1989-1991 imagine growing up your whole life under fear of imminent death from a hydrogen bomb (rather than a bad cold) and it's easy to see why young people exulted in the transformation that took place in under 36 months including the dissolution of the Soviet Union, tearing down the Iron Curtain and the chance for countless Millions to breathe free, and express their creative diligence in order to innovate and get those designer jeans they'd dreamed about. Yes I'm being cynical damn right I'm being cynical. But I'll leave you with this: at every High Point in history, every inspired moment there is a one-hit wonder band waiting for inspiration to tap them on the shoulder and simply say "you"
Listening to this song again really brings back chills of a better time, but hearing that lady's intro she obviously had not taken time to listen to the radio in 8 years there's no other explanation why she calls them "different" apart from the fact they wrote a good song and good songs are rare.
I didn't hear another one of their songs I certainly didn't buy the album (but if I had it would have been on cassette) so I don't know what the other tracks are like... but this song is almost a summation of the entire decade that preceded it, the synths, sequencers, midi, drum machines leaving no room for error especially in the effective intro and atmospherics that flesh out a by-the-numbers pop tune. And maybe they played instruments & the lead guitar is the one shredding the solo to get the track to the 3 minute mark. But I have my doubts.
Everything from the name Jesus Jones to the look of the band is so derivative of so many other bands from Jane's Addiction to Happy Mondays it's success is a side note, an accident unrelated to endless focus groups and struggle sessions by A&R people, trying to come up with the "whole package" once the label knew they had a hit. Here's how I envision one of those meetings:
"BAZONGAS from the key demographics they all LOVED it. Going to be big big BIG. New Wave needs this bad BAD! A shot in the arm, a resurgence, SOMETHING to stop the hemorrhaging, another big music chain filed Chapter 11, small town record stores dying, the only growth sector is the used vinyl market for DJs, we can't make a living off Boutique s*** We're in a CRISIS. 20 months decline in units moved can't blame it all on CDs. BOTTOM LINE young people are unhappy, cynical about the music scene. WHAT music scene?! That's exactly my point what we have here is a confluence of current events & creativity in current pop music the likes of which we haven't seen since Dylan... we ride it or die. The agenda for this confab is now down to BIG PICTURE. Is it too ambitious to target band appeal to those same young people torn between goth, alt, that industrial shite or God-forbid urban rap from America...kids like mine who're pissed off at me AT ME! Looking to us to be inspired and getting it on the News?? The fuck!?
OK soooo: what about a throwback, just hear this out...Spicoli with a social conscience! Right? Yeah?? An iconoclast who doesn't define himself by what others think or care in any discernible way and certainly doesn't give a s*** about the industry. He hates us openly as he probably should. We shape our appeal to that sense of anger at the commodification of Art. A group of outcasts & misfits! loosely connected rabble each with his own unique personality: post-punk neo-beatnik semi-disheveled proto-hippie pot-head surfer, skater, expert video game player? Loosely affiliated but never organized. Doing it only for the sheer Joy of it. I know that's not a word we like to use a lot but I'm prepared to go there. Think it over: Joy. Happiness. How we can even show a few clips from Eastern Europe throw Freedom into the mix...
Oh by the way should he flip the brim of his cap up, as a statement of both rebellion and optimism? We should probably talk about it with him... What's the lead singer's name again?"
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