PILP = Public Image Ltd Parody
(not a new incarnation of Pulp with Jarvis displaced by Johnny)
A potential micro=genre suggested by the chance hearing of this (off the second Mekons album, 1980)
The bass and the guitar also have a Leveney-Wobbley quality on this track from 1982's odds'n'sodsment assemblage The Mekons Story
Killing Joke - contrary to opinion voiced by some, they are one of my favorite groups of the entire p-p era, indeed I saw them twice which is something I can't say for any other bands of that time (Friars Aylesbury around the first album, Dunstable circa Fire Dances) but KJ at the very start were distinctly PiL-indebted.
That's not exactly a parody - more like an influence that has yet to be internally alchemized and transfigured into your own identity yet (as it would be very soon with the Joke)
(Youth was a bit of Vicious parody though, in terms of his look / mien )
Ah now, this next one is an actual parody / pastiche (but also I'm sure a tribute - the sincerest form of flattery)
Who else is there in the realm of PiL-homage? Not just being inspired by them (loads of examples there) but actually rather slavishly copying the sound...
7 comments:
a fair bit of early 2000s Radiohead (esp. "National Anthem")
Steve Albini's Shellac clearly owe a massive debt to them.
I should add, "Metal Box" stands alongside "Trout Mask Replica", "Maxinquaye" and "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." as one of the albums where I initially just didn't get what all the fuss was about, but about the fourth or fifth listen through, it just HIT and became a massive and utterly inescapable part of my life.
The infinite library of streaming has probably put an end to that sort of experience for younger listeners, sadly.
true - a lot of people listen almost like 'checklist tourism' - done that
Phil Knight sez:
"Karen" is actually the reply song to "Poptones".
i.e. "Poptones" is narrated by victim, and "Karen" is narrated by the killer. The Mekons are deliberately trying to sound like PiL so as to emphasize that the two songs are describing the very same story from two different viewpoints. It surprises me that nobody seems to have "got" this, as it is very obvious when you put the two songs back to back.
Of course, I would argue that "Metal Box"-era PiL is a parody of "Black & White"-era Stranglers, but then I've ground that particular axe ad nauseum.
Phil - you're back!
i hadn't noticed that but then i didn't pay attention to the lyric
how is the epic tome on violence in popular music coming along?
Phil Knight sez:
I'm going to say "watch this space" for the moment - nothing is imminent, but I have at last got an all-encompassing conceptual structure to hang this on. It's going to be a challenging book to write, but if I do it successfully, it will make "Strangled" seem comparatively tame.
I don't want to give too many hints (draining the energy away and all that) but there is a planet at the far edge of the solar system that is the key to understanding post-war pop culture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WLw_0DFQQ
great to hear you are making progress Phil (or is that the wrong word to use when talking to a declinist?)
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