across a few songs that were both beautiful as well as meaningful enough in my own life to warrant usage in a possible aisle journey. Being one of many who soundtrack their significant life moments to particular songs, I have also looked to my treasure trove of music to aid me in this fantastical pursuit. In several cases, however, I stumbled upon some aspect of the song’s history (or the story told in the lyrics) that caused me to wonder if such a sad tale ran counter to the image most of us are trying to project in a wedding environment. Presented are three such songs that I may find myself conveniently misinterpreting on my journey down the aisle:
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The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou, 1971 – 1973

By Christian Lipski

In 1971, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed had careers that were in various states of stagnancy: Bowie’s a one-hit nonentity, Iggy’s a flaming wreck, and Lou’s a fading flower. Using testimony from eyewitnesses as well as music journalists, The Sacred Triangle aims to illustrate the bonds that tied together three of the most interesting entertainers the 1970s had to offer.
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Duran Duran, Three To Get Ready

By Jemiah Jefferson

“No obscure cheeses.”
—John Taylor, giving directions of what the band wants on its tour rider

The film opens on a very dry, very droll Nick Rhodes rejecting most of a series of recent photos of the band. We see that he’s joined with Simon Le Bon, just as dubious about most of the pictures, but he does helpfully supply, “I like the shape in the middle.” The empty space might have once been occupied by their departed band mates, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor. Without even meaning to, this signals a new Duran Duran than expected by the legions of loyal global fans seduced by their mixture of surrealism, style, and raw sensuality, but accustomed to the five faces and iconic mops of expertly teased hair.

This is Three to Get Ready, the 1986 documentary depicting a band all too aware of their market share, refusing to be fractured, and yet straining towards expressing the creativity embodied in the core members of Le Bon, Rhodes, and the remaining Taylor: John, a former art student, lover of punk rock and disco, and at this time, in the grips of raging cocaine and hashish addiction yet no less tenderly gorgeous as he manifested in the earliest days of Duran Duran (and was barely out of his teens).
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The Matrix Revisited

By Lisa Anderson

Seraph: Did you always know?
Oracle: No, no I didn’t. But I believed. I believed.
—The final lines of dialog of The Matrix Trilogy

In 1999, the movie going public got its mind blown. The Matrix, directed by Andrew and Larry (Lana) Wachowski, used cutting-edge technology to draw on a range of stylistic influences, from Hong Kong action movies to Cyberpunk. What really set the film apart, though, was it’s heady blend of ideas and symbols from Christianity, Eastern spirituality, and Western Philosophy.
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Pop Music: The Balkans

By Jim R. Clark

There has been quite a bit of interest in Balkan music lately due to the popularity of such bands as Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box. If you’re one of those music nuts who’s heard everything, then hopefully this article can introduce you to something new. Here is a taste of some of the great musical offerings popular in the Balkans today. Maybe you will get hooked and want to start your own Manele band!
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Trio The Band: Their Greatest Hit

By Emily Carney

Trio is a band generally known for two momentous things. First, they were obviously a trio (consisting of singer Stephan Remmler, guitarist Gert Krawinkel, and drummer Peter Behrens). Second, they had one of the biggest hits of 1982, even if you’ve never heard of them before reading this little tribute.
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Words, Guitar, and Passion: The Music of Sleater-Kinney

By Laura L.

I remember where I heard about Sleater-Kinney for the first time.

It was in the unlikeliest of places: Seventeen magazine. This was in 1997, when they were promoting what’s now my favorite Sleater-Kinney album, Dig Me Out. I wanted to know more about them, but for some reason, I was afraid. I was so self-conscious at the time about listening to a band I’m sure none of my friends would have heard of.

Photo from The Sleater-Kinney Archives

Fast forward three years later. I was in college, and it was the height of Napster’s heyday. Sleater-Kinney had another album out, All Hands On the Bad One, and, after sampling a few tracks on Napster, I decided to finally buy the album. I was hooked from “Ballad of a Ladyman” all the way to the last track, “The Swimmer.” As soon as I could, I bought all the other Sleater-Kinney albums.
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