What with all of the bands and all of the art and all of the dance I’ve seen over the past few years, nothing matches Michael Clark’s madman choreography from 1984, featuring The Fall. Mark E. Smith doesn’t sing better – and he doesn’t sing differently today.
It’s hard to believe. In 1984, I was listening to The Fall, but also the Smiths, R.E.M. (with the period spacers), the Cure, and a bunch of Brit bands like Tears for Fears that I probably shouldn’t have.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrbdzPk2Xi0&hl=en&fs=1]
Much thanks to dS, of Mopemusic, for turning me on and on to it.
It is my promise to be writing more in near future.
Don’t hold me to anything.
P.S. Related, I’m not going to my Brown 20th anniversary reunion next weekend. It’s not a huge loss for the Brown community, though I am feeling pangs of regret and angst from my friends V.S. and N.F., who apparently will be attending in my absence. In 1985, I had not outgrown the above arty music habits; in fact, they become overdetermined at university (nee college), settling into musical preferences that I’ve yet to shake – additional friends like Sonic Youth, N. Cave, the Pixies, and Throwing Muses, R.I. throwbacks. Oh, and my own band, headed by dS himself, Mendesfrau. Those were good years, “Totally Wired” for the right reasons: “You don’t have to be weird to be wired. You don’t have to be strange to be strangled.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrbdzPk2Xi0&hl=en&fs=1]
And, oh goodness, this is beautiful:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygQmJ59E4Q&hl=en&fs=1]