House Of Schock - House Of Schock

For the past couple of weeks, they've been hyping the new Showtime documentary airing this past weekend, detailing the rise and fall of the classic early '80s New Wave group The Go-Go's, "the first all-woman group to write their own songs, play their own instruments and have a #1 hit" (as we've been reminded over and over again in recent days...).  Here's the official trailer for the program:

As I've mentioned here before and just recently, I used to be a pretty big Go-Go's fan. I was speaking with my buddy Camob just last week, and he reminded me of when he and I went to see them at Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore during a break we had in U.S. Naval Academy summer training in July of '84, just before they broke up (INXS opened for them). Heck... I'd forgotten most of the details regarding that show, other than the fact we went (I do recall that tickets were something like $14-15...). As I recall, Jane Wiedlin quit the band shortly afterwards, in the fall of 1984, and after a half-hearted attempt to replace her (moving Charlotte Caffey to rhythm guitar and recruiting Giant Sand's Paul Jean Brown as the new bassist), the group had completely fallen apart by the following spring.

After this initial breakup, the band members scattered. I've already detailed in a previous post the careers of both Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin in the immediate aftermath.  Charlotte Caffey stayed connected to Carlisle, writing songs for Belinda's subsequent successful albums, and formed a band of her own called The Graces (with future star Meredith Brooks); their sole album, 1989's Perfect View, was critically acclaimed but sold poorly. Kathy Valentine sort of drifted around the fringes of the music world for several years, becoming a member of many short-lived, forgotten bands, before forming the blues rock collaboration The Bluebonnets with bassist Dominique Davalos. This group eventually evolved into The Delphines, and released two albums, a self-titled album in 1996 and Cosmic Speed in 2001.

This leaves drummer Gina Schock.  Like Valentine, Schock had long-term professional experience on and competence in her instrument of choice well prior to joining The Go-Go's; also similar to Valentine, Gina had trouble catching on to another band after The Go-Go's broke up in 1985 - which is sort of odd. In any event, Gina noodled around as a drummer for a couple of years for various obscure mid-Eighties now-forgotten bands, at the same time honing her own singing and songwriting skills. By 1987, she was ready to blaze her own trail. She formed a new band called House of Schock and recruited as its first member a transplanted L.A. by way of LA (as in Louisiana) native on bass named Vance DeGeneres.

Vance DeGeneres was/is a very interesting guy. A former Marine in the 1970s, he returned from his military hitch and settled in New Orleans. A local buddy of his, Walter Williams, was creating stop-motion Claymation comedy shorts on Super 8 film in 1974-75, featuring a character

he called "Mr. Bill", and showing them around town; at William's request, Vance stepped in to assist and began playing a character called "Mr. Hands" in some of the films. It was all just a local thing until late 1975, when the new NBC network comedy show Saturday Night Live sent out a request for viewers to send in their own home movies, and Williams' were selected. More than twenty episodes of "The Mr. Bill Show" were produced for SNL, and the character became extremely popular nationwide, generating millions of dollars in merchandising sales annually.

In 1979, DeGeneres (who by then had moved on to a gig hosting a punk/New Wave radio show in New Orleans) filed suit against Mr. Bill copyright holder Williams in federal court for payment from the shows and merchandise sales, claiming that he too was a co-creator of the character and was entitled to fifty percent of the proceeds. After a year and a half of litigation, the courts awarded Williams total control over Mr. Bill and related characters (his dog Spot, Sluggo and Mr. Hands). The settlement said Williams was responsible for 'the basic idea in concept' of the characters in the Mr. Bill show, but added that DeGeneres 'participated in bringing that idea' into being.  As a result, the judgment said Williams would have to refile copyrights on the four characters so that they bear DeGeneres' name as co-creator. The judgment also said DeGeneres would receive 25 percent of all net proceeds of articles produced around the four categories. In exchange, DeGeneres relinquished all claims to copyright and trademark to the characters.

During this period of litigation and radio program hosting, DeGeneres honed a comedy act that appeared in area clubs, and also played bass for a beloved local Bayou New Wave band called The Cold, which performed in and around the Southern Louisiana region until the mid-80s before their breakup. With the radio show also ending around that time, Vance moved west to Los Angeles to try his luck out there in the entertainment field.

Oh, and one more thing I should mention - Vance DeGeneres is Ellen DeGeneres' older brother - yes, that Ellen DeGeneres.

Anyway, Schock gathered up a couple more members for her new band (Chrissy Shefts on guitar, and Steven Fisher on drums, since Gina planned on fronting the band and limiting her time behind the skins), and signed a deal with Capitol Records; the label was undoubtedly happy to add an ex-Go-Go to its roster, to hopefully emulate/rival the success Gina's former band mate Belinda Carlisle was having in her solo career with MCA Records. They even teamed her up again with Richard Gottehrer, the veteran producer behind The Go-Go's multi-platinum debut album Beauty And The Beat (along with other classics like most of Blondie's early albums, The Fleshtones' American Beat '84 and Richard Hell & The Voidoids' Blank Generation... at the time, however, it seemed to have been conveniently forgotten that Gottehrer had sort of dropped the ball a couple of years earlier with The Go-Go's follow-up album, 1982's Vacation...).  Ten of the songs Gina had written over the previous two years were released by the band on a self-titled album in early 1988.

