There's a downside to this for the truly XTC-obsessed though, which I suppose is true for fans of most other bands who have been (or were) around for a while like XTC was. For example, about 3-4 years ago they finally showed the movie Vivarium on one of the premium channels, and it was supposed to be a really weird, paranoid horror/sci-fi romp starring Imogen Poots, so of course I really wanted to see it. Basically it's about a recently-married couple who are out house-shopping, and get trapped in a cookie-cutter-looking subdivision that's not at all what it seems (I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it's genuinely scary if you've ever been home-shopping in one of those places). And it's one of these deals where just when you think the movie can't get any weirder, it does — and then at the very end, just before the credits roll, they start playing XTC's "Complicated Game," from Drums And Wires.
In retrospect, I'd have to say that "Complicated Game" was an inspired choice to end this particular movie, because on a purely intellectual level it's actually a terrifyingly existential commentary on the futility of choice, if not of freedom and free will itself, which is ultimately the (somewhat-subversive) point of the movie. But instead of having my mind blown by the song and the context in which it was used, all I could think of was, "Woo hoo! Andy Partridge is going to get some royalties!" and then, "OMG, I can't believe they're playing the whole thing and not fading it out in the middle like they usually do with XTC songs in movies."
Again, I believe this effect could occur with any band that collects obsessive fans, and there have been lots of those over the years. But I just wonder if it's more "acute" with XTC because they've always been unusually open and transparent about how the business side of music has affected their lives, mostly not for the better, which I think leads their fans to think of them more as regular people rather than as "musical demigods" as they might with, say, Led Zeppelin. (Whom I also like, I might add.)
Yeah, that would be distancing. Cool song though. Just listening to Drums and Wires for the first time ever
Coincidentally, today I learned that a cover version of XTC's "Dear God" (originally from Skylarking), recorded by someone named Daniel Heath who calls himself "Lawless," and who released it on a 2016 self-titled EP as well as Soundcloud, is being used in the trailers for AMC's new TV series adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire. It's a sort of Epic-Ambient/Dramatic/Post-Rockish version, with waifish vocals by someone named Sydney Wayser, who once did backup vocals on an M83 album. Apparently Mr. Heath is best known as Lana Del Rey's string arranger and occasional producer/collaborator/best-friend.
Normally I would react positively to something like this, but I don't know if songwriters get paid much of anything for TV series trailers, particularly when a cover version is being used. More importantly, I suspect it might not be good to have XTC associated with the vampire genre, even indirectly.
Coincidentally, today I learned that a cover version of XTC's "Dear God" (originally from Skylarking), recorded by someone named Daniel Heath who calls himself "Lawless," and who released it on a 2016 self-titled EP as well as Soundcloud, is being used in the trailers for AMC's new TV series adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire. It's a sort of Epic-Ambient/Dramatic/Post-Rockish version, with waifish vocals by someone named Sydney Wayser, who once did backup vocals on an M83 album. Apparently Mr. Heath is best known as Lana Del Rey's string arranger and occasional producer/collaborator/best-friend.
Normally I would react positively to something like this, but I don't know if songwriters get paid much of anything for TV series trailers, particularly when a cover version is being used. More importantly, I suspect it might not be good to have XTC associated with the vampire genre, even indirectly.
I’d hope he’d get something for this. The whole thing about XTC not getting royalties sucks big time. I’ll keep an eye out for this track.
Actually, my initial intro to XTC as a teenager was through a cover. The Crash Test Dummies cover of The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack. Though I didn’t realise it was an XTC song until much later.
I can’t think of any other covers of this band, at least that I’ve heard, despite many very coverable tracks in their catalogue.
I can’t think of any other covers of this band, at least that I’ve heard, despite many very coverable tracks in their catalogue.
That's sort of true, actually. There's only been one tribute album done with high-profile artists (Testimonial Dinner), and the usual excuse from people like me is either that the songs are too hard to play, or nobody thinks they can improve on the originals. (Also, the fact that their name has since been used to refer to a popular drug doesn't help.)
That hasn't prevented a whole bunch of fan tributes from being made, though... There's a list of those here, but it hasn't been updated in a couple of years and the site also doesn't have an SSL certificate. There's one called "Garden of Earthly Delights" on Bandcamp, but like all fan tributes, it's a "mixed bag."
If I had to name a personal favorite though, it would probably be something where the people doing the cover did a quieter or more folksy version of one of the earlier XTC songs, maybe? Nouvelle Vague did a version of "Making Plans for Nigel" on their first album for example, and a band called Winterpills did a version of "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" that sounds almost like Americana. I like both of those.
I'm serious about "XTC" as a recreational-drug name being a problem, too — not to complain bitterly or anything, but if you're Googling them to look for cover versions or other obscure stuff, even if you put "music" or "band" in the search string, literally 90% of the results you'll get are either about the drug itself or about songs/records about the drug. Makes it much harder to find stuff the way you would for a band whose name is a unique search term, like "Flaming Lips" or "Siouxsie and the Banshees." That's not to say you wouldn't have similar problems with a band name like "Japan" or "Chameleons" or "Cure," but the fact that it's a drug makes it that much more annoying, especially since Google will probably flag you in their database for life as a "potential drug abuser" the moment you type it in.
I'm serious about "XTC" as a recreational-drug name being a problem, too — not to complain bitterly or anything, but if you're Googling them to look for cover versions or other obscure stuff, even if you put "music" or "band" in the search string, literally 90% of the results you'll get are either about the drug itself or about songs/records about the drug. Makes it much harder to find stuff the way you would for a band whose name is a unique search term, like "Flaming Lips" or "Siouxsie and the Banshees."
Turns out that if you listen to Chairs Missing by Wire in apple music it then generates one heck of a related playlist. This was great:
1. Towers of London - XTC
2. Happening in English - Magazine
3. Shadowplay - Joy Division
4. Wild in Blue - Suicide
5. I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
6. Nag, Nag, Nag - Cabaret Voltaire
7. Mr Pharmacist - The Fall
8. Paper Tigers - The Chameleons
9. See no Evil - Television
10. Gary Gilmore’s Eyes - The Adverts
11. Liar’s Beware - Richard Hell and the Voidoids
12. Eating Nodemix - Young Marble Giants
13. The Girl who lives on Heaven Hill - Husker Du
14. Twenty Four Hours - Joy Division
15. Personality Crisis - New York Dolls
16. Making Plans For Nigel - XTC
17. Don’t Fall - The Chameleons
18. Chinese Radiation - Pere Ubu
19. Double Trouble - Public Image Ltd.
20. Midget Submarine - Swell Maps
Last edited by theblueboy on 10/04/2022 07:28; edited 1 time in total
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Also, frenemy of the band Todd Rundgren.
