— Alex Kadis
Like all genres and sub-genres, synth-pop has its superstars. The members of Kraftwerk are its founding fathers and Gary Numan its Bowie-esque overlord that all most subsequent acts looked up to. Groups like The Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark emerged out of post-punk while New Order and Sparks evolved out of guitars and into electronics. Pet Shop Boys and Erasure brought top-level songwriting. Depeche Mode were the indie darlings and every North American junior high school's outsider band of choice. These groups all became highly successful and are even admired and/or liked by listeners who identify far more with supposed 'real ale' rock.
But what of the also-rans? The D.I.Y. approach of punk encouraged youths to form their own bands out of the core of guitar, bass and drums. Keyboards and synths weren't required and, if anything, demanded a technical proficiency that went against the spirit of the age. Synth singles and albums were popular but none managed to pull a Velvet Underground: Brian Eno never observed that there was an obscure electro-pop record that inspired everyone who bought it to form bands and invest in a fairlight. The inspiration that the big acts provided wasn't even restricted to those noodling on synths: Numan and Depeche Mode ended up being godfathers to nineties industrial rock by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Linkin Park.
The synth-pop gene pool wasn't deep. One of the few groups to come along that largely didn't register with the masses was Blue Mercedes. While they did have a Top 30 hit with "I Want to Be Your Property", it would prove a one-and-done scenario. They did do better on the dance charts and that's where their work belongs, especially if they had come along about five years earlier. Sure, a bit of acid house squelching helps to put it squarely in 1988 but this isn't enough to expose it as dated even at that time,
"Love Is the Gun" is a product of the dance clubs and is not unlike earlier Singles of the Fortnight from Bobby O and Sylvester, only not quite as good. The production/engineering team of Phil Harding and Ian Curnow (who also happened to be Stock Aitken Waterman's "B" squad at their Hit Factory studios, which goes someway to explaining why their names were all over the credits of the bulk of late-eighties' UK pop albums and singles) provide an ecstatic atmosphere but it isn't enough to hide the thinness of the material. SAW's work from this period could vary from excellent (Mel & Kim, some Bananarama) to pitiful (Sabrina, Mandy Smith) but their writing tended to be relatable, even only on a superficial level. Alex Kadis detects some perviness and that could very well be but it isn't the kind favoured by Prince. Seldom has sex sounded so unsexy.
Though far from a selection packed with quality, there are at least two vastly superior records on offer this fortnight. Either INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" or Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" ought to have been named SOTF. Kadis has praise for both but instead opts for "Love Is the Gun" for its sheer catchiness. Fair enough but Blue Mercedes only manage to succeed at exposing the limitations of synth-based pop. INXS weren't doing anything fundamentally new on their hugely popular album Kick but they were a surprisingly tight sextet and they were anything but dinosaurs in spite of Michael Hutchence refusing to hide how much he yearned to be Jim Morrison. Public Enemy were paving the way for a hip hop revolution and their lineup of an angry rapper (Chuck D), humourous rapper (Flavor Flav) and DJ (Terminator X) was much more D.I.Y. than anything that had ever come out of punk. One group looked to the past for a creative spark, the other was all about the future: better either of those than the present.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Transvision Vamp: "I Want Your Love"
Kadis concludes by stating that the latest single from Transvision Vamp will "probably be a flop as well". Far from it though. The critics never took to the Vamps but the public loved them enough to give them a number one album in 1989. "I Want Your Love" is the first of two singles with Wendy James singing on them that people of a certain age and from certain regions are likely to know. Again, there was something of the 'we can do this too' mentality to the pop metal here. James was such a compelling figure because she was such a composite: glamourous but in a trashy, working class way, a tough, outspoken feminist yet someone who might just as soon get their kit off at a moment's notice. Not the best singer but a good focal point of the band. Anyway, "I Want Your Love" is stupid but just try not singing along. Can't do it, can you?
No comments:
Post a Comment