114: Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (1978)
"I consider Pere Ubu to be a pop band, totally the same as Wings, or The Music Explosion or The Archies. It’s just that we are doing more modern and therefore better pop music."
—David Thomas
This week, Discord & Rhyme heads back to Ohio for a discussion of Pere Ubu’s 1978 debut The Modern Dance. Rising from the ashes of the short-lived proto-punk pioneers Rocket from the Tombs, David Thomas and company emerged with a fiery set of songs fusing art and punk with an intensity that the band would never quite match again, even as their music would become even stranger and more challenging. Join Dan, Mike, and Rich for this sentimental journey of rusty Chuck Berry riffs, art-rock detours, and creepy soundscapes.
Miscellany
Rocket from the Tombs might have had a short initial lifespan, but the band has reunited on a number of occasions since the 2000s. The similarly-named San Diego band Rocket from the Crypt chose its name as a tribute.
For a vintage example of David Thomas philosophizing and self-mythologizing, check out this interview with ITV's Rocking in the UK from the late ‘80s in which he compares Pere Ubu to a cup, in a way that somehow simultaneously makes perfect sense and no sense at all.
A full Pere Ubu concert from 1981 is available on YouTube, featuring some reworked versions of songs from The Modern Dance including “Real World” and the title track.
Other links
Pere Ubu’s official website (ubuprojex.com)
Elitism for the People: In Praise of Pere Ubu (Entrippy!)
Pere Ubu Understands America and I Don't (Cleveland Review of Books)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Dan Watkins (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
The Modern Dance tracklist
Non-Alignment Pact
The Modern Dance
Laughing
Street Waves
Chinese Radiation
Life Stinks
Real World
Over My Head
Sentimental Journey
Humor Me
Other clips used
Pere Ubu:
Thriller!
Final Solution
Untitled
A Small Dark Cloud
Humor Me (live)
Bus Called Happiness
Heart of Darkness
Beach Boys
Navvy
Dark
Petrified
Others:
Bob and Doug McKenzie - Take Off
Wendy's - Grill Skill
Rocket from the Tombs - What Love Is
The Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer
The Moody Blues - Question
Yes - Going for the One
The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard
The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Eagles - I Can't Tell You Why
They Might Be Giants - AKA Driver
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Hair Pie: Bake 1
Pixies - Tame
David Thomas and Frank Black - Fat Men of Rock
The Fall - I Come and Stand at Your Door
The Dead Boys - Ain't It Fun
The Ramones - Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
Descendents - I Like Food
The Replacements - God Damn Job
Angry Samoans - You Stupid Jerk
D.R.I. - Reaganomics
Matchbox 20 - Real World
Devo - Space Girl Blues
Iggy and the Stooges - I’m Sick of You
Journey - Open Arms
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Let Me Be Your Hog
Lingua Ignota - Sorrow! Sorrow! Sorrow!
Slint - Don, Aman
Doris Day - Sentimental Journey
Band/album personnel
David Thomas – vocals, musette, percussion, production
Tom Herman – guitar, backing vocals, production
Allen Ravenstine – EML 101 and 200 analog synthesizers, saxophone, tapes, production
Tony Maimone – bass, piano, backing vocals, production
Scott Krauss – drums, production
Tim Wright – bass guitar (2, 9), production
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Pere Ubu - Real World (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Modern Dance and other albums by Pere Ubu at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.