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drwexI know I've pestered at least three of you to help me remember the name of a band I saw once in 1983. Couldn't remember the name, but I had some scattered ideas. Quartet, New-Wave-ish but not Cure or New Order. Synthpop and for some reason both the letter 'V' and the violin as instrument remained in my head.
I'm now pretty sure it was Ultravox. This song, Vienna, is pretty much how I remember them sounding.
For the record, they were one of four bands in a show of - in order - the original DiVinyls (1), Ultravox, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (2), and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
(1) one of the very worst moments in my concert-going life as the lead singer was hyped up on something and pretty much lost control - she was jumping on the guitarist repeatedly until he body-slammed her onto the stage. Then she started creating large bright-red lines on bare forearms. Lengthwise, not across. From the back where my friends and I sat it took quite some time to discern that she was in fact NOT cutting herself with a razor and bleeding out on stage, but rather was using lipstick. This was rather... upsetting to some of my friends who were in an altered state themselves. Getting them calmed down took most of the second act's time.
(3) my first-ever rap show. He was AMAZING. I was totally blown away by his techniques - remember, this is the man who invented scratching - and by the overt political and social commentary of the lyrics. It's hard to convey just what a brain-yank this was. He was so much better than anything I'd heard that I left shortly after the fourth act started because at that point standard pop-rock music had nothing to say to me and, frankly, SJ&TAJ sucked.
I'm now pretty sure it was Ultravox. This song, Vienna, is pretty much how I remember them sounding.
For the record, they were one of four bands in a show of - in order - the original DiVinyls (1), Ultravox, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (2), and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
(1) one of the very worst moments in my concert-going life as the lead singer was hyped up on something and pretty much lost control - she was jumping on the guitarist repeatedly until he body-slammed her onto the stage. Then she started creating large bright-red lines on bare forearms. Lengthwise, not across. From the back where my friends and I sat it took quite some time to discern that she was in fact NOT cutting herself with a razor and bleeding out on stage, but rather was using lipstick. This was rather... upsetting to some of my friends who were in an altered state themselves. Getting them calmed down took most of the second act's time.
(3) my first-ever rap show. He was AMAZING. I was totally blown away by his techniques - remember, this is the man who invented scratching - and by the overt political and social commentary of the lyrics. It's hard to convey just what a brain-yank this was. He was so much better than anything I'd heard that I left shortly after the fourth act started because at that point standard pop-rock music had nothing to say to me and, frankly, SJ&TAJ sucked.
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Date: 2007-08-23 08:07 pm (UTC)By 1983, they should have packed a lot of the set with stuff from "Quartet", including "Reap the Wild Wind". But my absolute favorite song on that album, which was the first CD I ever bought (in 1985) was Hymn. What the printed lyrics cannot convey is how he desperately wants the faith he was brought up in, but it has simply failed him too often.