Goth Music, or Death Rock? It is a question that has plagued people for millennia. Ok, so I might be exaggerating a bit. Might not seem much of a difference, yet if you were to ask the average ghoul in full makeup on line @ a Quick-Check, them's could be fightin' words, or, more likely than not, illicit a muttering of curses to bookend their passive-aggressive deference.
Having seen the cultural devastation that is 'Emo' cutting itself discreetly into the fore-arms of the cultural lexicon, I find myself longing for spookier days in Bowery, when people didn't take themselves (and their haircuts) too seriously and post-modern vampirism was hitherto unknown. I am talking, of course, about a liberal dose of self deprecating humor - I am talking about 45 Grave.
"Formed from the remains of The Consumers by Rob Ritter / Graves of The Bags, Don Bolles of The Germs, Paul Cutler and Dinah Cancer (one of the best stage names ever), the most-underrated 45 Grave began as Vox Pop in the '70s, playing at the infamous and legendary L.A. punk institution the Masque. Driven by a gleeful twisted fascination with B-movies and gore-nography, Vox Pop eventually decomposed into 45 Grave, perhaps the very first gothic band. Though it would be near impossible to pinpoint the exact scope of their [bad] influence, suffice to say that 45 Grave far predate both the much-hyped Bat Cave movement in the UK and the formation of Christian Death and that Nikki Sixx even admitted in print that Motley Crue stole 45 Grave's easily-recognizable goathead-pentagram logo! But unlike those artists, who took themselves far too seriously, 45 Grave always had their tongues firmly planted in their gaunt, deathly-white cheeks : for them it was just good dirty fun."
What can I say? Any band that covers 'Riboflavin Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Poly-Unsaturated Blood' by Don Hinson is a fiend, er, friend o' mine. Enjoy some cuts off their lesser known posthumous sophomore album 'Autopsy'. Ole' Uncle Red is gonna throw a 'Y' incision your way. Catch a New-Wave to a shallow grave!
Anti Em - 45 Grave
Take 9 - 45 Grave
My Type - 45 Grave
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