Agitpop
Encyclopedia
Agitpop is an art punk
band from Poughkeepsie, New York
. The band was formed in 1981 and began touring widely in 1983. They released four records on the Comm3, Twintone and Rough Trade
labels. Its members include Mark LaFalce, John deVries and Rick Crescini. The band was part of a pioneer movement in the underground music community and were particularly known for their unusual song styles, instrumentation and lyrical content within the rock genre. The shows attracted many celebrated members of the New York arts scene including the Pop Art
era photographer Billy Name
.
The portmanteau Agitpop is derived from agitprop
and is a conjugation of ‘agitation pop’, a now well defined label that describes how popular music asserts political ideas and views. The band members were enamored with the idea and the origins of the word from the Russian Revolution
and used the repetition and philosophy of it within pop culture. Agitpop as a term can be applied to the name of the band itself, but also translates well into the character of the songs themselves.
Agitpop members have often described their approach to music as ‘a unique brand of fractured pop, derived from the dismantling of rock as we knew it.' At the time Agitpop was making their first records, the description worked as a default definition of the approach to music the band was taking. Keeping with description and adhering to the needs of the times to re define rock music, they were consequent and therefore no one else sounded like them. The live shows were a natural extension of the philosophy of the band. Agitpop's performances were very confrontational. They alienated the audience or drew them in.
In a review of one of the shows in the mid 1980s, Agitpop's unique stylistic approach to rock music was described with the phrase ‘Free your mind…and your ass will follow'. The review gesture followed them continually around throughout the band's existence. Whether they are put into the music categories of the times or not, they have had a strong influence on many younger bands having diverse styles due to their willingness ‘in dismantling’, or emancipating rock by boldly moving away from standard instrumentations and song styles into a resultant provocative amalgam with strong melodic hooks and poignant lyrics.
, The Red Krayola, The Clash
, Captain Beefheart
, and Wire
. To this list one might add The Slits
, whose repetitive and fragmented melodic lines tend to remind one of the clarinet. melodica, and glockenspiel lines in many Agitpop songs.
Agitpop's popularity was drawn mainly from college radio, musicians, hardcore audiophiles and along with extensive touring made them one of the essential ingredients in changing the idea of what popular music was to become. It was pre-Nirvana
times and along with their touring partners (The Smashing Pumpkins
, The Minutemen, GWAR
, 10,000 Maniacs
, Soul Asylum
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
, Sonic Youth
, Dead Kennedys
, Mercury Rev
, The Pixies etc.), the band members were happy to be a part of it.
Played at The Voodoo Manor, Poughkeepsie, NY in 82.
Played a show at Nag's Head w/ Zen Guerrilla in 89.
. On the previous day the bass player, Rick Crescini was diagnosed with tinnitus
and was sent home for health reasons. Finally, out of frustration with touring and due to band member conflicts he stayed there. The band honored their contract with the Blue Note by playing that night, albeit with their road manager playing electric bass. As a dedication to Crescini's years of playing, deVries and LaFalce sent a song out as a dedication to him. The song picked "Sleepless Nights" by The Mekons.
During the time that Agitpop was disbanded, several new band formations ensued.
in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday, July 13, 2007. The reunion show consisted of two very diverse sets. The first was appropriately titled "A Shotgun for a TV and an Eskimo Kiss". It consisted of complete set of Agitpop classics including "The Co-Existence", "On the Hudson", "Eskimo Kiss", "Ode to Mr. Average", "Top of the Stairs" and the characteristic "Reasons of State". In the true sense of "dismantling rock", there was no drum kit to be seen, only a slew of guitars, an out of tune piano, and many odd instruments. Wind chimes
, squeeze toys
, and kiddie xylophones made abrupt appearances. All three members of Agitpop switched between instruments with exponentially increased dexterity in endless androgynous roles of noise making, proving to the audience that no one had lost his touch and nothing its freshness.
