rehash

20-years pop culture cycle notwithstanding, the current fashionable but unimaginative crop of dance-punk - an edgier update of ‘80s modern rock, so i’m told - offers what i think is pretty incontrovertible proof that not everyone learns from history and is doomed, along with all those unfortunate enough to be within earshot, to repeat it.

some argued that’s exactly the point, and that it’s really about cultural sampling and irony. whatever. i prefer my modern rock geeky, earnest, and occasionally embarrassing.

before making a splash with the club hit “let me go” and producing tina turner’s initial return to form, the al green cover “let’s stay together,” martin ware + co of heaven 17 was experimenting with dirtier electronic timbers. “(we don’t need this) fascist groove thang”, their debut single, rides a kraftwerk-influenced groove with palpable urgency and anger.

ray davis of the kinks can always be counted on for some cheeky sentiments and “(wish i could fly) like a superman” (low budget, arista, 1979) delivers. it's easy to see how he helped pioneer the sound and attitude of the current rehash.

i heard no sister’s “(you bring out) the animal in me” on kalx in the early ‘80s. i know they are a yay area band (i vaguely remember something about being from marine county) and found the single at rasputin’s but very little else. regardless, it pulses like a minneapolis version of an oingo boingo record and reminds me that sometimes, the most important thing to do is just dance. fuck art.

Posted by cellpharmer at March 2, 2006 05:56 PM