Supplemental Song - Age 32 - House Of Jealous Lovers - The Rapture
I remember seeing this back when MTV was running videos and thinking "What the hell was that?" So much so that I went and bought it immediately in the used (yes) CD bin of the store for about $5.99. Not believing my ears, it would later be cemented in my auditory oeuvre when dance-punk would storm the scene later that year and next with Franz Ferdinand, The Bravery, The Killers, and other bands that took punk and made it anthemic and danceable. Quite a nice combination for someone who always loved dance and punk. While critical ears like Eephus's can and have pointed out that they took their cure from Gang Of Four, these bands did something a little different in the mode of the synthesis between dance and punk that immediately stood out, like more of a groove-oriented vibe than a punk one. There's a thread about disco punk here that I started, and that's because it's such a serious musical influence in my life that even in my early thirties it knocked me flat on my ### like a teenager.
Anyway, this song represents the height of dance-punk, IMO. It's also one of the fist to originate from that scene and helped mold the dance scene at the time, according to some, because of the rock element in it.
Check the story of the song here and the Wiki page for
accolades here. Weighty stuff and weighty praise. The song? It's got a pulsating disco beat, whined vocals, and a ton -- I mean a ####-ton of cowbell in it. Then there are the freakouts. One critic called it four guys all playing leads with their instruments yet keeping a sick groove and flow. From Brooklyn by way of San Francisco from their origins in their hometown of San Diego, no less, which is my adopted hometown scene, I guess. If not for L.A., that is. Nah, I'll stick with SD. Regardless, here's the album version of the song in all of its glory.
House Of Jealous Lovers