"God Bless America, Really?" was the title of the second set. Here Agitpop went back to the roots of the Russian Revolution: Agitprop. Basically, this was a show that consisted of an American medley
of "noises in the ether" penned and sung by Agitpop’s drummer Mark LaFalce. The stage setting designed by bassist, and B Movie
freak Rick Crescini. It depicted the twin towers with American Indians
falling out of the windows in a general statement against the trend of violence in politics of yesterday and today. A monumental moment was reached when the trio sung out in unison the worst of choruses from "The "Fish" Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" with a hell-no-we-wont-go attitude, making bare bones out of naked patriotism. Model planes hit the towers in a 9/11-style
and the Indians fell out of the windows. One could say that this part of the reunion was a true Dada
homage to Dadaism ala Cabaret Voltaire.
On several songs additional players were featured on the albums.
Art punk
Art punk or avant punk refers to punk rock of an experimental bent, or with connections to art school, the art world, or the avant garde....
band from Poughkeepsie, New York
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
. The band was formed in 1981 and began touring widely in 1983. They released four records on the Comm3, Twintone and Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
labels. Its members include Mark LaFalce, John deVries and Rick Crescini. The band was part of a pioneer movement in the underground music community and were particularly known for their unusual song styles, instrumentation and lyrical content within the rock genre. The shows attracted many celebrated members of the New York arts scene including the Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
era photographer Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
.
The portmanteau Agitpop is derived from agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
and is a conjugation of ‘agitation pop’, a now well defined label that describes how popular music asserts political ideas and views. The band members were enamored with the idea and the origins of the word from the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and used the repetition and philosophy of it within pop culture. Agitpop as a term can be applied to the name of the band itself, but also translates well into the character of the songs themselves.
Agitpop members have often described their approach to music as ‘a unique brand of fractured pop, derived from the dismantling of rock as we knew it.' At the time Agitpop was making their first records, the description worked as a default definition of the approach to music the band was taking. Keeping with description and adhering to the needs of the times to re define rock music, they were consequent and therefore no one else sounded like them. The live shows were a natural extension of the philosophy of the band. Agitpop's performances were very confrontational. They alienated the audience or drew them in.
In a review of one of the shows in the mid 1980s, Agitpop's unique stylistic approach to rock music was described with the phrase ‘Free your mind…and your ass will follow'. The review gesture followed them continually around throughout the band's existence. Whether they are put into the music categories of the times or not, they have had a strong influence on many younger bands having diverse styles due to their willingness ‘in dismantling’, or emancipating rock by boldly moving away from standard instrumentations and song styles into a resultant provocative amalgam with strong melodic hooks and poignant lyrics.
Line Up
- John deVries, vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, various toysToy pianoThe toy piano, also known as the kinderklavier , is a small piano-like musical instrument. The present form of the toy piano was invented in Philadelphia by a 17-year-old German immigrant named Albert Schoenhut. He worked as a repairman at Wanamaker's department store, repairing broken glass...
& percussion - Rick Crescini, electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, GlockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, melodicaMelodicaThe melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,... - Mark LaFalce, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and percussion, guitars, backup vocals
Origins
Bands that influenced Agitpop in regard to song writing style, instrumentation and delivery in performance have been noted to be Gang of FourGang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
, The Red Krayola, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, and Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
. To this list one might add The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
, whose repetitive and fragmented melodic lines tend to remind one of the clarinet. melodica, and glockenspiel lines in many Agitpop songs.
Agitpop's popularity was drawn mainly from college radio, musicians, hardcore audiophiles and along with extensive touring made them one of the essential ingredients in changing the idea of what popular music was to become. It was pre-Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
times and along with their touring partners (The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
, The Minutemen, GWAR
GWAR
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
, 10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...
, Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
, The Pixies etc.), the band members were happy to be a part of it.
Played at The Voodoo Manor, Poughkeepsie, NY in 82.
Played a show at Nag's Head w/ Zen Guerrilla in 89.
