La Mode

La Mode was a Spanish pop music group, active during the first half of the 1980s. They were one of the exponents of the "Movida Madrileña" movement, formed by former Paraíso member Fernando Márquez "El Zurdo". Their first show was at the Escuela de Caminos de Madrid on December 12, 1981. 

 

A few months later they recorded their first demo which included “Cita en Hawaii” and “Aquella Chica”. In 1982 they released both their first EP and their first album entitled 'El Eterno Femenino', featuring “Aquella Canción de Roxy”, possibly the most famous song in the history of the band. 

 

In 1984 they published their second album, which did not achieve the commercial and critical success of the previous one. In April 1984, Márquez left and was replaced by Daniel Ballester. During this period they composed the theme for the TVE show “Caja de Ritmos” and released the mini-LP 'Lejos del Paraíso'. In 1986 La Mode released their last album, 'La Evolución de las Costumbres', that went unnoticed and caused their split. The song “La Evolución de las Costumbres” is considered one of the best dark wave songs made in Spain. 

 

On October 24, 2014, the band Robots y Japonesas (a clear reference to the lyrics of the song “El Eterno Femenino”), formed by the founders of La Mode Mario Gil (keyboards) and Antonio Zancajo (guitar), joined by José Luis Moro, from Un Pingüino En Mi Ascensor, was the opening act in a show precisely of  Un Pingüino En Mi Ascensor. The band's guitarist, Antonio Zancajo, died on October 20, 2023.[SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

 

The Kids

The veterans of the Belgian punk scene, The Kids formed in 1976 when bassist Danny De Haes was just 12 years old. Joined by his brother Eddy on drums, lead vocalist Ludo Mariman, and guitarist Luc Van de Poel, the band supported Iggy Pop and Patti Smith before releasing their self-titled album in 1978, and its follow-up, 'Naughty Kids', in the same year. Following 1979's 'Living in the 20th Century', 1981's 'Black Out', and 1985 swan song 'Gotcha!', the band split but reconvened in 2004 to play their first-ever U.S. show at Brooklyn's Southpaw. After releasing an anthology collection in 2007, the band appeared alongside the likes of the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, and The New York Dolls at the 2008 Lokerse Feesten Festival. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Justin Trouble

Justin Trouble was a New York City band that had a mildly successful stint on that city's club circuit (breaking into the legendary Max's Kansas City in the early '80s) and released one unheralded album on the independent Casino label. Songwriter and lead guitarist Justin Trouble had an affinity for '50s rockabilly, but he also merged Clash-derived aggression and power pop hooks and harmonies on a record that, had it been picked up by a major label, might've rested comfortably alongside critic's faves by The dB's and The Shoes. Certainly songs like "Missile" and "Let's Get Together" are as good as any power pop from that era. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Johnny Thunders

Johnny Thunders was the first punk rock guitar hero, earning a cult following for his noisy but epic style a few years before the insouciant new music gained its name. Following in the footsteps of his idol and role model Keith Richards, Johnny Thunders (born John Anthony Genzale, Jr.) lived the ultimate rock & roll life, spending most of his days churning out tough, sloppy three-chord rock & roll and gaining nearly as strong a reputation for his decades-long struggle with addiction as for his music. Thunders made his greatest impact as a member of The New York Dolls, the proto-punk glam rockers of the early '70s. During the late '70s, he was a familiar figure on the New York punk scene, both with his band The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. Thunders performed and recorded steadily until his death in 1991, turning out a series of records that inadvertently documented the struggles of his life and his art.

 
. Under the name Johnny Volume, Genzale began performing in high school with local combos Johnny & the Jaywalkers and The Reign (an unreleased Reign tune recorded in 1967 was released as a single after Thunders' death); after those bands ran their course, he joined Actress, which featured future Dolls Arthur Kane and Billy Murcia. Actress became The New York Dolls in 1971, with the addition of vocalist David Johansen, and Genzale renamed himself Johnny Thunders. After recording two acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums, the Dolls broke up. In 1975, Thunders and the group's drummer Jerry Nolan formed The Heartbreakers with former Television bassist Richard Hell and guitarist Walter Lure. Hell left the group shortly afterward to form The Voidoids and was replaced by Billy Rath. With Thunders leading the band, The Heartbreakers toured America and Britain, releasing one official album, 'L.A.M.F.', in 1977. The group relocated to the U.K., where their popularity was significantly greater than it was in the U.S., particularly on the burgeoning punk scene. Thunders earned a reputation for powerful but inconsistent performances -solid and rollicking one night, incoherent, sloppy, and drunken the next, sometimes veering between the two extremes in a single evening. After several months, the group returned to America, where they played a series of farewell gigs in New York.

