PERE UBU
The thing about Pere Ubu . . . .
- They were a product of their times . . . check it out: their attentiveness to the studio is above and beyond the call of punk rock, and much more informed and coherent than the supposed "new wave" that they spawned . . . perhaps, of any band, they did more to define themselves as a studio band at a time when that meant something. In the same way that there is nothing quite like "Nonalignment Pact live, there is nothing like "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" on record . . . .
- They were a product of their environment . . . a short drive from New York, they would swing up for weekends in the capital of hipness, but always returned home to the wastelands, to Cleveland, Ohio. The rustbelt of America oozes from every note they played. Ultimately, they became the icons of the disassociated avant-garde everywhere: they quite simply sounded like nothing else.
- They somehow managed to combine the pretentious earnestness of '70's rock with the existentialist fuck-everything pranksterism of dada, sometimes alternately, and miraculously, sometimes at exactly the same time. Have you ever tried it? It's quite a stunt.
- As a band, they sprung fully formed from the womb: Datapanik in the Year Zero is, to many afficionados, the ultimate Pere Ubu. This is, of course, how it should be with rock -n- roll: it is a simple thing, and any statement beyond the initial utterance is nothing more than refinement. And yet, they kept going . . . .
- Once they said everything there was to say, they kept going . . . they paddled down the river, and once they hit the ocean, they kept paddling. This is the true avant-garde, saying something when there is nothing left to say. Sure, you can make the case that the true genius of Pere Ubu is contained in Datapanik in the Year Zero, The Modern Dance, and maybe Dub Housing, but you would be wrong. Everything that they did after (in the first incarnation, through The Tenement Year, and maybe beyond, though I'm not the person to ask on this one) was a relevant cry . . . less focused, perhaps more messy, but, somehow more lifelike for all the flaws. Let's face it: it's easy to say the one thing; crisis always hits at point two.
- On stage, they were (and maybe are) ONE BADASS BAND.
Of course, there's more, there's always more . . . if TBW! could be said to have patron saints, MX-80 Sound, Latent Chaos, and The Dancing Cigarettes are three, but above all is PERE UBU.
[Bill]