I hadn't played or thought about this album in a while, so I went online to do a little research before I wrote this piece. The very first review I read, on Allmusic.com, was so spot-on it made me laugh out loud: "This album has "record company interference" written all over it..." Yes, it does. It suffers from the same sort of malady that affected Jane Wiedlin's solo debut, which I wrote about earlier this year - it's WAY overproduced, laden with the by-then cliched '80s shimmering, slick-as-grease pop music effects to make the songs ostensibly more "radio friendly"... which is a shame, because buried beneath the gloss and reverb are some decent little tunes.  The opener and debut single, "Middle Of Nowhere", is actually a great song, well suited for Schock's voice.  Here - have a listen:

 

 

Of course, it sounds dated and "Eighties-y" now. However, the tune was a hit in Australia, and could have done well in America as well. But Capitol Records almost immediately disowned this album, putting nary a nickel of money or a line of publicity into sales or promotion, and it sank like a stone, not even charting here in the States. This ended up being House Of Schock's only LP release.

Since that time, Gina Schock has turned her musical efforts more towards songwriting, penning tunes for the likes of Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, and for various movie and TV show soundtracks. Except for the various Go-Go's reunion tours over the years (the first one was in 1990), she had largely retired from live performance. Vance DeGeneres has moved on to bigger and better things in the comedy realm (he was a writer for various shows, including his sister's first network show on ABC, and later served as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show for a number of years) and in production (developing and co-producing some of Steve Carell's recent films), among other pursuits.

Here's House Of Schock, by the band of the same name, released on Capitol Records in 1988. This album isn't by any means a deathless addition to the overall Go-Go's canon, but it's still worth listening to if you can get past the whizz-bangs it was laden with. Plus, it's kind of hard to track down nowadays... so here you go - put this one in your ears, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

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Jane Wiedlin - Blue Kiss 12"

Jane Wiedlin's music career has long been a source of curiosity and disappointment to me. As a member of the seminal new wave girl group The Go-Go's, Wiedlin wrote or co-wrote at least half of the songs on the band's first three albums - including huge hits and fan favorites such as "Our Lips Are Sealed", "How Much More", "Lust To Love" and "Tonite" off of 1981's Beauty And The Beat, "Girl of 100 Lists" and the title track off of 1982's Vacation, and "Turn To You" and "Beneath The Blue Sky" off of 1984's Talk Show. But after the band broke up after that third album (done in by nonstop touring, injuries, and the endless partying with its attendant copious use of drugs and alcohol), and Wiedlin began her solo career, she seemed to find little success in translating that songwriting ability into her own music.

I believe that part of this stemmed from the insecurity she might have felt then being on her own. With The Go-Go's, Wiedlin had four other band members to not only bounce ideas off of, but also serve as a "united front" against producers and label executives who were interested in exploiting the group and/or drastically modifying their sound. And for the most part, this unity was successful, only faltering somewhat on their second album, Vacation, produced by former Brill Building alum Richard Gottehrer. Gottehrer slicked the band's sound down somewhat on this album; although it was still successful (reaching #8 on the Billboard 200), it received lukewarm critical

reviews and was seen in many quarters as a step backward by the group. Talk Show, released two years later, was considered a "return to form" for The Go-Go's, returning the bite and drive to much of their music. I enjoyed this album very much, and recall being disappointed when I learned of the group's demise soon after its release; it would have been interesting to see in what direction The Go-Go's would have gone with future albums. But it was not to be.

Trying to make a name for herself as a solo act, I think that Jane fell under the influence of the label and the producers assigned to her first release in her/their drive to make the disc more accessible/"commercial" and

thereby more successful. In many ways, 1985's Jane Wiedlin is way overproduced, full of shimmering effects, '80s-style beats and guest musicians (Chris Sheehan participated in several of the recordings for this album) that bury the effect and urgency of the lyrics she penned. It also doesn't help that Wiedlin's voice is rather thin and lacking in range... but with the right producer, that could have been managed. In her best songs on this album, especially on "One Hundred Years Of Solitude", the special effects are toned down, allowing the quality of her music and vocals to shine through. Alas, it wasn't enough - IRS dropped her after Jane Wiedlin peaked at only #127 on the charts. I still bought the disc, though, out of my love for and loyalty to The Go-Go's (and because, on the album cover, Jane reminded me of a girl I once adored in college).

Jane moved to Manhattan Records, where she released Fur three years later, in 1988.  But again, she made the same mistake as with her previous album.  Fur is even more slickly produced than her first album, with producer Stephen Hague (who helmed albums by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Erasure and The Pet Shop Boys) liberally ladling on the synth-pop.  This album should have gone nowhere as well...

however, it did produce a Top Ten hit single, "Rush Hour", which helped drag the album up to #105 on the charts. But the rest of the disc is airy and forgettable. Wiedlin managed to release one more album, Tangled, on yet another new label (EMI) in 1990... but the damage was done. Tangled failed to chart. Jane wouldn't release another solo album for another decade.

[It is interesting to note that during this time, Jane's former band mate Belinda Carlisle also began a solo career, albeit in a poppier, more radio-friendly vein, and found much greater

success with arguably more inferior material (although her first big hit, 1986's "Mad About You", was originally slated for release on The Go-Go's aborted fourth album).  Other huge hits for her, including "I Get Weak" and "Heaven Is A Place On Earth", soon followed.]

Although "Rush Hour" was Wiedlin's biggest solo hit, I've always felt that "Blue Kiss", off of her first solo outing, was the best song she ever did on her own, even though it only reached #77 on the charts.

IRS seemed to think so as well; "Blue Kiss" b/w "My Traveling Heart" was released as the first single off the album, and later that year the label issued a 12" of dance and extended versions of the song on vinyl. To date, these songs have never been released on CD.

Here's the lineup

1. Blue Kiss (Special Dance Version)
2. Blue Kiss ("V" Mix)
3. Blue Kiss (Instrumental Version)
   

So here for your enjoyment is Jane Wiedlin's Blue Kiss 12", put out by IRS Records in September 1985.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

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