It’s pretty common these days to see people putting together Merry Indie Christmas mixes. I’m certainly all in favor of that. But let’s take a trip back down memory lane — before some of you kids were even in the womb — back to the days of New Wave.
The revolution of punk started in the mid-Seventies, with the Ramones and the Sex Pistols being the most noteworthy of a slew of bands that led the way. Although there were some people who viewed this as an actual political revolution, in retrospect, it was more of a pop one. The original punk sounds were perhaps difficult to move into the mainstream, but the post-punk and New Wave that followed in their wake did make an impact. In my opinion, the charts today are heavily influenced by the punk and hip-hop movements of the Seventies and it never fails to amaze me.
Anyway, what we got here today is a little something from The Fall. I wouldn’t call myself a big fan, but I’ve always been a big sucker for the vocal stylings of Mark E. Smith. (Although, now that I think about it, I always have loved the mid-Eighties single “Cruiser’s Creek.”) They have a kind of formula they’ve been following for almost thirty years (I don’t mean this as a criticism; the Ramones were extremely formulaic): jagged, jangly guitar lines, over which Smith rants, at length. What’s not to love?
Here’s a track from their first album Live at the Witch Trials, which was released in 1979. They also released a Christmas single, “(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas,” in December of 2003. For more background, read the band’s Trouser Press listing.
El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, has likewise been around for almost thirty years, active in the L.A. scene. As Robert Lopez, he was in the Mexican punk band the Zeros (1976-81) and then in Catholic Discipline (along with lesbian folk singer Phranc and the late Claude Bessy of L.A.’s premier punk publication Slash magazine). By the late Eighties, Lopez re-surfaced as the Chicano embodiment of the King, combining the stylings of Lalo Guerrero with the punk aesthetic.
Here’s a track from his first Christmas album Merry MeX-Mas (1994), where he is backed by Los Memphis Mariachis and the Lovely Elvettes. El Vez combines Public Image Limited’s first single “Public Image” (found on the 1978 album First Issue) with José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad (I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas).” Feliciano recorded the song in 1970 for a Christmas album, which RCA shelved. It was finally released it in 1989, whereupon it became a big hit.
El Vez sometimes does a tour of MeX-mas Shows at the holidays, but not this year. Keep an eye out for it!
The Fall – No Xmas for John Quays — BUY
El Vez – Feliz Navidad — BUY
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[...] fashion. There’s the post-punk new wave that drew me in during the early Eighties (see here and here), often made by people who could barely play their instruments and sometimes by people [...]