Arts & Entertainment

Popularity overlooks a few good men

Jesus and Mary Chain, Albini, Cave rank among musicians bound to obscurity

Stay Sick

Jason Gagnon

Every daring artist faces the possibility of being bound to obscurity and cult status in rock ' n' roll. Challenging popular notions of music and lyrics can find you embraced by the underground and audiophiles everywhere but virtually ignored by the mainstream. With that in mind, here are a few male artists whose absence from the public consciousness is downright criminal.

The Jesus and Mary Chain — Scottish brothers William and Jim Reid came screeching into existence in 1984 and left a deep impact on the world that would later go on to influence bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead and Primal Scream. The group's debut album, Psychocandy, combined elements of Brian Wilson, the Velvet Underground and straight bubblegum pop washed over in a wall of shrieking feedback. They were quickly championed by England's New Music Express and would often play short, noisy sets where they'd have their backs facing the audience and the show would end in a riot.

Realizing the threat of becoming a novelty act, the J.A.M.C.'s next album, Darklands, was absent of feedback and showcased the brothers' songwriting abilities in a bare bones package. The closest the band ever got to a breakthrough in the United States was with the "wall of sound" style production Honey's Dead. Back at home, the brothers Reid were banned from Top of the Pops because of the opening lyrics on the album's first single, "Reverence" (I wanna die just like Jesus Christ / I wanna die just like JFK). With the current wave of Brit-pop trickling in and the indie scene's fascination with noise and synthesizers, it is impossible to deny the powerful influence of this amazing band. Recommended songs: "Teenage Lust," "Cherry Came Too" and "I Hate Rock 'n' Roll."

Steve Albini — The god of true independence in rock 'n' roll paved the way for the industrial music explosion in the early 1990s with his legendary band Big Black. Using a drum machine, his deadpan vocals and some ferocious, yet minimal, guitar work, Big Black will forever be known as one of the most challenging indie bands of all time.

But Albini's stronger claim to fame is as a producer of some of the most important albums of the 1990s that include the Pixies, P.J. Harvey, The Jesus Lizard and of course works by Nirvana. What sets Albini apart from his peers is that he refuses to take a producer's credit (he prefers "recorded by"), forgoing thousands in royalties from an album and showing his determination to protect a band's creativity. He believes a band can record an album as good as it's capable of if it's left to operate as it normally does.

A constant critic of the music industry, Albini remains unaffected by major labels and determines his fees by his clients' ability, whether or not they're nice and a record label's gullibility. Albini uses the money from his higher paying gigs to fund production for smaller bands and projects of his own choosing. His records maintain a raw sound similar to their live performances which is his ultimate goal. Recommended Songs: "He's a Whore," "Model" and "El Dopa."

Nick Cave — Crashing into England's music scene in the early 1980s, Australian born Nick Cave and his band the Birthday Party led a violent sonic assault on listeners and audiences for a few short, yet prolific, years. The group's sound was a raw and chaotic mix of blues, rockabilly and darker elements of the post-punk era. Cave was the lyricist and main writer for the group and he projected his macabre tales through a ferocious howl and a voice that's best described as Ian Curtis impersonating Elvis Presley while being knifed in the belly.

After some incredible albums like Prayers on Fire and Junkyard, the Birthday Party self-destructed because of clashes and substance abuse. Cave went on to form the Bad Seeds and enlisted guitarist Blixa Bargeld to create layered music that is a more subdued version of the Birthday Party with some great piano driven ballads. After kicking an almost decade-long heroin addiction, the Bad Seeds would continually release complex and impressive albums with their opus becoming 1996's Murder Ballads. The album is thematic and contains sorrowful piano tunes, skewered country and amazing duets with P.J. Harvey, Kylie Minogue and Shane MacGowan.

In reference to his lyrical predilection toward murder and violence, Cave asserted that although his lyrics gravitated toward murder and violence, he believed that the beauty of life couldn't be separated from its beauty. Recommended Songs: "Release the Bats," "Loose" and "Song of Joy."

Gagnon writes a weekly column about all things sick.
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