![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
One of the reasons I moved this blog from LiveJournal to Dreamwidth last year had to do with the fact that LiveJournal was implementing new terms of service to comply with Russian policies regarding the censorship of content that in any way promoted or supported LGBTQ people, lifestyles, etc.. The policies are atrocious even beside the point that many of artists I write about here fall into the category that would be restricted. With National Pride Month starting later this week, I have a loose plan to focus on such artists and songs that speak to the LGBTQ experience for the next few entries. We start with an 80's synthpop ballad covered earlier this year by a new goth-rock project that tells a story about the tragic nature of having to hide one's love and sexual identity, not for censorship but for fear:
MGT - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Soft Cell)
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye was the third and final single from Soft Cell's debut 1981 album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The song, released in January 1982, is said to be about a closeted homosexual man unable to be honest about his lover. The song is considered an anthem of sorts for their gay fans and always a crowd favorite at their shows. Almond said of the song in one interview, "It's a good song and it tells a story. The song and the persona really encapsulates so much of what I've been about." Almond himself was often attacked by conservative elements of the media at the time due to being openly gay. He also has affirmed that in the UK Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is their "more popular song," which is interesting because it didn't achieve quite the same level of success as their first single, the cover of Tainted Love. Bandmate David Ball also regards it as one of the five most "satisfying" works of his career (a list of which also excludes Tainted Love.)
Even still Ball tinkers with it from time to time; he remixed a new version of the single with updated instrumentation for limited release just last month.
A-Ha and Nouvelle Vague are among at least ten different artists who have recorded covers of the song.
MGT is a goth rock project by Mark Gemini Thwaite, a British guitarist and musician who has worked with such artists as The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, Al Jourgensen, Gary Numan, and many more over the course of the past 30 years. Thwaite, who collaborated with a variety of vocalist on the first MGT album, formalized his partnership with one of them, Ashton Nyte of the South African goth/industrial band The Awakening, with the second MGT album released in late February earlier this year. The 13-track album titled Gemini Nyte (a celebratory amalgam of the duo's names) features two covers: Atlanta by Stone Temple Pilots and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
Thwaite described his reasons for the cover in a recent interview where he stated, "I have always loved the 80’s synth bands and already included a Human League cover and ABBA cover on the last album." He continued, "I used to play along to synth hits back in the 80s when I was developing my guitar skills, I would pick songs like Say Hello as they were great songs with loads of space, as they had no guitars on them. So the riffs I recorded on this album version actually date back almost as long as the original, I decided to capture the riffs I used to come up with and record this all new version with Ashton nailing it on vocals!"
Neither of the duo appear to be "out" but Nyte (himself in a heterosexual marriage) has what might be his own potential reasons for connecting to the song's story due to his experiences with hostile homophobia simply for the "androgynous" style of his dress when assuming his alter ego, "the Glam Vamp." Such encounters led him to release his own song titled Girlie in 2000. Additionally, he has been a vocal activist for gay and transgender equality, and has toured U.S. universities to lecture on tolerance. Nyte has also done a solo cover of Dave Berry's The Crying Game, a song possibly best known for the rendition done by Boy George for the 1992 film of the same name (but we'll get more into that later.)
Soft Cell's original is a crowd-pleasing, theatrically conversational, synthpop ballad and MGT has used three decades worth of affection for the song to transform it into a deeply impassioned and energetic mood piece of modern goth rock. The character portrayed in the song may be unable to admit such love, but MGT certainly has!:
The Cover:
Get it on Bandcamp
The Original:
Next week:
Well... I narrowed down my general theme for June in the course of researching and writing this entry but honestly didn't get much father than that yet (though it's clear I may have figured out the next Third Sunday Throwback). To be perfectly honest, I'd LOVE to have an amazing industrial cover of Erasure's Leave Me To Bleed drop out of nowhere and into my line of sight! Not super likely, but who knows. Regardless I should have a better idea what's in store for the month by the next.
. ♪┌(◉‿◉)┘♪
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
My next gig is a new event in the Boston area. Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and keep an eye their for news of other upcoming events!
