kleph
27-03-2006, 01:02 AM
It is not a big secret that I have a certain affinity for what I describe as "pop" music. If there is a mis-maligned genre of modern music this has to be it. For most the term describes a certain fluffy meaningless brand of music churned out by a studio of producers for a mindless public. And that's certainly the case for the worst of the type. But it's a definition that simply falls short.
Good pop music is that undeniably catchy brand of music that you find yourself singing despite yourself days after you heard the record for the first time. It's often well done but not necessarily slick. Sure some of it is mindless but the best of the brand tends to have a message underneath that eventually sinks into your medulla oblongata and refuses to leave. Bands like the Beach Boys, Material Issue and Fountains of Wayne seem to be singing about girls they are swooning over but that's only to the casual listener.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/2/0/1/dbs002.jpgThe acme of this genre, for me, is the dB's. They had a strong ten-year career and during that time they cranked out some of the most perfect pop masterpieces put on vinyl during those heady years of the 1980s. These guys are the biggest dilemma of 80's alternative music: why did R.E.M make it and these guys didn't? They had a stronger pop sensibility and a love for stripped down guitar-laden songs. They boasted two excellent songwriters with Chris Stamey and Peter Hollsapple. There were one of the most accessable bands out there in the wide open alternative scene but they never seemed to get the breaks. No less than five record labels cratered under them and only one of their records made any sales.
They were all from North Carolina but had moved to New York in the late 1970s where they met and formed the band in the chaotic post-punk din. They started off hot with every offering on Stands for Decibles and Repercussion is a pop masterpiece boasting their trademark jangly guitars and Everly-Brothers-reverse-dive-bombing vocals (as songwriter Peter Hollsapple once described it). Sure they are singing about girls and good times but everything isn't quite that simple. There is an undercurrent of reality here - they are old enough to know that most relationships end sour and life might be good but it's a pain in the ass not knowing where your next meal is coming from.
Stand for Decibles also boasts my hands-down, number one favorite song of all time - the impeccable "Amplifier." It's a super catchy tune with a whip smart guitar line that makes you grove along despite yourself but it's not as bubblegum as it sounds. The "Amplifier" is the last worldly posession of a guy whose girlfriend took everything he owns. Which would be kind of funny except the guy commits suicide in the first stanza. Not as simple as the mindless "pop" you are used to, is it?
After these two records singer/songwriter Chris Stamey left the band the alternative crowd thought the brilliant run of the dB's was over. When the next record, Like This, penned by the other singer/songwriter in the band, Peter Hollsapple, came out and was great folks thought it was a fluke. But when R.E.M. actually got the band a big label contract and they produced The Sound of Music it was perfection itself. Hollsapple's songwriting is at it's prodigious peak here and everybody who'se anybody in mid-80's alternative music shows up to lend a hand. These are tales of love gone wrong, working crappy jobs, and the usual ennui but there is an undeniable sense of hope and optimism to the proceedings and not a little romanticism. My girlfriend at the time said if she could sing "I Lie" on stage with Peter Hollsapple once in her life she could die happy. She was definitely a keeper.
For years, you were forced to go to eBay to get back issues of their work but There have been several rereleases of their work as well as a few rarities collections of which the excellent Ride the Wild Tom Tom is one of the best. It was a bit of a shock in the early 1990s when this little gem - a collection of their early songs that never made it into the light of day - showed up five years after their last show.
And the band's website dB's Online (http://www.thedbsonline.net/) is a wonderful resource for diehard fans and newcomers alike.
This essay first appeared on my website kleph.com (http://www.kleph.com).
©2005 C.J. Schexnayder
Good pop music is that undeniably catchy brand of music that you find yourself singing despite yourself days after you heard the record for the first time. It's often well done but not necessarily slick. Sure some of it is mindless but the best of the brand tends to have a message underneath that eventually sinks into your medulla oblongata and refuses to leave. Bands like the Beach Boys, Material Issue and Fountains of Wayne seem to be singing about girls they are swooning over but that's only to the casual listener.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/2/0/1/dbs002.jpgThe acme of this genre, for me, is the dB's. They had a strong ten-year career and during that time they cranked out some of the most perfect pop masterpieces put on vinyl during those heady years of the 1980s. These guys are the biggest dilemma of 80's alternative music: why did R.E.M make it and these guys didn't? They had a stronger pop sensibility and a love for stripped down guitar-laden songs. They boasted two excellent songwriters with Chris Stamey and Peter Hollsapple. There were one of the most accessable bands out there in the wide open alternative scene but they never seemed to get the breaks. No less than five record labels cratered under them and only one of their records made any sales.
They were all from North Carolina but had moved to New York in the late 1970s where they met and formed the band in the chaotic post-punk din. They started off hot with every offering on Stands for Decibles and Repercussion is a pop masterpiece boasting their trademark jangly guitars and Everly-Brothers-reverse-dive-bombing vocals (as songwriter Peter Hollsapple once described it). Sure they are singing about girls and good times but everything isn't quite that simple. There is an undercurrent of reality here - they are old enough to know that most relationships end sour and life might be good but it's a pain in the ass not knowing where your next meal is coming from.
Stand for Decibles also boasts my hands-down, number one favorite song of all time - the impeccable "Amplifier." It's a super catchy tune with a whip smart guitar line that makes you grove along despite yourself but it's not as bubblegum as it sounds. The "Amplifier" is the last worldly posession of a guy whose girlfriend took everything he owns. Which would be kind of funny except the guy commits suicide in the first stanza. Not as simple as the mindless "pop" you are used to, is it?
After these two records singer/songwriter Chris Stamey left the band the alternative crowd thought the brilliant run of the dB's was over. When the next record, Like This, penned by the other singer/songwriter in the band, Peter Hollsapple, came out and was great folks thought it was a fluke. But when R.E.M. actually got the band a big label contract and they produced The Sound of Music it was perfection itself. Hollsapple's songwriting is at it's prodigious peak here and everybody who'se anybody in mid-80's alternative music shows up to lend a hand. These are tales of love gone wrong, working crappy jobs, and the usual ennui but there is an undeniable sense of hope and optimism to the proceedings and not a little romanticism. My girlfriend at the time said if she could sing "I Lie" on stage with Peter Hollsapple once in her life she could die happy. She was definitely a keeper.
For years, you were forced to go to eBay to get back issues of their work but There have been several rereleases of their work as well as a few rarities collections of which the excellent Ride the Wild Tom Tom is one of the best. It was a bit of a shock in the early 1990s when this little gem - a collection of their early songs that never made it into the light of day - showed up five years after their last show.
And the band's website dB's Online (http://www.thedbsonline.net/) is a wonderful resource for diehard fans and newcomers alike.
This essay first appeared on my website kleph.com (http://www.kleph.com).
©2005 C.J. Schexnayder