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A call out to the post-punk generation

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tldr: take pity on an ageing Goth, and post clips of anything angular and weird from the last 40 years that takes your fancy.

I like coming to this site, coz there’s a relaxed comfort about dropping in, perusing the threads, and seeing the familiar names I’ve known for a decade, chewing the breeze and chasing the fat. Recently I’ve been going through old copies of Word magazine (yet to get to The Word) – leafing through in case there’s anything of note from 15 years ago and quickly disposing of them (Why did I keep them?)

In both cases, there’s a feeling of gentle anomie that must grip all Gen-Xers – caught between the OK Boomers and their progeny, the Millennials. On one side, there’s your 70 rock – from prog to pub to yacht. On the other side there’s hip-hop and grunge. Demographical strength exhibited through cultural dominance.

Please don’t think this is a grumble. Oh no! Play to your strengths. It’s more a rallying call for those of the Linklater generation to rekindle the nostalgia fires for the avant culture of the 80s+. Play more old, (but not that old).

Maybe there’s a dedicated site for oldish gits like me – where people post clips of Big Black, Black Flag, Mighty Lemon Drops – heck, anything with a bit of grist in the shell to make the oyster.

Failing that, maybe this can be one of those threads where you take pity on an ageing Goth, and post clips of anything angular and weird from the last 40 years that takes your fancy. I will follow it up and try to generate interesting subthreads in pursuit of buried treasure.

Oh, and the clip? Well, with legacies from 3Mustaphas 3, PIL, Jah Wobble etc, I thought it vaguely connected to the theme of post-punk old lags. And I love it, and it’s the sort of oddity I’m pursuing.

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      • Speaking of which, here is the first song of theirs I ever heard – instantly fell in love with – the title track of their last album. Such resonant vocals cradling aching lyrics, accompanied by low piano chords, pitter patter jazz drums and a bass sax that melts into a gorgeous string-laden solo

        I should acquaint myself with the earlier albums more,

        • Whereas I should obviously acquaint myself with the later albums. As often seems to happen, I loved the first two and then wandered off. I’ve often thought that Stephin Merritt and Mark Everett were influenced by Morphine, but maybe it’s just the deep voices.

  2. Someone has just posted this on Twitter and it made my heart sing. My god what song and its from the late post punk era. Sort of…

    *Edit. Not angular, weird or remotely goth. Read the op properly Dave…

    • That’s an intense hit of a song. A many-splintered musical assault. Apart from the vocals, which I think are terrible.

      It puts me in mind of this, which I wouldn’t be surprised drew influences from Big Flame

    • Probably I can’t. I’ve always steered away from Nick Cave a being both histrionic and wordy, while recognizing his cultural worth. I like my music to dominate, not the words – which is why I have a similar attitude to Dylan, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Worthy originals, like classic literature – good to line the library shelves of the doting grandpa doling out musical and literary sweeties to the unsuspecting youngling on his knee, but too much like hard work to enjoy for this cultural lightweight.

      That was good, and maybe a little bit at a time, I may grow to enjoy old Nick. But also possibly not – the music seems just like a backdrop to his words – without them, it seems a bit pedestrian, just drags on. Sorry!

      Now, Nico is more refreshing. I knew she was supposed to be one of the godmothers of goth, but had never listened to her before. Elements of Propaganda synth, Dead Can Dance vocals weaving a musical spell. Atmospheric, if not extraordinary.

      Thanks for posting. It’s good to be exposed to new music.

    • More than the Cure with whom there’s a connection, I think Siouxsie and the Banshees are worthy of a reappraisal – so much more than just Hong Kong Garden and Peekaboo. This is great stuff. I’m not sure about the tubthumping, but the guitar – none more angular – and the vocals are peerless.

    • To be honest, the first minute of this left me cold – oh great, more power pop. Then the next minute and a quarter got interesting, and at 2.31 Oh boy! It flooded out my ear drums with liquid guitar chimes – and then got completely Television on me with multiple guitars just doing their thing, suspended on a lovely bouncing bassline. Back to the humdrum for the last minute, but it was mostly very heaven.

      Thanks for delivering the goods, HP.

        • Thanks for coming back at me, H.P. – I appreciate your craft and your sauce. Hands up about the wordplay, as I admitted in response to my comments to the Nick Cave tracks above. Though that was more about wordiness, than wordplay. I love a well-turned phrase, allusion or quote in an odd context (partly why I love the Sisters). I guess I just haven’t got a long enough attention sp…

          ooh look! A squirrel!

  9. The first thing that came to mind was this, but hearing it after several decades it’s actually kind of weedy. I’’m sure that when I was flinging my self around the student Union disco to it, joining in the mass shout of ‘I liberate!’ It really kicked.

