Embedded Files
UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR FEBRUARY 2011: THE WANDERERS
Greg Shaw, rock music historian and founder of Bomp! Records, has said of Cleveland’s the Dead Boys: “They are the best punk rock band that I ever saw, and I saw them all”. Stiv Bators had been their frontman from the beginning and was famous for his stage antics, but he was often restless and desired to move beyond the punk-rock conventions.
The Dead Boys broke up in 1979 when the whole punk rock scene seemed about to disintegrate; Sex Pistols had famously imploded in January 1978 during their first American tour. Stiv Bators and Greg Shaw began working together almost immediately and continued off and on well into the 1980’s when Bators was trying to reinvent himself as a pop singer. The results were a fine album called Disconnected (which was released in 1980 and was recently reissued on both CD and LP) and several singles that were collected in a CD called L.A. L.A.
Bomp! Records also released several additional Dead Boys albums following the break-up, beginning with Night of the Living Dead Boys in 1981. The vocals had to be overdubbed, since Stiv Bators had deliberately ruined the original recording by singing off-mike, in order to get back at their record label. Even so, this is the best live punk rock album I have ever heard. Additional Dead Boys lore surfaced last year when lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome released a memoir called A Dead Boy’s Tale: from the Front Lines of Punk Rock.
THE WANDERERS (briefly called the Allies) were born when Stiv Bators essentially replaced Jimmy Pursey as the front man and lead singer in Sham 69, which broke up in the summer of 1980. Besides Stiv Bators, the other bandmembers were from Sham 69: Dave Tregunna (bassist), Dave Parsons (guitarist), and Mark Goldstein (drums). Unlike many of the other first-wave punk bands in Britain, Sham 69 had genuine proletariat roots and eventually attracted very rowdy crowds. Despite considerable success, the Dead Boys and Sham 69 had both been somewhat under-appreciated in their home countries.
The Wanderers’ sole album, Only Lovers Left Alive was recorded in November 1980 but didn’t come out until 1981. As might be imagined from the title of the opening song “Fanfare for 1984” (which features sirens that might have come from a concentration camp), the album concerns a young man who becomes obsessed with the impending doom of civilization through his fascination (described in the track “A Little Bit Frightening”) and later disillusion (“Can’t Take You Anymore”) with the pronouncements of a conspiracy theorist. The two singles released from the album were the potent “Ready to Snap” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing”. As Allmusic put it: “This album remains one of the most foreboding records ever released and plunges the listener into a world of Bolshevik plots, duplicate Popes, and a third World War that is so close you can smell it.”
Many rock critics were not ready for a “concept album” from a punk rock band, and the Wanderers were often dismissed as “the Sham Boys” or “Stiv 69”, though they did get some favorable notices (from Trouser Press, among others). Their label Polydor Records had expected more than a cult following and made only minimal efforts at promoting the Wanderers; in retrospective paranoia, this seemed like sabotage to Stiv Bators. Today, the original album is almost impossible to find, but a reissue in 2000 on Captain Oi! Records has brought the album to a wider audience. (“Oi” refers to a working-class subgenre of British punk rock; Sham 69 was one of the first such bands). Greg Shaw regards the album as being among Stiv Bators’ finest work, and I concur.
The name of the conspiracy theorist referenced in the album, Dr. Peter Beter sounds like a weak masturbation joke. In actuality, however, Dr. Beter is a real person, an ex-CIA agent who brought news from the intelligence-community underground in a series of “audio letters”. (Oddly, the liner notes on the 2000 reissue never mentioned that, nor did those on the original album release). Not only that, Stiv Bators was obsessed with him in real life and used to regale anyone who would listen about the dangers of impending Bolshevism and the end of the world. The song “Dr. Beter” presents a synopsis of the endless conspiracies discussed by Dr. Beter and features an actual excerpt from one of his recordings. Talk about “Reality . . . What a Concept”: Only Lovers Left Alive had it all!
The title of the album, Only Lovers Left Alive is taken from an apocalyptic 1964 novel called Only Lovers Left Alive by Dave Wallis about an uprising of British teenagers against not only the authorities but the entire adult population as well. Sitting on top of a copy of the novel on the front cover photograph is another paperback book called The War Game, a companion book (published in 1967) to a controversial 1965 faux-documentary film also called The War Game (both by Peter Watkins) about the aftermath of a nuclear war in Britain; it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary that year, though because of the bleak subject matter, it wasn’t actually broadcast in Britain for 20 years. At the bottom of the stack of books is a copy of the Christian “end times” classic The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey.
The Wanderers was dropped by Polydor Records and broke up almost immediately. Shortly thereafter, Stiv Bators and Dave Tregunna formed the Lords of the New Church, which had their own version of doom and gloom. This post-punk band had a more polished sound than the Dead Boys and were quite successful during the 1980’s, but Bators’ stage histrionics were as wild as ever. In one celebrated incident, Stiv Bators hanged himself on stage and was pronounced dead for several minutes. Though he recovered from that incident, he was hit by a taxi in Paris and died from those injuries all too young in June 1990.
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The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.
Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn
Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters
Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland
Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I
Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop
May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up
Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica
Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock
Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop
Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota
Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II
Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter
Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave
Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock
Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s)
Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s)
Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s)
May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly
Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians
Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I
Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men
Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas
Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery
Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s)
Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s)
Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated?
Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave
Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music
Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III
May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders
Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I
Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II
Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I
Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History
Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II
Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide
Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV
Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival
Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray
Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs
Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language
May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan
Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I
Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II
Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V
Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock
Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III
Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I
Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II
Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III
Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV
Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V
Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren
Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren
Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones
May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree
Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III
Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music)
Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan)
Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles)
Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV
Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V
Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II
Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music)
Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan)
Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones)
Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles)
Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock)
Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide
Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands
Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music
Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics
Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop
Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock
Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock
Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands
Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums
Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles
(Year 10 Review)
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