fisher@dssdev.DEC (Gerry --- Hopelessly Obscure) (11/05/85)
Some Homo-pop music news for everybody!
Fans of New Music should check out a band called Mondo Rock, from
Britain. They have a song called, "Come, Said the Boy." It's great!
The lyrics are as follows:
"Come, said the boy.
Come be a man for me.
Come, said the boy.
Let me be a man for you..."
I can't tell you what a joy it was to hear that coming out (so to
speak) of my car radio one morning. I haven't read any reviews of the
album, can anyone out there offer a quick review? The single is
getting a good amount of air play in Boston, Massachusetts.
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The Smiths are due to release a new album this month. These guys have
been known to be incredibly depressing, but I heard an acoustic guitar
song from the upcoming album that was down-right beautiful.
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Many people in Boston are ranting and raving about the "homophobic"
song by Dire Straits, "Money for Nothin'". Some people are crying for
boycott, but I disagree strongly. The lyrics in question are
as follows:
"The little fagot with the ear ring and the make-up,
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair.
The little fagot has his own jet airplane.
The little fagot is a millionaire.
.
.
.
Maybe get a blister on your little finger.
Maybe get a blister on your thumb.
.
.
.
We've got to move these refrigerators.
We've got to move these color TVs..."
I think that many of my friends have a knee-jerk reaction to the word
"fagot." The song is not homophobic; the song's *narrator* is
homophobic. The song also derides its narrator for being ignorant,
sexist, and a slave to MTV. You can definitely argue that the attempt
to get this message through did not work, but don't go boycotting a
sophisticated song that makes an attempt at saying something
worthwhile.
Besides, the band's leader, Mark Knopfler, has removed the lyrics from
his concert performance because of the mass-misinterpretation. (He
has stated in many interviews that the lyrics to the song are direct
quotes from an appliance store worker whom he overhead in New York.)
If there is still any confusion, check out the video. The video makes
its point much better than the song. Just after the narrator rants
and raves about fagots, a picture of Dire Straits appears on the TV,
the narrator pointing at the band while ranting and raving.
Gerry Fisher
...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-dssdev!fisher
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Nashua, NH: Where the men are men, and the sheep are nervous.krossen@bbncca.ARPA (Ken Rossen) (11/07/85)
In article <1270@decwrl.UUCP> fisher@dssdev.DEC (Gerry --- Hopelessly Obscure) writes (concerning "Money for Nothing"): > Mark Knopfler, has removed the lyrics [about "the little faggot"] from > his concert performance because of the mass-misinterpretation. (He has > stated in many interviews that the lyrics to the song are direct > quotes from an appliance store worker whom he overhead in New York.) Well, this song was discussed to death in net.music, but I want to make one comment on this -- Knopfler did (as I understand it) write most of the lyrics himself, though the song was inspired by an appliance store worker whose comments directly constitute some number of the lines in the song (anybody know which ones?) Nonetheless I agree that the knee-jerk reaction to "faggot" is unwarranted and short-sighted. > Just after the narrator rants and raves about fagots, a picture of > Dire Straits appears on the TV, the narrator pointing at the band > while ranting and raving. It's not Dire Straits who appear at this point in the video. The three bands in the video are imaginary, tho' people in net.music have said that they correspond to real-life performers. Anybody know WHO? While on this theme, I'd like to know if anybody has any idea what Bronski Beat is doing. I understand that they lost one (more?) members (the lead singer?), and I'm wondering if they're continuing to record. Also, if anyone has head some of the Smiths' new album and would like to comment on its content, I'd love to hear about it (I haven't heard the album, but the raw emotion of their songs has certainly been striking in the past). Lastly (on this topic) has anybody else noticed the lines "For those of you who've gone the other way / Girls are more fun" in Ray Parker, Jr.'s new single? Do you find this as obnoxious as I do? Or is this sort of Top-40 schlock just to boring for anyone to care? -- Ken Rossen ...!{decvax,ihnp4,ima,linus,harvard,seismo}!bbncca!krossen --- or --- krossen@bbnccp.arpa