    • I’ve never consciously listened to Spear of Destiny (or Theatre of Hate), although I ‘m sure I have heard them. That sounded like it would have been good for a goth night, lots of moshing and arm waving like in the goth tribal dance to Spiritwalker elsewhere on this thread. Not too weedy if you whack the volume up loud.

  12. I may as well be the person to make the case that both Hip Hop and Grunge are Gen X inventions rather than Millenial ones. I reckon Moose will back me up on this.

    Funnily enough, I’ve been listening to The Cure a bit recently, who I guess will fit in with this thread. I think they’re a genuinely major act (with hits!) who rarely get mentioned here for some reason. Disintegration and The Head on the Door are very different albums that have both aged very well.

    • You are probably right, Hawkfall. As “Generation X includes those born between 1965 and 1981”, I’m going to make the case that hip hop and grunge are late period Gen X, while I’m from the earlier period – before it was, you know, popular, to be Gen X.

      The Cure are a bit like Depeche Mode, I think – bands that appeared in Melody Maker, but weren’t cool enough to be in the NME. Stuck in the (all cats are) grey zone between alternative and pop. I like them enough, but wouldn’t man the barricades on their behalf. I remember Disintegration coming out after Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me – it felt like a return to the gloom of what I saw as peak Cure – The Head on the Door, with the headstone being Standing on A Beach (a bit like the Whole Story for Kate Bush).

      Do post some Cure – I think there are some great deep cuts that would reward a sharing here.

    • Thanks for these clips. The Pop Group , I so want to get more into and that just drives me further in that direction. Never heard the second track before, but it is magnificent. And Trio agree (https://rave.dj/q8jptq7-nCRZGg). Flesh for Lulu, I think I like the sound of, more than the actual sound – I am intrigued who the best goth band are…

    • Without a doubt. Although at the pop end of post-punk, they are magnificent. And did the quiet loud thing before Pixies did. This would be my track of choice for a beautiful quiet storm

        • I grew up just two or three stops down the line from PoloMint City – when the wind was in the right direction, you could hear the feedback in the distance, like a lone piper (fact check required – ed.)

    • Second album’s good, too, although they very much followed the Cult down the rockier end of the post-punk-rock road.

      I saw them in 1988 at the Reading, erm, Majestic, was it? Rigid and I have had this conversation at least once before. They were great, but the audience were Hell’s Angels who didn’t like Indie Kids.

    • Give them a decent haircut, and they could have been that generation’s One Direction. Very light and poppy.

      They are one of those bands, like Gene Loves Jezebel, Rosetta Stone, Claytown Troupe, Evanescence – who I was aware of, but didn’t leave much of an impression – on the rock/glam side of goth. I expected them to be uglier and rougher, though they were as hairy as I recall. About the only thing I remember about them was they had lots of hair.

  20. Or this more goth epic from Australia. Long before H&C went very mainstream. My brother used to play this to death so it sprang to mind when I read the brief.

    • I didn’t think that was going to be anything – and then it hit the 6 minute mark and all the cylinders started firing in a full throated and coherent blast – roared out towards the 9 minute mark. Thanks!

    • Sure it counts. There were a lot of bands hovering around the sound that Joy Division were most successful with. B-Movie, Danse Society, The Wake are ones I have a fondness for – post-punk veering more towards proto-Goth than pop/new wave. Although I bought this Comsats album at the same time as records by the others above, it never really stuck in the same way.

      • Fair comment re; The Comsats. I do like them, especially their poppier moments. Their sound can be a little dense.

        Off to see B-Movie (and Spear of Destiny) supporting the Chameleons in December!

    • None more angular, though each successive got closer to my mainstream sensibilities. John Lydon could have been Carole King if he didn’t have anger management issues.

    • With the Merciful Release link and the layout and type font, I wanted them to be more like the Sisters (see also Ghostdance). I never gave them a fair chance.

      • I picked up the 12″ single of Turn to the Sky from a bargain bin in 1986 and rather liked it.
        I’ve watched a load of John Hughes films recently, having recorded a series on (I think) Film4. Anyhow, imagine my surprise to see them performing Turn to the Sky in the film Some Kind of Wonderful. I’ve had the film soundtrack for years, bought mainly for the exclusive version of Furniture’s Brilliant Mind.

  25. This thread is already halfway down the second page, so it’s long gone time that I should thank you all for your dedicated posting – I’ve learned a lot, discovered some gems that were unfamiliar to me, and you’ve been patient enough to indulge my uninformed prejudiced responses…

    Maybe it should be post-rock next. But I don’t think I could stay awake long enough, So that’s for somebody else. Possibly.

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