Urgh! A Music War

When you think of certain musical eras, most can be summed up in a movie or documentary made at the time: All that was right with the 60’s can be summed up in Woodstock, all that was wrong in Gimme Shelter. The 70’s have Saturday Night Fever and The Last Waltz. But when you look to the New Wave and Punk scenes of the late 70’s and early 80’s, most films about the time were made or released much later, only after the impact the era had on future artists and music was fully realized. One movie that can be looked at now as ahead of it’s time in documenting “real time” the punk and new wave era was Urgh! A Music War.

Filmed in 1980 and released in 1981, Urgh! defined the emerging punk and new wave music scenes like no movie had or will (Don Letts superb 1977 home movie ‘The Punk Rock Movie” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207685/) a lone exception). A concert movies movie, there was no dialog, no interviews and definitely no script. A series of performances by some 30 different groups, the film was shot over the period of several months at ten different venues throughout the world. From a festival at the Frejus Amphitheatre in Paris (http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/France/Frejus/ac741520.html) to the California Theatre in San Diego, the performances, while all unrelated, move seamlessly in the film from one to the next. Regardless of the locale, the feeling and look of each performance and setting was much the same: sweaty, cramped and urgent. While the Police (http://www.thepolice.com/) were, in retrospect, the star attraction, they in no way carried the film. Gary Numan (http://www.numan.co.uk/), motoring around a stage in at the Hammersmith Odeon in London during a performance of “Down in the Park” to the weird broadway-esque performance of “Total Eclipse” by Klaus Nomi (www.psychotica.net/evb/nomi) at The Ritz in New York, the movie captured concert performances unlike anything seen on film to that point (or since).

Many of the performers, while relatively unknown at the time, would come be known to a wider audience later in the decade:

A perky Belinda Carlisle, leading the Go Go’s (http://www.gogos.com/) through an early version of “We Got the Beat” at The Whiskey (http://www.whiskyagogo.com/) in LA, a full year before Beauty and the Beat was released. Devo (http://www.clubdevo.com/), showing they were at their best not on MTV but rather live in concert, with a smoking performance of “Uncontrollable Urge” at the California Theatre in San Diego. Joan Jett (http://www.joanjett.com/), just a year removed from the split of The Runaways, with the Blackhearts captured at The Ritz in New York performing “Bad Reputation”. Danny Elfman (http://elfman.filmmusic.com/), the go-to movie sound man of the 90’s, leading Oingo Boingo (http://www.oingoboingo.com/) through “Ain’t This The Life” at The Whiskey.

X (l-r Billy Zoom, Exene, DJ Bonebrake, John Doe)

Some of my favorite performances:

X (http://www.xtheband.com/), the best live band of their generation, at the Santa Monica Civic Center tearing through “Beyond and Back”. Ian McCullough and his Echo & the Bunneymen (http://www.bunnymen.com/) mates gave a solid performance of “The Puppet” at The Lyceum Ballroom in London. A pre-stage fright Andy Partridge and his XTC (http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/) band mates performing the as yet released song “Respectable Street” at the Frejus Festival in Paris. Within 2 years Partridge would withdraw from all live performing. The Au Pairs post-punk gem “Come Again” at The Lyceum Ballroom. 999(at left)(http://www.nineninenine.cjb.net/), a band that should only be heard live, looking a little worse for wear but not disappointing with “Homicide”. The Alley Cats with “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore” at the Whiskey. The Fleshtones (http://www.myspace.com/fleshtones), who’s performance had the most controlled “video” look of all, give an incredible version of “Shadowline” at CBGB’s. Probably the highlight for me was Gang of Four’s (http://www.gangoffour.us/) version of “He’d Send the Army” at The Rainbow Theatre in London. The song, not yet released at the time, features Jon King providing percussion by wacking on something with a stick of wood throughout the song. Andy Gill (at right) and company provide the most cohesive performance of the film. And one that has taken me some 20 odd years to appreciate, Pere Ubu’s (http://www.ubuprojex.net/) “Birdies”. Having initially purchased the Urgh! double album when it was released, I couldn’t stand the song. The film only confirmed my disdain, as the geeky singer Dave Thomas looks like he needs his meds. But now, I get it and have come to love all of Pere Ubu’s stuff.

Dave Thomas of Pere Ubu

The film also included reggae acts, drawing the connections that reggae shared with punk, or as Don Letts was once quoted as saying, “it's the same fuckin' thing. Just the black version and the white version. The kids are singing about the change, they wanna do away with the establishment”. The stage during the Steel Pulse (www.steel-pulse.com) performance of "Ku Klux Klan" looks like a cross between a P-Funk concert and a Klan rally. The white reggae of The Members “Off Shore Banking Business” is only tolerable.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is some strange, forgettable shit here as well. But as forgettable as some of the songs might be, the performances draw you in like the car wreck you can’t take your eyes off of:

The Cramps (www.thecramps.com) are rolling along fine through a version of “Tear It Up” until singer Lux Interior sticks the mike halfway down his throat and starts grunting and groaning for the remainder of the song. The piano lounge shtick of Jools Holland wears out quickly in “Foolish I Know”. After watching Skafish (http://www.skafish.com/) perform “Sign of the Cross” you’ll feel the need to take a shower. A band I don’t think anyone had ever heard of before (and certainly not after), Invisible Sex performs in haz mat suits and throws pills out into the audience after finishing the song “Valium”.

The Cramps

The double album did not include all the songs shown in the movie. Some years after purchasing the album I found the double cassette at a used record store. Some 20 years later, I still have those tapes and listen to them frequently (yes, I still have a car with a tape deck).

The story behind the movie and cd re-issue rights is another story altogether. Owned by Miles Copeland (of IRS Record (http://www.onamrecords.com/IRS_Records.html) fame and brother of the Police drummer) the rights were sold and the paperwork documenting the details of the transaction subsequently lost. No one has taken up the cause due to the possibility that the documents could resurface (and the resulting legal implications). Not to mention the astronomical legal costs involved in dealing with the number of bands and personalities involved if someone tried to re-release either the film or the music on cd (or both). Gary Numan, for example, has the rights to his performances in the movie and has forbid it from being shown (come-on Numo, you need the publicity!). Rumor has it that at least 3 songs from each group was taped during the making of the film for editing purposes. Supposedly somewhere underneath Miles Copeland's mattress sits a possible 100-song, multi-dvd reissue just waiting to happen. Periodically a VHS copy of the movie pops up on ebay or Amazon and is usually priced well over $100. VH1 played the movie last year as part of a special "Movies That Rock" or some such shit. I was amazingly flipping channels one night and tuned in just in time to see the Police closing the movie with "So Lonely". Needless to say, I was pissed.

A web site claiming to have DVD's and CD's of the movie available (gotta be either illegal or bullshit) for $50 and $30, respectively. I have included the link (http://www.urgh-dvd.com/) but be warned, no telling what you'll get if you send them your money. But Christmas is coming, so I may have to amend my letter to Santa, because after all, it's worth 80 bucks just to find out.