lo@harvard.ARPA (Bert S.F. Lo) (11/07/85)
> While on this theme, I'd like to know if anybody has any idea what Bronski > Beat is doing. I understand that they lost one (more?) members (the lead > singer?), and I'm wondering if they're continuing to record. > > Ken Rossen ...!{decvax,ihnp4,ima,linus,harvard,seismo}!bbncca!krossen > --- or --- krossen@bbnccp.arpa Jimmy Somerville (the lead singer) had some sort of problem dealing with the sudden rush of success. He took a "hiatus" from the group during which time, Larry Steinbachek remixed "I Feel Love / Johnnie Remember Me". When that was released, Jimmy left the band. He joined with Richard Cole to form a new group, The Communards. They've released one song so far, "You Are My World". It is a man to man love song, midtempo, somewhat like a campy showtune. It's only out in the UK, available in the US only as an import. In the meantime, Larry & Steve found themselves a new singer whose name escapes at the moment. They are due to release a new single, "Hit That Perfect Beat". They are still called Bronski Beat. In October, the old lineup of Bronski Beat released "Hundreds & Thousands : The Remix Plus" in the UK. It was recently released in the US. The 6 tracks are "Heatwave", "Why", "Run From Love", "Hard Rain", "Smalltown Boy" and "Junk". The remixes of the old songs are all new (ie. not the same as the 12" remixes). "Hard Rain" is a midtempo political piece. If not for Jimmy's voice and the lyrics, this song could easily be mistaken for a Soft Cell song. It's unusually menacing for Bronski Beat. "Run From Love" is very much a Bronski Beat song. It could easily have been on "The Age Of Consent". The LP is worth it for these two tracks if you can find it at a decent price ($4 promo/used). The new remixes of the old songs are really bad though. _____________________Bert S.F. Lo (lo@harvard.HARVARD.EDU)_____________________
mce@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Mark McEntee%CGL) (11/08/85)
Does anyone know who's done the song "Jet Boy/Jet Girl"? [Is that even the correct name?]. The chorus is essentially: Jet boy, jet girl I'm gonna take you 'round the world Jet boy, I'm gonna make, then penetrate I'm gonna make you be a girl I believe Johnathan Richmond's covered this ... not sure who the originals were...
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (11/08/85)
> Lastly (on this topic) has anybody else noticed the lines "For those of you > who've gone the other way / Girls are more fun" in Ray Parker, Jr.'s new > single? Do you find this as obnoxious as I do? Or is this sort of Top-40 > schlock just to boring for anyone to care? I remember an interview in Rolling Stone with this guy where he discussed the problem of having to deal with a rumor of his being bisexual, along with charges of his ripping off the "Ghostbusters" title song. All very peculiar, since he didn't actually quash anything by his statements. (I suppose for some people, this would be taking the high road, but given the general tone of the interview, I tend to doubt it.) This song is probably a feeble attempt toward reestablishing his credentials on both counts. -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA
reuling@Navajo.ARPA (11/08/85)
In article <698@ucsfcgl.UUCP> mce@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Mark McEntee) writes: >Does anyone know who's done the song "Jet Boy/Jet Girl"? [Is that >even the correct name?]. The chorus is essentially: > > Jet boy, jet girl > I'm gonna take you 'round the world > Jet boy, I'm gonna make, then penetrate > I'm gonna make you be a girl That was Elton Motello. It's sung to the tune of "Ca Plane Pour Moi," a not very memorable song by Plastic Bertrand. -J -- John Reuling reuling@su-score.arpa Stanford University reuling@score.stanford.edu Computer Science Dept fc.jar@stanford.bitnet Stanford, CA 94305 USA glacier!navajo!reuling
manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vince Manis) (11/13/85)
In article <698@ucsfcgl.UUCP> mce@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Mark McEntee) writes: >Does anyone know who's done the song "Jet Boy/Jet Girl"? [Is that >even the correct name?]. The chorus is essentially: > > Jet boy, jet girl > I'm gonna take you 'round the world > Jet boy, I'm gonna make, then penetrate > I'm gonna make you be a girl > >I believe Johnathan Richmond's covered this ... not sure who the >originals were... It's by Elton Motello, off the first album, ''Victim of Time'' (the version popular in the bars around 1980 was a dance remix). The second album, ''Pop Art'', has a number of gay songs, of which my favourite is ''Twentieth-Century Fox''.