...in the form of the first noise rock band I've become fond of, Steel Pole Bath Tub ( yeah, I know, but noise rock band names are like that ).

Apparently, an ad recently used their song Train To Miami ( a vid with better sound quality than the below ), causing a slight ripple of reminiscence in the rock community. Spawned in the '80s, they've been inactive since the early half of this decade.

A good example of their style is their cover of The Cars' song Just What I Needed - an upbeat, poppy '80s love song turned into something minimalist, ominous and slightly otherworldly.



( I don't know why, but most Steel Pole Bath Tub songs on Youtube are to these of backwards driving videos. A reference to their slightly odd focus on The Cars, perhaps? )

..."My Girl's Pussy", from 1931.

( Black Math, live 2003 )



Don't you think that I'm bound to react now?
Well, my fingers are definitely turning to black now.
Yeah, well maybe I'll put my love on ice.
Teach myself, maybe that'll be nice, yeah.

My books are sitting at the top of the stack now.
The longer words are really breaking my back now.
Maybe I'll learn to understand,
Drawing a square with a pencil in hand, yeah.

Mathematically turning the page.
Unequivocally showing my age.
I'm practically center stage.
Undeniably earning your wage.
Well maybe I'll put my love on ice,
And teach myself, maybe that'll be nice, yeah.

Listen master, can you answer a question?
Is it the fingers, or the brain,
that you're teaching a lesson?
I can't tell you how proud I am,
I'm writing down things that I don't understand.
Well, maybe I'll put my love on ice,
And teach myself, maybe that'll be nice.

Another band new to me from Domino - The Threatmantics.

This one is in English, but about half of their songs I've heard are in Welsh ( and surprisingly, it actually works ).




Seriously though, the video looks like someone challenged them to make a video using whatever they could find on the living room floor. Quite possibly one of the worst I've ever seen, and not in a fun, bizarre way.

Ah, that's what an indie rock budget will do...

They're also notable for doing one of the few versions of Louie Louie I can stand ( and in this case, actually like ).

Anyhow, it's recently occurred to me that I am the only gay man who likes rock music. Seriously, once guys find out my profession, they usually talk about what music they like, and this is one genre that NEVER comes up. I've probably talked to thousands of guys, yet the cliches actually have a firm basis in reality.

Yes, the cliches of Streisand, Celine Dion and Broadway Musicals are largely true. The minority of gay guys do tend to have more diverse tastes - there's a fair amount of country, folk, world, even jazz lovers, and many into classical music ( my only common ground, usually ). Rap is understandably unpopular, but just why rock is almost absent is a mystery to me.

For once I'd like to meet a guy who says he just loves Death Metal. I do not like Death Metal. It sounds like musical entertainment for Throat Cancer Awareness Week ( which, in turn, might be a good name for a Screamo band ). But it would be different, and unexpected. And frankly, I'd rather lose my hearing that way than listening to Judy Garland sing "Over The Rainbow" for the eight-hundredth and forty-second time.

One of the things I DON'T like about rock is how depressingly young white male it is. That being said, leaving out the white, what is so aversive for gay men about the young and male part? For that matter, what is the huge appeal for the average gay guy in older female pop stars?

I mean, I think he's tacky and I'm not attracted to him, but I get why gay guys like Enrique Iglesias. But seriously, have you looked at Liza Minnelli lately? You want that? Really?

Here's more from Tokenhippie. Get it while it's on the internet.

Let's start with more depression out of Vancouver - I give you I Can Feel It Coming by Strange Moves.



( Things get cheerier back east. Just why is beyond me - even when featured in a satisfactory life, Winnipeg is a good enough reason for suicide. )

I have no clue as to whether this is a racist song, a parody of racism, or just weirdness. Only the middle option would make me comfortable liking it. But then, if it WAS that, Jack's Bowdlerization here wouldn't make sense ( not that replacing the word "niggers" with "Buddy Holly" makes sense anyhow, but using the n-word in any context is liable to make most non-black people uncomfortable, let alone lily-white Jack in front of a big audience ).

Considering Jack even self-censored his best political song on record ( leaving some to speculate "The Big Three" are the Holy Trinity, rather than GM, Ford and Chrysler ), I think it's highly unlikely we'll hear about Jack "hunting for niggers" or even for Buddy Holly on any forthcoming album or single. He's as close to being the living antipode to shock-rock as you can be while still actually rocking.

For those unaware of The Gun Club original, check it out.

This video has everything.

I knew the '80s was an age of unholy crack, but who decided Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart needed ninjas, a football team, extras from Grease AND The Midwich Cuckoos!?

I bet you think I'm kidding, too...

...and in other news, 1960s New Brunswick was just a touch cooler than I thought it was.

( The Stonemen - Faded Colors )



( The rest of this post is only likely interesting if you like Canadian '60s rock. )

Youtube is going on another big purge - this time music videos! Get your favorites while they last, ESPECIALLY if they're big or even moderately successful.

The following are not likely to get yoinked anytime soon, but given Youtube, you never know. It's getting much more draconian as time goes on.

The Kills cover Serge Gainsbourg - La Chanson de Slogan "I Call It Art". It's from a Gainbourg tribute album from 2006.



There's something intriguingly creepy about it.

( The same could be said of these early Kills songs... )

Just happened to come across this on a retro video show. It's one of those videos that make me wonder "what ever happened to them?"* though I'd be too young to remember them anyhow.

Wiki answers all, of course, but this was the eighties and they aren't using synthesizers, so that already makes them a cut above.**


*Things like this, on the other hand, make me ask how some bands EVER became a household name.

**Sorry Eurythmics, you know I'm not talking about you... specifically.

You were warned.

I've become addicted to The Fall lately.

Yes, I know there's something wrong with me.

In lieu of surplus bitching - Arcade Fire.