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
May 20 - Carbon 12 - Burning Down The House(Talking Heads)
May 13 - Aesthetic Perfection - Bye Bye Bye(NSYNC)
May 06 - Birthday Massacre - I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James and The Shondells
Apr 29 - Celluloide - Precious (Depeche Mode)
Apr 22 - Funker Vogt - Get(t) Off (Prince)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
One of the reasons I moved this blog from LiveJournal to Dreamwidth last year had to do with the fact that LiveJournal was implementing new terms of service to comply with Russian policies regarding the censorship of content that in any way promoted or supported LGBTQ people, lifestyles, etc.. The policies are atrocious even beside the point that many of artists I write about here fall into the category that would be restricted. With National Pride Month starting later this week, I have a loose plan to focus on such artists and songs that speak to the LGBTQ experience for the next few entries. We start with an 80's synthpop ballad covered earlier this year by a new goth-rock project that tells a story about the tragic nature of having to hide one's love and sexual identity, not for censorship but for fear:
MGT - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Soft Cell)
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye was the third and final single from Soft Cell's debut 1981 album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The song, released in January 1982, is said to be about a closeted homosexual man unable to be honest about his lover. The song is considered an anthem of sorts for their gay fans and always a crowd favorite at their shows. Almond said of the song in one interview, "It's a good song and it tells a story. The song and the persona really encapsulates so much of what I've been about." Almond himself was often attacked by conservative elements of the media at the time due to being openly gay. He also has affirmed that in the UK Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is their "more popular song," which is interesting because it didn't achieve quite the same level of success as their first single, the cover of Tainted Love. Bandmate David Ball also regards it as one of the five most "satisfying" works of his career (a list of which also excludes Tainted Love.)
Even still Ball tinkers with it from time to time; he remixed a new version of the single with updated instrumentation for limited release just last month.
A-Ha and Nouvelle Vague are among at least ten different artists who have recorded covers of the song.
MGT is a goth rock project by Mark Gemini Thwaite, a British guitarist and musician who has worked with such artists as The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, Al Jourgensen, Gary Numan, and many more over the course of the past 30 years. Thwaite, who collaborated with a variety of vocalist on the first MGT album, formalized his partnership with one of them, Ashton Nyte of the South African goth/industrial band The Awakening, with the second MGT album released in late February earlier this year. The 13-track album titled Gemini Nyte (a celebratory amalgam of the duo's names) features two covers: Atlanta by Stone Temple Pilots and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
Thwaite described his reasons for the cover in a recent interview where he stated, "I have always loved the 80’s synth bands and already included a Human League cover and ABBA cover on the last album." He continued, "I used to play along to synth hits back in the 80s when I was developing my guitar skills, I would pick songs like Say Hello as they were great songs with loads of space, as they had no guitars on them. So the riffs I recorded on this album version actually date back almost as long as the original, I decided to capture the riffs I used to come up with and record this all new version with Ashton nailing it on vocals!"
Neither of the duo appear to be "out" but Nyte (himself in a heterosexual marriage) has what might be his own potential reasons for connecting to the song's story due to his experiences with hostile homophobia simply for the "androgynous" style of his dress when assuming his alter ego, "the Glam Vamp." Such encounters led him to release his own song titled Girlie in 2000. Additionally, he has been a vocal activist for gay and transgender equality, and has toured U.S. universities to lecture on tolerance. Nyte has also done a solo cover of Dave Berry's The Crying Game, a song possibly best known for the rendition done by Boy George for the 1992 film of the same name (but we'll get more into that later.)
Soft Cell's original is a crowd-pleasing, theatrically conversational, synthpop ballad and MGT has used three decades worth of affection for the song to transform it into a deeply impassioned and energetic mood piece of modern goth rock. The character portrayed in the song may be unable to admit such love, but MGT certainly has!:
The Cover:
Get it on Bandcamp
The Original:
Next week:
Well... I narrowed down my general theme for June in the course of researching and writing this entry but honestly didn't get much father than that yet (though it's clear I may have figured out the next Third Sunday Throwback). To be perfectly honest, I'd LOVE to have an amazing industrial cover of Erasure's Leave Me To Bleed drop out of nowhere and into my line of sight! Not super likely, but who knows. Regardless I should have a better idea what's in store for the month by the next.
. ♪┌(◉‿◉)┘♪
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
My next gig is a new event in the Boston area. Check my schedule for details, the RSVP link on Facebook, and keep an eye their for news of other upcoming events!
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
May 20 - Carbon 12 - Burning Down The House(Talking Heads)
May 13 - Aesthetic Perfection - Bye Bye Bye(NSYNC)
May 06 - Birthday Massacre - I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James and The Shondells
Apr 29 - Celluloide - Precious (Depeche Mode)
Apr 22 - Funker Vogt - Get(t) Off (Prince)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
(no subject)
Date: 2018-05-27 04:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-05-27 04:54 pm (UTC)Erasure is one of my all time favorites and I rarely get to play their music when I spin because most of it just doesn't fit format or doesn't go over as well as I hope they will.
Although... There's one or two that will do nicely at Kismet...