 

 

Thunders went solo in 1978, recording 'So Alone' with various rock and punk celebrities, including the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and Paul Cook, Steve Marriott (Small Faces, Humble Pie), Peter Perrett (Only Ones), Paul Gray (Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Damned), and Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott. After its release, Thunders and Peter Perrett played in the short-lived band Living Dead, while in 1980 Thunders teamed up with MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer in the band Gang Wars, another project that soon fizzled out. During the early '80s, Thunders re-formed The Heartbreakers for various tours and periodic "farewell" shows in New York City, with their stage work documented on a series of live albums, often of dubious legality.

 
For most of the '80s, the only Johnny Thunders product available consisted of haphazard compilations of live tracks and demos. In 1984, Thunders rebounded with a surprisingly strong acoustic album, 'Hurt Me', followed in 1985 by 'Que Sera, Sera', a collection of new songs that showed he could still perform convincingly. Three years later, the guitarist recorded an album of rock and R&B covers with vocalist Patti Palladin, 'Copy Cats'. And in 1991, German punk band Die Toten Hosen paid homage to Thunders by inviting him to play guitar on a cover of The Heartbreakers' "Born to Lose" on their album 'Learning English: Lesson One'. 

After recording with Die Toten Hosen, Thunders settled in New Orleans, where he planned to cut an album with local jazz and R&B musicians. However, only a few days later, Thunders was found dead in his room at the St. Peter House on April 23, 1991. Thunders' passing was shrouded in rumor and uncertainty; while it was widely believed he overdosed on drugs, friends insisted the guitarist was weaning himself off heroin with methadone, while others believed he was the victim of sadistic burglars who ransacked his room after feeding him LSD, and still others reported Thunders was struggling with an untreated case of leukemia. Though Thunders' passing was strange and chaotic, it was curiously appropriate -no other rock & roller ever lived as hard and traveled as individual a path as Johnny Thunders. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Hellmenn

Australian skate-punk/hardcore band, active since 1986, The Hellmenn came blasting out of Sydney's northern beaches skate punk scene like a rocket from the tombs of hell. The band's fierce sound mixed Black Flag with Black Sabbath by the way of an environmental manifesto. The band's original image was of a drug-crazed surf punks looking for good times and loud rock'n'roll, which said more about a desire to create mayhem as opposed to creating great art. On the otherhand, singer Ben Brown was also well known for his grotesque, demented artwork which was an extension of the bands frantic approach to music making. 

 
The Hellmenn signed to the label Waterfront Records and issued the hardcore mini-albums 'Herbal Lunacy' (December 1987) and 'Bastard Sons of 10 000 000 Maniacs' (November 1988). The second was populated by such unhinged characters as "The Tripping Priest" and "Sluggo". Yet, among the chaos, there was some semblance of order. The title 'Herbal Lunacy' for example reflected the band's interest in herbal medicine (guitarist David Hopkins is a qualified naturopath). The band contributed a cover of  "Search and Destroy" to Au-go-go's Stooges tribute album 'Hard to Beat' (1988). 

 

 

In 1989, Victor Levi (ex-Ratcat) replaced guitarist Tony Goode, and the band supported American Hardcore god-father Henry Rollins on his Australian tour. The Hellmenn issued one single during 1989, Blubber Soul ('Daydreaming/The Trip'), after which Levi left the band. A year later, The Hellmenn issued the album 'Mourning of the Earth' and the single 'Anyone/Possums' (May 1990). The album featured a mellower set of songs, and the title was a pun highlighting the seriousness of the worldwide environmental issue. The Hellmenn contributed a cover of "The Deuce" to the Kiss tribute album 'Hard to Believe' on the Waterfront label (1990). The band's last release for the year was the single 'Homegrown' (December), which had been lifted from 'Mourning of the Earth'. Around the same time, Bill Gibson (ex-The Eastern Dark) joined on guitar. 

