Okay, so I been making with the blahblahblah all week about the meaning of New Wave and it’s all for nothing. Doesn’t matter. You either dig the music or you don’t. But let me state one last thing.
What was important about the post-punk era of the late Seventies and early Eighties? What does matter, even after all this time?
The key, the core, of punk was not nihilism. I never cared for that element and it didn’t last; after all, the nihilists either quit or killed themselves. It wasn’t three-chord song structures; as I’ve pointed out this week, there were some real craftsmanship going on too. It was not that the music was loud and fast, because it often wasn’t.
It was the DIY ethos. Anybody can grab a guitar or whatever and get up and make music. You don’t have to be able to play or sing or write. You just have to want to do it. You just have to care. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like. In fact, if you’re a freak, all the better. You want to write cool rock songs about politics or Harry Houdini, go for it. Don’t let anything stand it your way.
On with the music.
Cristina Monet was reminiscent of Lotte Lenya and Marianne Faithfull. Her first single, “Disco Clone,” came out in ’78. Her first album was produced by August Darnell (of Kid Creole & the Coconuts); her second by Don Was (of Was (Not Was)). She was married to Michael Zilkha, the head of her label, ZE Records. She came from money; she attended Harvard. She still sang very vividly of the whole scene in New York City. By ’85, she was out of the music business. A 2004 profile can be found here.
One of my favorite Christmas songs of all time — ever — is Cristina’s “Things Fall Apart,” produced by Don Was. These closing lyrics never fail to move me:
They’d killed a tree of ninety-seven years,
And smothered it in lights and silver tears.
They all got wrecked, they laughed too loud,
I started to feel queasy in the crowd,
I grabbed a cab back to my flat,
And wept a bit,
And fed the cat.Things fall apart but they never leave my heart
Good Morning Midnight: it’s Christmas…
This is the Christmas I love, one of bittersweet pain and crushed dreams. Go watch It’s A Wonderful Life again, one of the best Christmas movies ever made. You think it’s about holly and mistletoe and how lovely things are at the holidays? It’s a dark, bitter vision of life, a portrait of missed opportunities and unachieved ambitions. So, you hug your kids and decide not to cut your throat after all. Merry Christmas.
The Waitresses used to piss me off. Their 1982 single “I Know What Boys Like” annoyed the crap out of me at the time. Now, I love it. The band was from Ohio and used to hang out with Devo, Pere Ubu and the Bizarros in the mid-Seventies. Like Cristina, lead vocalist Patty Donahue (a.k.a. Patty Darling) sang-spoke the lyrics. Also, the band was signed to ZE Records. And they also didn’t last. After recording the 1983 album Bruiseology for Polydor, their career was over. Patty sadly died on December 9, 1996 of lung cancer.
Their song “Christmas Wrapping” is also like “Things Fall Apart,” in that it is a sad portrait of a woman alone at Christmastime. In this version, she gets the happy ending she deserves. The opening of the studio version is terrific, one of the best intros ever to a Christmas song. I’m sure you’ve heard it; if not, download here [disabled]. Since it is so damn popular (albeit deservedly so), here is a live version, from February 1982. “I Know What Boys Like” hadn’t yet blown up into a monster. “Christmas Wrapping” had just appeared on the ZE Record’s A Christmas Record compilation, along with “Things Fall Apart.”
Cristina – Things Fall Apart — BUY
The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping (live) — BUY
7 Responses
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Daz Says:
Ah God bless you.
“Things Fall Apart ” is my very favourite Christmas offering, and I wheel it out every year as an antidote to all the unsufferable crap peddled in the name of the awful time known as Christmas.
She also does a fabulous version of my all time favourite song “Is That All There Is”, but Peggy Lee`s version is still the definitive article.
I also recommend “Christmas Sucks” by Tom Waits and Peter Murphy (yes, THAT Pete Murphy of Bauhaus); wonderfully grumpy.!!
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girish Says:
I first heard Cristina on the Ze records comp, Zetrospective.
And God I miss Was (Not Was). Their records, especially What Up, Dog?, are some of of my favorite unheralded pop music of that period. -
The Pop View Says:
What I miss is the old gritty New Wave-ish Was (Not Was). Yeah, too bad they’re not making records any more. They also have a cut on the ZE Record’s A Christmas Record compilation, called “Christmas Time in the Motor City.”
Hey, checking this site, they’re back together and getting ready to release a new album!
As for that “Christmas Sucks” song, it’s actually “This Holiday Season,” by Athens, GA band Porn Orchard. It’s just a very, very good simulation of Waits and Murphy, in the spirit of the infamous David Bowie-Bing Crosby duet on “Little Drummer Boy.”
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Brendon Says:
Here’s a kind of video Xmas card I made that uses THE WAITRESSES. Hope you have a laugh and want to pass it on…
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girish Says:
Awesome news.
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The Pop View Says:
For more info on “This Holiday Season,” see my more recent post here.
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The Pop View » Blog Archive » A Quiet Christmas Says:
[...] When I posted “Things Fall Apart,” I wrote: This is the Christmas I love, one of bittersweet pain and crushed dreams. Go watch It’s A Wonderful Life again, one of the best Christmas movies ever made. You think it’s about holly and mistletoe and how lovely things are at the holidays? It’s a dark, bitter vision of life, a portrait of missed opportunities and unachieved ambitions. So, you hug your kids and decide not to cut your throat after all. Merry Christmas. [...]