Breakup
Agitpop disbanded in 1989. They continued in various formation until just after the turn of the decade. The last official show is often stated as the reason for their disbanding. The band was scheduled to play a show at The Blue Note in Columbia, MissouriColumbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
. On the previous day the bass player, Rick Crescini was diagnosed with tinnitus
Tinnitus
Tinnitus |ringing]]") is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom that can result from a wide range of underlying causes: abnormally loud sounds in the ear canal for even the briefest period , ear...
and was sent home for health reasons. Finally, out of frustration with touring and due to band member conflicts he stayed there. The band honored their contract with the Blue Note by playing that night, albeit with their road manager playing electric bass. As a dedication to Crescini's years of playing, deVries and LaFalce sent a song out as a dedication to him. The song picked "Sleepless Nights" by The Mekons.
During the time that Agitpop was disbanded, several new band formations ensued.
Reunion
Agitpop regrouped in 2006 and are coming out with a new album early this year (2010). They have started to tour again and are on the move with revival and survival tactics in line with punk and politics in sweep with the general guitar band revival being felt today (2007) internationally.Concert Cabaret Voltaire
The first live performance after a pause of almost ten years took place at the famous Cabaret VoltaireCabaret Voltaire (Zürich)
Cabaret Voltaire was the name of a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland. It was founded by Hugo Ball, with his companion Emmy Hennings on February 5, 1916 as a cabaret for artistic and political purposes. Other founding members were Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, and Jean Arp...
in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday, July 13, 2007. The reunion show consisted of two very diverse sets. The first was appropriately titled "A Shotgun for a TV and an Eskimo Kiss". It consisted of complete set of Agitpop classics including "The Co-Existence", "On the Hudson", "Eskimo Kiss", "Ode to Mr. Average", "Top of the Stairs" and the characteristic "Reasons of State". In the true sense of "dismantling rock", there was no drum kit to be seen, only a slew of guitars, an out of tune piano, and many odd instruments. Wind chimes
Wind Chimes
"Wind Chimes" is a song composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the American rock band The Beach Boys. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile...
, squeeze toys
Tickle Me Elmo
Tickle Me Elmo is a children's toy from Tyco Preschool, a division of Tyco Toys, based on the character Elmo from the children's television show, Sesame Street. When squeezed, Elmo would chortle. When squeezed three times in a row, Elmo would begin to shake and laugh hysterically.The toy was...
, and kiddie xylophones made abrupt appearances. All three members of Agitpop switched between instruments with exponentially increased dexterity in endless androgynous roles of noise making, proving to the audience that no one had lost his touch and nothing its freshness.
"God Bless America, Really?" was the title of the second set. Here Agitpop went back to the roots of the Russian Revolution: Agitprop. Basically, this was a show that consisted of an American medley
Medley (music)
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...
of "noises in the ether" penned and sung by Agitpop’s drummer Mark LaFalce. The stage setting designed by bassist, and B Movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
freak Rick Crescini. It depicted the twin towers with American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
falling out of the windows in a general statement against the trend of violence in politics of yesterday and today. A monumental moment was reached when the trio sung out in unison the worst of choruses from "The "Fish" Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" with a hell-no-we-wont-go attitude, making bare bones out of naked patriotism. Model planes hit the towers in a 9/11-style
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
and the Indians fell out of the windows. One could say that this part of the reunion was a true Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
homage to Dadaism ala Cabaret Voltaire.
Recordings
- Feast of the Sunfish (Community 3) 1985
- Back at the Plain of Jars (Community 3/Rough Trade) 1986
- Open Seasons (TwinTone) 1988
- Po-Town Tea Party EP (TwinTone) 1989
- Stick It! (TwinTone) 1989
- Agitpop' (18 Acres) 2007
On several songs additional players were featured on the albums.
External links
- http://www.agitpopsite.com/
- http://www.twintone.com/agitpop.html
- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=131731812
- http://music.yahoo.com/ar-301714---Agitpop
- http://www.digitalartweeks.ethz.ch/web/DAW/Agitpop07