The End of the Eighties, Track 32

“Fish”
Throwing Muses
Lonely Is an Eyesore
1987

I picked up Lonely Is an Eyesore in the import case at Digital Daze before I ever started working there. I listened to Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil prior to this album, but here is where I connected the dots identifying the ethereal, atmospheric sound typical of the 4AD label. Of course, this compilation does its damnedest to disassociate itself from that description by also including Colourbox’s “Hot Doggie”, Clan of Xymox’s “Muscoviet Mosquito”, and Throwing Muses’ “Fish”.

While “Muscoviet Mosquito” is the track I remember hearing played at Thursday’s, the military drums and surreal lyrics of “Fish” are intertwined with both my Akron punk friends and Bowling Green. Back at the CD store, I put this album into rotation as much as any other of the era when it was my turn to pick what we listened to. And, we would sit in my friend Nancy’s basement bedroom and listen to this album alongside Christian Death’ The Scriptures and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Kaleidoscope and Juju.

Once I got to Bowling Green, Throwing Muses became an integral association with Jennifer for me. She played “No Parachutes” off of that same year’s Hunkpapa LP, and the ridiculous obviousness of that song’s opening line (“Pushing a ribcage / Makes it hard to breathe”) quickly seared itself into our lexicon. As far as the band’s Lonely Is an Eyesore cut goes, it sort of became our group of friends’ unintentional theme song. There were three items on our mini-fridge that freshman year (The Year of the Fish?) that tied directly and not-so-subtly to fish….

First, there was a blue crayon rubbing John did of the word “FISH” from a headstone in Oak Grove Cemetery on campus. The cemetery itself was over a hundred years old by the time we arrived. It had a low stone wall along Ridge Street, just west of the Student Rec Center (where I had racquetball class), Moore Musical Arts Center (where I took multiple classes and first met Maria), and the Student Health Services building (where I had to go once freshmen year when I got crazy sick). Oak Grove was a wonderful place to go and wander. I spent plenty of days among the peaceful quiet of the headstones, both alone and with various members of our circle of friends.

Next was a yellow and blue and red handmade construction paper fish by our friend Erin. Last was a handwritten and illustrated fish-related joke from me: “Q: How many surrealist artists does it take to change a light bulb? A: The fish!” I don’t remember where I originally heard the joke (my apologies if you’re reading this and you’re the one who told me it), but it lived on for years in our world.

Throwing Muses lyricist and lead singer Kristin Hersh is just this side of crazy (she’s been very public about her bipolar disorder struggles), and because of that I’ve always given her a pass for her songwriting eclecticism. Much like that opening line from “No Parachutes”, the opening whimsy of “Fish” is one that has always stuck with me, an absurdist statement I have rolled out on numerous occasions (“I have a fish nailed to a cross on my apartment wall / It sings to me with glassy eyes and quotes from Kafka”). And the compilation album’s title is from this track: “Lonely is as lonely does / Lonely is an eyesore / The feeling describes itself.” A wonderfully twisted sentiment.

(Quasi-related side note: Years after college, an installment of Adam and Jeff’s ’80s Alternative Rewind took place when he, his wife, and I saw Bob Mould at the Grog Shop in November 2005. Hersh opened for him with a solo acoustic set. It was a train wreck. We weren’t there to see Hersh, and unfortunately the vibe from her performance carried over for us and Mould’s set ended up being a bit of a disappointment, too.)

The End of the Eighties, Track 16

“I Melt with You (Tokes’ Rock the World Mix)”
Modern English
I Melt with You CD Maxi-Single
1990

Modern English started out as labelmates of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Pixies, and Bauhaus. The original three founding members were even a part of the rotating cast of musicians that participated in 4AD label founder Ivo Watts-Russell’s supergroup This Mortal Coil. But it was the synthpop confection of “I Melt with You” that finds the group treading one-hit wonder territory for the casual music fan. The original 1982 version of the song secured a spot in the pop culture consciousness by being featured in and playing over the closing credits of Valley Girl. The band re-recorded and re-released the song numerous times throughout the years that followed, but were never able to really cash-in on it.

