Category: Mekons

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#059: The Mekons– ‘Where Were You?’ (Fast Product ’78)

Good morning friends,

welcome to part 15.687 of my ever-ongoing series: „bands I missed in the first place“. I understand that young age is one reason for neglecting fine bands, but certainly another one is sheer stupidity – as it is the case here.

The Mekons were always around, fact. Another fact is that their name was a common one in the music papers I was able to read in the early/mid 80’s. Still, I never took the chance to delve deeper, to explore their background. Quite why I never did remains a mystery to me, as I said: they were always present and being mentioned in the papers, so there cannot have been a good reason for me not to care about them.

They first came to my attention with a track from their fourth album from 1984 (‘Fear & Whiskey’) and from then on I was always fond of what I heard from them, some tracks from all of the next albums, let’s say until 1989, were excellent!

But still it took me some more time to realize that their earlier singles were even better: it all started in 1978 with ‘Never Been In A Riot’, but the follow-up from the same year was the real must-have for me: ‘Where Were You?’

It simply is anthem-like for a song written with just two chords and one guitar riff. This and its lyrics about desperation and loneliness make it one of the most outstanding punk songs painting a melancholy picture of a delusional man in love – and there are many of those songs, mind you!

It starts rather emotional, vulnerable, and somewhat pathetic, but when the second verse hits, the sadness and pathos turns to suspicion as the speaker reveals his darker side.

These last lines are sweet, naïve, and devastating as the speaker has brought himself to a new level of dejection while the listener has figured out that this is not the story of star crossed lovers; it’s a one-sided obsession.

Quite magical, at least it is to me!

mp3:  The Mekons – Where Were You?

I don’t have the original single, but a reissue from 2018 on Super Viaduct in yellow translucent vinyl … which, for me, is just as neat as the original is!

Take care

Dirk

Some extracts from ICA 73.

There are twenty-one albums by The Mekons up here in the music room (as at 1996), which is almost their entire output, bar one compilation album from a few years back (Heaven & Hell: The Very Best of the Mekons ) and the album Pussy, King of the Pirates they made with Kathy Acker in 1996, which I think I bought second hand from Polar Bear records in Birmingham many years ago, but I must have traded it in again.

They were punk, then post-punk before a radical change in direction in 1984, when The Mekons started making records with more than a hint of country, then ca. 1989 the music became more “indie/alternative” for a few years and latterly more folk-tinged. All of which may have you running for the hills, but that would be a catastrophic mistake, because The Mekons are a great band (apart from those punk/post-punk early years).

Memphis Egypt 

This is track 1 from the 1989 album The Mekons Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Not a bad track on the album. Has been, on occasion, One Of The Ten Best Albums Of All Time. The first album of their “indie/alternative” era.

Tourettes

From the 1998 album Me.

There are some rather rude words in this, so in the name-of-the-sweet-lord do not play this when your granny’s in the room. But it’s a song that could very well make you laugh. Or not, if you’re a bit prudish.

Last Dance

The penultimate track from Fear And Whiskey, the first album The Mekons made (in 1985) after their hiatus, and I think one of the first alt-country albums. Some people refer to it as country punk. And an album you really should possess.

GEORGE FORSYTH

Back in 2014, I had a short running series in which I invited readers to submit a few words on their personal cult classics – songs which were largely unknown for the most part but which really should have been massive hits.

The problem with having a hotmail address is that sometimes things go into my Junk folder and I don’t pick them up when I trawl through them. That’s what I think happened to Walter‘s submission for the series…but he was prompted to resend the e-mail after The Mekons recent appearance in the ICA series. Here’s what he had to say:-

Hi JC,

as announced this morning I give you my personal Cult Classic.

‘Where Were You’ by The Mekons was released in 1978 on FAST 7.

The Mekons earned a true fan-community over the years in many places in the world. But I won’t call this a mainstream success. Back in the late 1970s I got  in touch with that so called punk rock genre and one of the first singles was this one by The Mekons.

It had everything I love on this kinda music. It was rough with good and simple chords, the voice of Jon Langford who
made me believe that every word he’s singing was true. And at least ‘Where Were You’ was one of the few songs that tells you a lot in less verses.

If this song should not fulfill your criteria, please let know me and I will contrive something else.

Best wishes for your new series!
Walter

Huge apologies my friend for letting you down all those years ago. Better late than never though….

mp3 : The Mekons – Where Were You?

Enjoy.  And drop in at Walter’s place and say hi.

A GUEST POSTING FROM GEORGE FORSYTH

JC writes…….

There’s a healthy dose of ICAs in the pipeline, courtesy of guest contributors.  I’m really pleased that George has come on board – he was responsible for what was a very entertaining, informative and educational blog called Jim McLean’s Rabbit.  He’s a Scotsman who not too long ago upped sticks for a new life in Portugal as a peanut farmer.  Those of you who frequent Charity Chic’s place will know that George is very fond of leaving the occasional friendly and dry-witted comment there.  This is the first of  two back-to-back ICAs from him.  Neither of his chosen acts are all that familiar to me, but that’s what makes this series such a joy.

