Club Mekon

Blender magazine had an article listing the 500 best songs since the eighties; no Mekons, of course, so I had to correct the record. This is what I wrote them regarding the song 'Memphis, Egypt':

The Mekons. Lester Bangs favorite band. Originally DIY punks who then virtually created Alt-Country in the early Eighties with the albums Fear and Whiskey, Honky Tonkin, and Edge of The World.

In this song, the first cut off 'The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll' , the band takes a vicious stab at the soullessness and commercial excesses of the corporate music industry - ON THEIR FIRST ALBUM FOR A MAJOR LABEL! The guitars chime in with an energy and urgency that wouldn't be out of place on London Calling; the lyrics:

“destroy your safe and happy lives
before it is too late;
the battles we fought were long and hard
just not to be consumed by Rock n Roll”

The sound of the song predated alt-rock and showed an experienced band, eager to engage with the music industry and succeed on their own terms. Bangs may never have heard this song, but I like to think the Mekons wrote it for him.

The Mekons were never consumed by rock n roll, at least. Their next album was rejected by the label and they were dropped. They've been jumping from label to label since, finally landing on Quarterstick, releasing minor masterpieces that seem to get better with each release, even if they are only heard by several thousand people.

Success? depends on what you consider musical success. If you think it is selling millions of albums, no. But if it's about the music, and it's about investigating and melding different styles of music, being ever evolving, always experimenting, then definitely.

But for a few minutes in the mid eighties, The Mekons were ready to explode into the American rock world, and had the anthem to lead the way.