Alternative Classix Podcast

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 4/15/07

This week's featured video - The Church's "Under The Milky Way" - is the work of director David Hogan, who began his career directing music videos for country music artists and later for acts such as Kylie Minogue, The Gin Blossoms and Sheryl Crow.

Formed in Sydney, Australia in 1980, The Church has been exploring the neo-psychedelic side of alternative rock for nearly three decades. Following the success of their first single "The Ungarded Moment" in Australia in 1981, the band was signed to major labels in North America and Europe through the '80s. They reached their greatest commercial success in 1988 with the album Starfish and the single "Under The Milky Way."

While the Church never again reached the level of popularity it experienced in the late 1980s, the band continues to release albums at a blistering rate of almost one per year (including the 1992 masterpiece Preist=Aura - one of my very favorite albums) and can be found on tour just as often.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 4/11/07

Back with a new installment of our video of the week featuring a 1979 performance by The Motels for the German TV music show Musikladen.

While the roots of The Motels can be traced back to 1971 Los Angeles, the new wave band most of us came to know in the early 1980s was formed in 1978. The band is best known in the United States for "Only The Lonely" and "Suddenly, Last Summer", both of which peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts in 1982 and 1983. "Total Control" - our featured video - is considered by many to be The Motels' signature song and it reached #7 on the Australian charts in 1979.

In 1987, lead singer Martha Davis dissolved the band to pursue a solo career. She later reformed the band as The Motels featuring Martha Davis in 1998 and has toured with various lineups ever since. In 2005, they released a independent CD titled "So The Story Goes" with plans to issue a new CD this summer.

And what became of the original 1978 lineup? Well, In 2004 VH-1's Band's Reunited TV show brought the original lineup back together of a one time only concert.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 3/5/07

This week's installment (sorry for the delaying this segment!) takes us back to the dream pop sound of the early 1990s.

Formed in Reading, England in 1989, Slowdive was one of several bands from the era - including Ride, Chapterhouse and Moose - who were labeled "shoegazing" bands for their lush, introspective sound. Featuring Neil Halstead (vocals), Rachel Goswell (vocals/guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Christian Savill (guitar), Adrian Sell (drums, 1989), Simon Scott (drums, until early 1994) and Ian McCutcheon (drums, 1994 on), Slowdive held together for six years - disbanding in 1995.

Goswell, Halstead and McCutcheon would later form Mojave 3. Goswell released a solo album in 2004.

The video of the week is Slowdive's "Alison", directed by Joshua Rubin.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 2/11/07

Our featured video this week is by The Wild Swans performing their 1988 single "Young Manhood" (directed by Martyn Atkins).

Formed in Liverpool in 1980, The Wild Swans was a post-punk band created by ex-The Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Paul Simpson. Intermittently active through most of the '80s, the band released only two full length albums - 1988's Bringing Home the Ashes and 1989's Space Flower. In 2003, a retrospective collection of the band's rare recordings Incandescent was released by Renascent Records.

Today, The Wild Swans enjoy widespread cult status, particularly in Phillipines. And two splinter projects from the 1980s - Care and The Lotus Eaters - continue to attract new fans.  More on the Wild Swans can be found here.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 1/29/07

After a long hiatus, the Video of the Week is back with "Cloud 8", a 1991 classic modern rock single by England's Frazier Chorus.

Characterized by their use of flute, clarinet, bongos and hush vocals, Frazier Chorus was originally signed to the legendary 4ad label before making the move to Virgin Records in 1987. Two years later, the band recorded their successful debut album, Sue.

In 1991, the band began embracing the indie-dance scene of the time, allowing several singles from their second album Ray to be remixed by top DJs. A third album, Wide Awake, followed in 1996 to mixed reviews.

Today, instrumentalist Kate Holmes is best known for her work with the electronica bands Technique and Client. Vocalist Tim Freeman (the brother of Martin Freeman of BBC's The Office) was most recently responsible for the 2005 Sly-Fi single "Wild Wild Child" -- a song that brought the now well-known phrase "daddy-wanker" into the British lexicon.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 12/21/06

A special holiday treat for our featured video this week - Band Aid's 1984 smash "Do They Know It's Christmas," directed by Nigel Dick.