 

There are twenty-one albums by The Mekons up here in the music room. Which is almost their entire output, bar one compilation album from a few years back (Heaven & Hell: The Very Best of the Mekons ) and the album Pussy, King of the Pirates they made with Kathy Acker in 1996, which I think I bought second hand from Polar Bear records in Birmingham many years ago, but I must have traded it in again.

So here’s ten tracks, and only one from their first incarnation, when they were punk (‘The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen’), then post-punk (‘The Mekons aka Devils Rats and Piggies a Special Message from Godzilla’ and ‘The Mekons Story’), and the track here is the first from a double 7 inch EP, not from any of those three albums.

There was a radical change in direction in 1984, as Charity Chic mentioned a couple of weeks back, when The Mekons started making records with more than a hint of country, then ca. 1989 the music became more “indie/alternative” for a few years and latterly more folk-tinged. All of which may have you running for the hills, but that would be a catastrophic mistake, because The Mekons are a great band (apart from those early years).

This is not some sort of My Most Favourite Mekons tracks, it’s not meant to be representative of their output, it’s simply ten tracks that I particularly like. If I was to do this ICA next week I’d come up with ten different tracks. Because The Mekons are a great band (apart from those early years). I may have mentioned that already.

(Simply click on the Track Number to get the mp3s)

Track 1. Memphis Egypt 

This is track 1 from the 1989 album The Mekons Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Not a bad track on the album. Has been, on occasion, One Of The Ten Best Albums Of All Time. The first album of their “indie/alternative” era.

Track 2. Alone and Forsaken

From the “country-punk” album Edge Of The World.

You really need to listen to the lyric on this one.

Track 3. Funeral

From the 1991 album The Curse Of The Mekons

Track 4. Dear Sausage

From 1993 album I ♥ Mekons

Track 5. Tourettes

From the 1998 album Me.

There are some rather rude words in this so in the name-of-the-sweet-lord do not play this when your granny’s in the room. But it’s a song that could very well make you laugh. Or not, if you’re a bit prudish.

Track 6. Teeth

From the 1980 7-inch EP.

When deciding what tracks to include I played The Mekons Story in its entirety and the 1980 album Devils Rats… and I thought, well, they were quite interesting but they won’t be getting played again anytime soon. Just like the Quality if Mercy album (the one with a photo of the Gang of Four on it, by mistake), which was the very first Mekons album I heard, in 1984, leant to me by a friend. And I thought “what’s this shit!”. It remains an album I’m not overly keen on. But “Teeth” is well worth a listen.

Track 7. Spinning Round in Flames

From the 1994 album Retreat From Memphis.

I have this on vinyl, there are two discs, one plays at 33 and1/3 and the other at 45. So not having listened to the 45rpm disc too often I put it on. Which involves, on my turntable, changing unscrewing one motor/belt-drive thingy and replacing it with the one for 45s, and re-attaching the belt. Which is a bit of a pain in the bum, it takes me longer to do this than the length of your average 1970s pop song.

So I played this portion of Retreat From Memphis, and it wasn’t that good. After all that faffing around. Just as well I’ve got nothing better to with my time. So I thought I’ll put on The Widowmaker EP (Butthole Surfers). Christ, that’s not too good either! To rectify my increasingly bad mood I put on Fox On The Run, which to this day remains one of the five finest “pop” songs ever made.

Anyway, track 7 here, Spinning Round in Flames is on side 2 of the 33 and 1/3 disc. Retreat From Memphis is not one of The Mekons albums you must own, but it certainly has some good songs. On the 33 and 1/3 disc. You know, they could have made the second disc a one-sided 33 amd 1/3. It would have made life a lot easier.

Track 8. Last Dance

The penultimate track from Fear And Whiskey, the first album The Mekons made after their hiatus, and I think one of the first alt-country albums. Some people refer to it as country punk. And an album you really should possess.

Track 9. Myth

From the Journey To The End Of The Night album.

Track 10. Revenge

From the live album New York, originally a cassette-only release, but now you can get it easily enough on cd.

So there you are. No “Ghost Of American Astronaut”, no “Empire Of The Senseless”, no “Where were you”.

One time I saw The Mekons live, in the Little Civic in Wolverhampton, in the late 1990s, there were 37 people in the audience. I thought the band (all 7 or 8 of them, from memory) might be a little disheartened, some of them live in the USA I think, so they all get together, put on some shows in the UK, and THIRTY-SEVEN people turn out. It’s enough to give you a strapadichtomy. Because, and I might have hinted at this already, The Mekons are a great band. Apart from those early years.

And here’s one of the best pop songs ever made:

George