 
The EP 'Electric Crazy Land' (October 1991) boasted a broad range of sounds, from Hendrix-like psychedelia to Sonic Youth-styled noise. The description 'sonic surf sounds' was an appropriate one. The band, however, had fallen into a rut and broke up at the end of the year. A few weeks later, Brown, Hopkins, and drummer Steve Heald revived The Hellmenn with new member Ken Archibold on bass. That line-up appeared on the bill of the inaugural Big Day Out (January 1992). 

 
The band then signed to Phonogram's development label Id, which released the CD EP 'Meltdown' (September 1992). The EP mixed three studio tracks with three bonus live cuts. The CD EP 'Absolute Filth' (June 1993) was another strong studio release (described by the band as 'thermo-nuclear-sonic-burnout'). Although The Hellmenn had progressed over the years, they continued to be dogged by references to their skate/surf/thrash beginnings. After eight years of noise making, The Hellmenn called it a day in April 1994.

 

Ground Zero

Ground Zero was a 1980s hardcore / thrash band from Minneapolis, formed by Taras "Terry" Ostroushko (vocals, guitar), James "Jamie" Ronnei (bass) and Dave Evenhouse (drums). They only released two albums, 'Ground Zero' (1984) and 'Pink', both on Reflex Records, an early 1980s U.S. punk /hardcore label based out of St. Paul, MN that released records by Hüsker Dü, Articles Of Faith, and Minutemen, amongst others. This label was founded by Terry Katzman and Hüsker Dü to promote bands in the Minneapolis scene, after Twin Tone Records rejected Hüsker Dü's first single in 1979.

 

Groovie Ghoulies

Horror movie-fueled Sacramento, California pop-punks the Groovie Ghoulies originally comprised singer/bassist Kepi, his guitarist wife Roach, and drummer Wendy. After debuting in 1989 with the album 'Appetite for Adrenochrome', the group spent the early '90s largely out of the spotlight, issuing only the occasional single (including 1990's "Lost Generation" and 1992's "Christmas on Mars") before finally releasing its sophomore album, 'Born in the Basement', in 1994. By now a hugely popular attraction on the Sacramento club circuit, in 1996 the Ghoulies signed to Lookout Records to release 'World Contact Day'; Wendy left the lineup soon after, however, and was replaced by ex-Screeching Weasel drummer Dan Panic. In the wake of 1997's 'Re-Animation Festival', Panic exited as well and was eventually replaced by drummer Jaz Brown.

 
The Ghoulies' fifth LP, 'Fun in the Dark', followed in 1999, and a year later the group resurfaced with 'Travels with My Amp'. The band left Lookout soon after, but showed up on Stardumb for the 'Freaks on Parade' EP in 2002. Featuring new drummer Scampi, 'Go! Stories' was the first full-length released on the label, appearing later in the summer and followed by a European tour. The group followed up in late 2003 with a record made up mostly of re-recorded versions of old singles and Lookout album tracks called 'Monster Club'. After leaving Stardumb and starting their own imprint, Green Door Records, the Ghoulies released an amped-up EP of Chuck Berry covers, 'Berry'd Alive', in August 2005, and then delivered their ninth album, '99 Lives', in 2007. Sadly, the band split up just days before the record's release, citing difficulties carrying on as a band after the dissolution of Kepi and Roach's marriage.

 
After the band's demise, Kepi continued recording and touring at breakneck speed. Whether playing folk songs or music for kids, or revisiting old Ghoulies albums (as on 2015's redo of 'Fun in the Dark', where he's backed by Dutch punks The Accelerators), Kepi has kept the fun-loving, goofy punk rock charm of the band alive. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Five Thirty

Armed with jagged guitars and pounding drums, London, England's Five Thirty tried to puncture a hole in the dance-oriented U.K. music scene of the late '80s and early '90s. Formed by bassist Tara Milton and guitarist/vocalist Paul Bassett, Five Thirty recorded their first single, "Catcher in the Rye," in 1985. Originally performing in Oxford and Reading, Five Thirty moved to London and met drummer Phil Hopper. In 1990, the group was signed to East West. The band's Jam-like sound and incendiary gigs excited the critics. However, the masses were unmoved by the band's back-to-basics rock & roll. Although the track "Abstain" managed to squeeze into the Top 75, the follow-up "Air Conditioned Nightmare" was completely ignored outside of the British press. In 1991, Five Thirty released their debut album, 'Bed'. But the timing was wrong. If 'Bed' had appeared years later -when '60s-styled English guitar rock without the club mixes was in favor- it would've had a better chance of selling. Disillusioned by their lack of success, Five Thirty unleashed the frustration in their songs, yelling, "This song ain't exactly what we'd call money but we don't care," in "Hate Male." Five Thirty split up in 1992. Hopper became an actor; Milton started The Nubiles; and Bassett recorded with Orange Deluxe. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

