FLASHBACK: CONFUSION
If you watch ONE video I ever post. This might be the one.
This week, I'm going a slightly different route with the flashback. Maybe it's because I'm NYC where my turntables are. Maybe it's because I can't stand what's become of NYC in a lot of ways. Maybe it's just because this week demands a hit of the most important post-punk/electronic dance record of all fucking time. I don't have a clue.
I've posted a lot of videos that have shitty sound, shitty images. Most of their value derives from their status as documents of a period of musical intensity that really hasn't been matched since. In many cases, they have also stood as documents of inspiration, both direct and indirect, subtle and plagiaristic.
This video is all of that. But it's also a beautiful short movie expression of the collision of British dance music with Albert Baker and the early '80s New York club scene. It's punk rock not because it was shot at CBGBS (it wasn't) or because it thrashes. It's punk rock because it turned shit upside down and made everything seem possible again right around the time when hardcore had already hit its peak.
The video is so incredibly worth watching, just as a short movie. Yes, the bobbing head of Albert Baker in the studio seems a bit comical, maybe even dorky, but the man was feeling it, and doing really amazing remixes solely using tape. And again, if NYC was half as cool now as it was when this video was being made, I wouldn't be living in LA right now. The intercutting between Baker, New Order, dancing, grafitti rocked subways, the one and only kind of pizza worth eating, and NYC club culture is fantastic.
It's late and I'm incoherent, high, and perhaps too nostalgic for my own good, but none of that changes the fact that between this song and 'Blue Monday,' the entire following decade of dance music was put in motion. Blue Monday would go on to be the bestselling 12" of all time, but Confusion was the single that really changed everything. It's a testament to Baker and the song that the Albert Baker Vs. Confusion remixes, first released in 2002 (?), handily best nearly anything else that came out of the Berlin/Brooklyn Electroclash and dance-punk waves. DFA, LeTigre, Fisherspooner, Chicks On Speed, The Rapture, I don't care what or who you drop, Confusion kills 'em all.
This is to say one thing...press play and listen loud. Please.
If you watch ONE video I ever post. This might be the one.
This week, I'm going a slightly different route with the flashback. Maybe it's because I'm NYC where my turntables are. Maybe it's because I can't stand what's become of NYC in a lot of ways. Maybe it's just because this week demands a hit of the most important post-punk/electronic dance record of all fucking time. I don't have a clue.
I've posted a lot of videos that have shitty sound, shitty images. Most of their value derives from their status as documents of a period of musical intensity that really hasn't been matched since. In many cases, they have also stood as documents of inspiration, both direct and indirect, subtle and plagiaristic.
This video is all of that. But it's also a beautiful short movie expression of the collision of British dance music with Albert Baker and the early '80s New York club scene. It's punk rock not because it was shot at CBGBS (it wasn't) or because it thrashes. It's punk rock because it turned shit upside down and made everything seem possible again right around the time when hardcore had already hit its peak.
The video is so incredibly worth watching, just as a short movie. Yes, the bobbing head of Albert Baker in the studio seems a bit comical, maybe even dorky, but the man was feeling it, and doing really amazing remixes solely using tape. And again, if NYC was half as cool now as it was when this video was being made, I wouldn't be living in LA right now. The intercutting between Baker, New Order, dancing, grafitti rocked subways, the one and only kind of pizza worth eating, and NYC club culture is fantastic.
It's late and I'm incoherent, high, and perhaps too nostalgic for my own good, but none of that changes the fact that between this song and 'Blue Monday,' the entire following decade of dance music was put in motion. Blue Monday would go on to be the bestselling 12" of all time, but Confusion was the single that really changed everything. It's a testament to Baker and the song that the Albert Baker Vs. Confusion remixes, first released in 2002 (?), handily best nearly anything else that came out of the Berlin/Brooklyn Electroclash and dance-punk waves. DFA, LeTigre, Fisherspooner, Chicks On Speed, The Rapture, I don't care what or who you drop, Confusion kills 'em all.
This is to say one thing...press play and listen loud. Please.
you're home soon.
s is tap-tap-tapping her watch.. waiting for rm.
we need to do another metro weekend adventure - this time I pose we go to Chinatown and have dim sum! (see I am still dreaming of dim sum)