Created with top British and American rock acts of the time (including many new wave artists), Band Aid was both a charity supergroup and foundation established by Sir Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure (Ultravox) to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The group's only single - "Do They Know It's Christmas" - was produced by Trevor Horn. Until recently, it was the biggest selling single of all time in the UK.

More on Band Aid, and Geldof's 2004 Band Aid 20 project, can be found here.

Happy Holidays!!

Note: You must have one of the following portable media players in order to watch the downloaded music video (encoded in .mp4 format). Otherwise, you can view it on a standard computer or stream it below.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 12/3/06

Our video this week comes from the British punk rock supergroup The Lords of the New Church with their 1983 single "Dance With Me".

Formed in 1982, The Lords of the New Church was Stiv Bators (formerly of The Dead Boys), Brian James (formerly of The Damned), Dave Tregunna (formerly of Sham 69) and Nicky Turner (formerly of The Barracudas). Called "The Lords" by their most devoted fans, the band's image blurred the lines of batcave rockers and glam punks.

Over the course of a seven year career, they recorded three studio albums and one live album. While many of their singles were more new wave or goth in nature, The Lords were one of the few bands of the period that could also pull off pure-punk rock anthems.

In 1990, Bators was struck by a laundry truck while intoxicated on a street in Paris. He was brought to a hospital but, under unclear circumstances, was sent home by the attending doctor. He died in his sleep.

Note: You must have one of the following portable media players in order to download and watch the music video (encoded in .mp4 format).

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 11/19/06

Our video this week features a rare performance by Siouxsie and the Banshees at the Rockpop Berlin Festival in 1981. The single "Spellbound" was originally released on the album Juju.

Out of all the bands that emerged from the original UK punk scene and later the post-punk and goth rock scenes, Siouxsie and the Banshees still remain one of the most influential. More on the band's history and legacy can be found here.

Note: You must have one of the following portable media players in order to download and watch the music video (encoded in .mp4 format). Sorry, no video streaming this week.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 11/12/06

British new wave trio Fiat Lux's 1984 single "Secrets" is our featured video this week.

Formed in Yorkshire, England in 1982 with Steve Wright (vocals), Ian Nelson (sax, keyboards), and Dave Crickmore (guitars, keyboards), Fiat Lux was named after the Latin translation for the Biblical quotation "Let There Be Light." The band's first single "Feels Like Winter Again" was followed by "Secrets", a song that drew comparisons to Depeche Mode's moody synth-pop. Featuring an electronic cello - a unique sound at the time - "Secrets" is their best known single.

A handful of singles are all that Fiat Lux produced under the Polydor label, never releasing a full length album. The band disbanded in 1985.

If you have more information on Fiat Lux or you're a member of the band that would like to set the record straight with our podcast listeners, email us.

Note: You must have one of the following portable media players in order to download and watch the music video (encoded in .mp4 format). Otherwise, you'll only be able to view it on a standard computer or stream it below.

Alternative Classix Video Of The Week 11/05/06

Our featured video this week is 1979's "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.

One of only a few new wave bands from Canada that found international success during the late '70s and early '80s, Martha and the Muffins originally featured Martha Johnson, Mark Gane, David Millar, Tim Gane and Martha Ladly. Releasing their first single in 1978, the band followed with a full length album on Virgin titled Metro Music. "Echo Beach" was that album's only hit single.

Following several personal changes, the band was down to the core of Martha Johnson and Mark Gane by 1984. That year - recording as M+M - they scored their biggest hit in years with "Black Stations/White Stations," an anti-racist anthem whose first verse took radio stations to task for refusing to play a song about mixed-race dating (INXS' "Original Sin").

In 1992, Johnson and Gane revived the name Martha and the Muffins for the album Modern Lullaby, but the single "Rainbow Sign" was only a moderate hit. Most recently, in 2005, the band performed a number of reunion shows in Toronto.

Note: You must have one of the following portable media players in order to download and watch the music video (encoded in .mp4 format). Otherwise, you'll only be able to view it on a standard computer or stream it below.