feedtime

Australia's feedtime (the name was deliberately spelled with a lower-case f) earned a rabid cult following for their primal and bruisingly powerful, bass-heavy sound, a walloping fusion of punk rock, blues, and hard rock. feedtime was formed in 1979 by a pair of friends from Sydney, Australia, Rick and Allen (just as they dismissed the capital "f", they didn't bother with last names); Rick played guitar (he was especially adept at bottleneck slide riffs) and his tastes ran to Rose Tattoo and the Aussie punk band X (not to be confused with the Los Angeles band of the same name), while Allen enjoyed acoustic blues and took up the bass. They recruited a drummer named Dave, but he grew tired of the way the group's music polarized audiences, and left the band in 1981. After Allen's sister handled the percussion chores for a while, they discovered one of their fans, Tom, was a musician with a talent for drumming, and he became feedtime's permanent drummer. In 1985, the trio financed and released their self-titled debut album; a pair of songs from the sessions appeared on a compilation from the Australian indie label Aberrant Records, and label head Bruce Griffiths liked them enough to sign feedtime to a recording deal. Aberrant released feedtime's second album, 'Shovel', in Australia, while Rough Trade struck a deal to issue the record in the United States. A third album appeared later the same year; 'Cooper-S' was a collection of cover tunes filtered through feedtime's musical world view, including songs by The Rolling Stones, The Stooges, the Ramones, and The Beach Boys. Butch Vig joined the production team for the group's fourth album, mixing the tracks for 1989's 'Suction', and the result was feedtime's most accessible release, but long-simmering tensions within the group came to a head, and shortly before the band was to launch their first American tour, feedtime broke up. They band reunited for some live dates in 1994, and two years later they recorded a one-off reunion album, 'Billy', with new drummer John sitting in for the absent Tom (the celebrated noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile released the album in America). In 2012, Sub Pop Records, whose flagship act Mudhoney were long avowed feedtime fans, released 'The Aberrant Years', a box set which collected the group's first four albums, and in support, feedtime staged a short reunion tour of the United States. Rick, Al, and Tom would reunite in the recording studio a few years later, and 2017 saw the release of their first studio album in 21 years, 'Gas', which saw them doing business with another stellar indie label, In the Red Records. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Faith

In spite of their limited lifespan and discography, The Faith were a seminal influence on the early emocore movement in Washington, D.C. For starters, nearly all of their membership moved on to either Embrace or Rites of Spring, by most accounts the first true emo bands. But even during their existence, the Faith's music hinted at what was to come, softening the standard-issue hardcore approach somewhat with better-developed melodies and a more inward-looking perspective. To be sure, it was high-energy, high-velocity punk, but its subtle deviations from the norm opened up new vistas for the D.C. scene.

 
The Faith was formed in the summer of 1981, and was initially a quartet featuring vocalist Alec MacKaye (ex-Untouchables and brother of Minor Threat's Ian), guitarist Michael Hampton (formerly of Henry Rollins' first band, State of Alert), bassist Chris Bald, and drummer Ivor Hanson. Filling part of the void left by Minor Threat's hiatus, The Faith quickly became one of the most popular bands in D.C., and naturally signed with Ian MacKaye's Dischord imprint. Their first release was a split LP with thrash-punkers Void, released in 1982 and featuring 12 songs from each band. Second guitarist Eddie Janney -also late of the Untouchables, as well as Ian MacKaye's short-lived Skewbald/Grand Union- joined afterward, and made his recorded debut on the 1983 EP 'Subject to Change'. A more developed and mature set of songs, 'Subject to Change' also proved to be the Faith's swan song, as the group disbanded by the summer of 1983. Janney formed the groundbreaking emo band Rites of Spring with Guy Picciotto, while Hampton, Bald, and Hanson all joined Ian MacKaye in another early emo band, Embrace. When Embrace broke up in early 1986, Chris Bald rejoined Alec MacKaye in Ignition; meanwhile, Janney played with One Last Wish and Happy Go Licky following Rites of Spring's breakup. Hampton and Hanson reunited in Manifesto in 1991, while Alec MacKaye sang with The Warmers during the mid-'90s. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]