So, there's this guy. His name is Jaz Coleman. He is in charge of a pop band called "Killing Joke."
The joke is that Killing Joke and Jaz Coleman are not funny. Instead they are angry. Holy cow are they angry. They are so angry that, at one of their concerts, when they play a song about a meteorite crashing into Earth and kiling everybody, it is a refreshingly breezy change of pace.
I am getting ahead of myself. Gordie of the Rocks took me to see Killing Joke two weeks ago. They were playing a show at a club called "Lee's Palace."
Lee is a dirty liar and his club is not a palace. If Lee cared a whit about accuracy or integrity the sign outside would read "Lee's Large Stinky Room Where You Can Buy Some Beer While A Rock Band Plays On A Stage."
But that would be a very large sign. And as I was just saying the place is not a palace. So it totally doesn't have a large facade for hanging a very large sign. Maybe it was the signmaker's fault and not Lee's.
So, Jaz Coleman. He and Killing Joke are very old. They had club hits in England in the early 1980s. Yes, that is very old indeed. Consider the other recording artists who had club hits in the early 1980s:
...
Er.
I can't think of any because I didn't go to clubs in the early 1980s. Unless you count Scouts. You don't, do you?
In Scouts we listened to a lot of music by Styx and Asia and Toto and Trio. In retrospect, we should have listened to Killing Joke instead. That would totally have made Scouter Glenn uncomfortable and we always liked doing that.
At Lee's Large Stinky Room, Jaz Coleman came out on stage and shambled around making these hunchy vampire poses. He looked exactly like that guy on TV who shambles around his house and complains about the dog poo. (Apparently that guy also had club hits in England in the early 1980s but as you just learned my knowledge of the period is weak and thin.) Jaz Coleman was silly but he was fun to watch so nobody minded that he was silly.
At one point, he and Killing Joke played the song about the meteorite. Here is how it went.
"Chung chung chung-CHUNG,
Cha-chung chung chung-CHUNG,
Cha-chung chung chung-CHUNG,
Cha-CHUNG.
...
ASSSS-terrr-OOIID!"
Gordie of the Rocks likes Men Without Hats too.
Posted by Bret at November 12, 2003 11:00 AM
Comments from you, the internet public:
Well holy cow. Suddenly, Charles, you are beginning to sound like a voice from the past.
Something tells me that's not your real name.
Aha! I am correct!
Right?
Posted by Bret at November 13, 2003 01:23 PMWell. There are obviously two possiblities. One, I could be the aforementioned voice from the past. Two, I have an obscure obsession with garage acts from the late '80s - early '90s, especially those from Saskatchewan. I like to think of myself as the only music historian to have actually attended the Jodrell's/TYR double bill.
Posted by Charles at November 13, 2003 03:17 PMCharles is incorrect. He (she) is NOT the only historian to have attended that concert. I was there as well in Louis at the University of Saskatchewan, along with three other fine people in our group. I recall the Young Republicans well. I wondered if they would ever get a gig at Buckingham Palace, but realized their name would preclude that, if nothing else.
Noswad
Posted by Noswad at November 13, 2003 07:05 PMHey, I WORKED at that concert at Louis! (See, I was NOT listening to Asia or Toto in the '80s.) Boy, am I ever feeling old now . . .
Posted by Carolyn at November 20, 2003 01:49 AMOh yeah--I almost forgot--I seem to recall another equally fine band from my nights serving at Louis--lame name, though. Ritual Blue? Opened for the Waltons, wasn't that it? Or was that The Young Republicans, also?
Posted by Carolyn at November 20, 2003 02:00 AMYep. Ritual Blue. Worst. Band. Name. Ever.
Unless you count "Train," of course.
Posted by Bret at November 20, 2003 11:38 AMYep. Not many great band names left--looks like Matchbox 20, Lillex and Roxette got the last of them. Sad, really.
Posted by Carolyn at November 21, 2003 01:49 AMLooks like a number of people enjoyed listening to Graham belt out his "Whoah hao hao". I always enjoyed watching you strangle yourself with the microphone cord as the enigmatic singer of Ritual Blue.
Posted by Charles at November 21, 2003 11:44 AMPost a comment of your own:
I used to listen to this band in the '80s called "The Young Republicans". They didn't really have any club hits but they sure played the hell out of some basements.
Posted by Charles at November 13, 2003 10:06 AM