January 20, 2002 by A.S. Van Dorston

In an earlier discussion we were talking about good bands held back by 80s production (synthetic drum sound, echoey drums, super-compressed). Thinking back, I think some of these bands really were great. All the albums below I had on tape between high school and early college. By the time I bought my first CD (Joy Division * Substance) in summer ’88, I decided to focus on buying punk and post-punk reissues for my radio show. I ended up selling all my tapes to Cheapo’s in St. Paul, and now regret it. I checked out spun.com and djangos.com, and it seems that just about all the albums are out of print, with no used copies floating around.

Another thing these bands had in common was that they seemed poised for success, but instead they kind of withered away and are all but forgotten. Any theories as to why they missed the modest pre-Nirvana gravy train that ensured the canonization of bands like Meat Puppets, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, Camper Van Beethoven, Pogues, Soul Asylum, Yo La Tengo, The Feelies, Cowboy Junkies, R.E.M., The Church, Go-Betweens, etc.?

Game Theory * Big Shot Chronicles (Alias) 86
Game Theory * Lolita Nation (Enigma) 87
Game Theory * Two Steps From The Middle Ages (Enigma) 88
The Godfathers * Hit By Hit (Link) 86
The Godfathers * Birth, School, Work, Death (Epic) 88
The Godfathers * More Songs About Love & Hate (Epic) 89
Hoodoo Gurus * Stoneage Romeos (A&M) 83
Hoodoo Gurus * Mars Needs Guitars (Elektra) 85
Hoodoo Gurus * Blow Your Cool! (Elektra) 87
Hunters & Collectors * Jaws Of Life (Epic) 84
Hunters & Collectors * Human Frailty (IRS) 86
Hunters & Collectors * Fate (IRS) 88
Lime Spiders * The Cave Comes Alive! (Virgin) 87
The Original Sins * Big Soul (Bar/None) 87
Screaming Blue Messiahs * Gun Shy (Elektra) 86
Screaming Blue Messiahs * Bikini Red (Elektra) 87
That Petrol Emotion * Manic Pop Thrill (Demon) 86
That Petrol Emotion * Babble (Polydor) 87

Remember The Call? I don’t regret getting rid of those tapes, as they were pretty cheesy. But now that I think of it, bands like Travis and Coldplay aren’t all that different. Other forgotten bands — Mighty Lemon Drops, The Woodentops, Microdisney, Let’s Active, The Apartments, Shriekback, The Pedaljets, Tragic Mulatto, Fetchin’ Bones, Nice Strong Arm, Vomit Launch . . .

And then there was the early 80s post-punk psychedelic bands, though it’s questionable how psychedelic they really were. Ah, I love those bands. Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, The Teardrop Explodes, Wah! (at least for one album, Nah=Poo-The Art of Bluff), Comsat Angels, Chameleons and last but not least, The Sound. Renascent (www.renascent.co.uk) is reissuing The Sound’s albums for the first time ever on CD this month — Jeopardy (’80), From The Lion’s Mouth (’81), and All Fall Down (’82). The Feb. Uncut has a review of the albums. They were a powerful, underrated band, equaled only by Joy Division and Comsat Angels, IMO. Soft Boys and Magazine might also fit in there too (anyone think their box set is worth trading in the old CDs for?). I think someone should get a set of these songs going on Internet radio…anyone have suggestions on how a poor webzine publisher could get one going?

Those weren’t the only bands I’d put in that category. In addition to U2, early albums by The Church, The Cure, Modern English, Icicle Works, Big Country and Simple Minds were the logical commercial extension. And nearly forgotten were Modern Eon, The Names (whose sole album was produced by Martin Hannett) and Sad Lovers And Giants. The Names’ Swimming + Singles is available at amazon.co.uk, but the rest are sadly out of print, so snatch ’em up if you see them! Sad Lovers And Giants does have a greatest hits available, called E-Mail from Eternity: The Best of Sad Lovers And Giants.

Modern Eon * Fiction Tales (Din Disc) 81
The Names * Swimming (Crepiscule) 82
Sad Lovers And Giants * Epic Garden Music (Midnight Music) 82