MUSIC FROM SPACE: The Gothic Archies
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Gothic Archies are a self-described "goth-bubblegum band" mostly consisting of Stephin Merritt, frontman for The Magnetic Fields. Their songs are blackly funny and often catchy as all hell, perfect music for friendless 15-year-olds on a Friday night.
Check out this brilliant little fan-made music video for Freakshow. It's like one of those old musical sequences from The Groovie Goolies, as directed by Gahan Wilson.
Then there's Smile! No One Cares How You Feel, a lovely song dripping with genuine menace and despair. It's a perfect slice of '80s-style mope rock, from back when goths didn't even have a collective name yet and they were just the weird, pale kids at the back of the class.
If you're wondering why that clip was illustrated by a bunch of covers from Lemony Snicket books, it's because the Gothic Archies are actually best known for providing the music for Snicket's audio books. (Snicket, AKA Daniel Handler, has also been an occasional member of the band, playing the accordion.) I barely made it through A Bad Beginning and then I gave up on the Baudelaire family for good, but I'd be tempted to buy the audio books just to hear the music of the Gothic Archies. Fortunately I don't have to, since they've released the CD The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events, featuring all of their music from the books. (You can buy it by clicking the Amazon link above, hint-hint.)
For extra fun, here's Merritt performing Smile! on a live morning news show, preceded by one of the most uncomfortable live interviews I think I've ever seen. (I almost felt sorry for the interviewer. The guy is busting his ass trying to keep a jolly, inconsequential little morning news conversation going, and Merritt is just not having it.)
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Check out this brilliant little fan-made music video for Freakshow. It's like one of those old musical sequences from The Groovie Goolies, as directed by Gahan Wilson.
Then there's Smile! No One Cares How You Feel, a lovely song dripping with genuine menace and despair. It's a perfect slice of '80s-style mope rock, from back when goths didn't even have a collective name yet and they were just the weird, pale kids at the back of the class.
If you're wondering why that clip was illustrated by a bunch of covers from Lemony Snicket books, it's because the Gothic Archies are actually best known for providing the music for Snicket's audio books. (Snicket, AKA Daniel Handler, has also been an occasional member of the band, playing the accordion.) I barely made it through A Bad Beginning and then I gave up on the Baudelaire family for good, but I'd be tempted to buy the audio books just to hear the music of the Gothic Archies. Fortunately I don't have to, since they've released the CD The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events, featuring all of their music from the books. (You can buy it by clicking the Amazon link above, hint-hint.)
For extra fun, here's Merritt performing Smile! on a live morning news show, preceded by one of the most uncomfortable live interviews I think I've ever seen. (I almost felt sorry for the interviewer. The guy is busting his ass trying to keep a jolly, inconsequential little morning news conversation going, and Merritt is just not having it.)
Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.
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