I remember my friends Jen and Nancy humming along with the song on drives home from Thursday’s. And I remember Jeff having a copy of the original After the Snow 4AD release at Bowling Green. But by the time we were on campus, Modern English had broken up, left 4AD, reformed, and were now on the TVT label with a new album – Pillow Lips. The playlist version here is one of the remixes from that latter era found on the 1990 CD maxi-single release of “I Melt with You”. More percussive-based than other versions and drawn out to nearly six minutes, the “Tokes’ Rock the World Mix” is relentlessly optimistic.

Running counterpoint musically and thematically to the funeral dirge The Cure’s catalog occupied in my music library, “I Melt with You” brims over with unstoppable buoyancy. From the iconic humming breakdown to the jangly synths, it all comes back to the sentimental simplicity of a new wave love song.

The End of the Eighties, Track 05

“Blind Hearts”
Xymox
Twist of Shadows
1989

Xymox is one of those all over the map bands from the ’80s. Beginning life as Clan of Xymox on the 4AD label after being discovered by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, they released two stunning albums (Clan of Xymox and Medusa) and a killer single (“Muscoviet Mosquito”), before dropping the “Clan of” from their name and jumping to Polygram.

Twist of Shadows landed right where it needed to for 1989, falling somewhere between the moody atmosphere of the 4AD formula and the full-on synthesizer dance pop of their subsequent album, Phoenix. It strikes the listener as both weighty and slight all at once. It has alternative cred and feels a bit like a sellout at the same time.

“Blind Hearts” is the first of a handful of tracks that originally appeared on both the BGSU mix and the Thursday’s mix. (Originally duplicated because in my mind the two playlists were for two different audiences, I de-duped the tracklistings when I combined them into one.) It reminds me of the era in general more than anything too specific though. I associate the song with Jeff at college. I remember dancing to it at Thursday’s. I remember Xymox played the Phantasy Theater and Moev opened for them (with the droning refrain of “Why would you crucify me?”).

Regardless, there is something to be said for the albums that are released at the time you’re immersed in them. Nine Inch Nails reached perfection with Pretty Hate Machine, The Cure could never top Disintegration, New Order couldn’t do better than Technique, P.W.E.I. peaked with This is the Day... This is the Hour... This is This!, The The nailed Mind Bomb, etc. And Twist of Shadows is no different for me.

The End of the Eighties, Track 02

“From the Flagstones”
Cocteau Twins
The Pink Opaque
1985

Two tracks into this thing and already my recall proves faulty. I was certain the Cocteau Twins’ The Pink Opaque collection was something I pulled from the import case at Digital Daze back in the day, but the internet is telling me otherwise. The compilation album was designed to introduce the Cocteau Twins to the US market as their first domestic release, so clearly my memory is wrong. But regardless of whether the disc was an import or not, my love of the contents within remains secure.

There were plenty of options for a Cocteau Twins inclusion on the playlist, but I ultimately went with my favorite ’80s Cocteau Twins song: “From the Flagstones”. As gorgeous as songs like “Millimillenary”, “Wax and Wane”, and “Carolyn’s Fingers” are (and I used to love losing myself in Elizabeth Fraser’s floating, indiscernible enunciation), I guess because I am a writer I was always drawn to “From the Flagstones”, if only because there was a hint of maybe being able to figure out the lyrics.

With acts like Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, and the label super-group, This Mortal Coil, 4AD made a name for itself in the ’80s with a stable of artists that tread ethereal ground. Among the shoegazers-before-the-genre-was-invented bands, Cocteau Twins is required listening. Fraser’s unique delivery owes as much to her Scottish accent as it does her placing emphasis within words and phrases in unexpected places. Pair her vocals with Robin Guthrie’s guitar and bass work and the compositions shimmer.

More than the bizarro ramblings of Throwing Muses (actual lyrics: “Pushing a ribcage makes it hard to breathe”), more than the folk-influenced approach of Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins’ incomprehensible lyrics and lush composition were always my favorite. They required an altered state (not necessarily chemically altered, so much as just a refocusing). You don’t listen to the Cocteau Twins, a counterbalance to the angst-y force of a Ministry or Nine Inch Nails, before heading out to the bars in college. It’s more “settling in for a night of writing reflective poetry and journal scribblings.” That’s pretty much where I was as a 19 year-old creative writing major at the time, and “From the Flagstones” fit perfectly in that soundtrack.