Elegy for The Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard are like that person you know who always stunned you about how amazing or talented or magickal they were and you're standing there at their funeral thinking about how utterly forgotten he already is, how sad it was that the beauty you could see wasn't put up in neon and broadcast all over the world for everyone to worship as you did.
This is bits from a great review of the life and times of TJL. I'll assume the author doesn't care because who the hell remembers JL anymore?
"...because the Jesus Lizard made it manifestly clear to anyone in 30 seconds that their music was inherently unpleasant and unlikable and thus, alien to any radio format... It even got to the point where The Jesus Lizard was included in a privileged ring of three American bands to be granted the active patronage of Kurt Cobain, which to me is easily the biggest proof of his importance. Why, he even singled them out for the singular superlative of being "THE Band," proving that Kurt Cobain put his money where his mouth is when it comes to keepin' it real back in the underground. He actually puts them on a split 7" with Nirvana...
But these guys were never meant to be The Lizard indefinitely and now with them gone forever, I can settle into the comfortable assurance that my favorite band will never disappoint or embarrass me. They will never pull a Bauhaus and reform to cash in after a slew of questionable projects fail to bring long standing success for individual band members. This ain't gonna happen because there are probably less than a few thousand hardcore Jesus Lizard fans left in North America and that number probably dwindles every year. Good. This band is what used to pass for a hip rock critic's wet dream back when music writers were expected to be more adventurous than putting all their money on the goddamn White Stripes. So I will enjoy them in happy solitude and I don't care if you think it's ridiculous posturing to champion a band based on their inaccessibility. I will tell anyone to their face that Cheap Trick are an incredible band and at their prime. THOSE guys could fill entire stadiums with hysterical teenage chicks. Big deal.
But you see, Cheap Trick are, even at their most Godly, a Rock'N'Roll band. The Lizard, by sheer fact of their rhythms and song structures, were NOT a rock band. They had guitar, bass and drums as well as an energetic charismatic icon in Yow, but were discernibly "un" rock, "un" punk, "un" metal and "un" any comfortable pigeonhole which comes with the luxury of a pre existing audience. Now that I think of it, the choice of Yow as frontman alone constitutes independent evidence. He is not young, but old (by the time JL got signed to a major, Yow was in his mid thirties). He is not handsome, but majestically ugly. He does completely inexplicable things like claiming his love for Led Zeppelin publicly and directing an Offspring video! So you see, the only band to righteously approach the phenomena of '60's bands like Captain Beefheart, the Velvets and the Stooges is the Jesus Lizard. But no one REALLY noticed that because modern writers and music purists are way more pedestrian then they can ever admit to themselves and they need to hear the familiar trail map provided by pop music, or they can't dig it. The Pixies, Husker Du, and Smashing Pumpkins were significant bands, but only in the context of being tremendously creative and original pop music. The Lizard is interesting because all these bands spent the late eighties and or early nineties receiving critical praise but JL was not interested in making pop or rock music in any recognizable form. That, in my opinion, makes them MUCH more worthy of praise and less likely to capitalize on it.
As I said before, the Jesus Lizard are cooler than your favorite band, and now I've proven it. Why else would a grown man rub his shriveled ball sack on a live mic and call it art? "
"
This is bits from a great review of the life and times of TJL. I'll assume the author doesn't care because who the hell remembers JL anymore?
"...because the Jesus Lizard made it manifestly clear to anyone in 30 seconds that their music was inherently unpleasant and unlikable and thus, alien to any radio format... It even got to the point where The Jesus Lizard was included in a privileged ring of three American bands to be granted the active patronage of Kurt Cobain, which to me is easily the biggest proof of his importance. Why, he even singled them out for the singular superlative of being "THE Band," proving that Kurt Cobain put his money where his mouth is when it comes to keepin' it real back in the underground. He actually puts them on a split 7" with Nirvana...
But these guys were never meant to be The Lizard indefinitely and now with them gone forever, I can settle into the comfortable assurance that my favorite band will never disappoint or embarrass me. They will never pull a Bauhaus and reform to cash in after a slew of questionable projects fail to bring long standing success for individual band members. This ain't gonna happen because there are probably less than a few thousand hardcore Jesus Lizard fans left in North America and that number probably dwindles every year. Good. This band is what used to pass for a hip rock critic's wet dream back when music writers were expected to be more adventurous than putting all their money on the goddamn White Stripes. So I will enjoy them in happy solitude and I don't care if you think it's ridiculous posturing to champion a band based on their inaccessibility. I will tell anyone to their face that Cheap Trick are an incredible band and at their prime. THOSE guys could fill entire stadiums with hysterical teenage chicks. Big deal.
But you see, Cheap Trick are, even at their most Godly, a Rock'N'Roll band. The Lizard, by sheer fact of their rhythms and song structures, were NOT a rock band. They had guitar, bass and drums as well as an energetic charismatic icon in Yow, but were discernibly "un" rock, "un" punk, "un" metal and "un" any comfortable pigeonhole which comes with the luxury of a pre existing audience. Now that I think of it, the choice of Yow as frontman alone constitutes independent evidence. He is not young, but old (by the time JL got signed to a major, Yow was in his mid thirties). He is not handsome, but majestically ugly. He does completely inexplicable things like claiming his love for Led Zeppelin publicly and directing an Offspring video! So you see, the only band to righteously approach the phenomena of '60's bands like Captain Beefheart, the Velvets and the Stooges is the Jesus Lizard. But no one REALLY noticed that because modern writers and music purists are way more pedestrian then they can ever admit to themselves and they need to hear the familiar trail map provided by pop music, or they can't dig it. The Pixies, Husker Du, and Smashing Pumpkins were significant bands, but only in the context of being tremendously creative and original pop music. The Lizard is interesting because all these bands spent the late eighties and or early nineties receiving critical praise but JL was not interested in making pop or rock music in any recognizable form. That, in my opinion, makes them MUCH more worthy of praise and less likely to capitalize on it.
As I said before, the Jesus Lizard are cooler than your favorite band, and now I've proven it. Why else would a grown man rub his shriveled ball sack on a live mic and call it art? "
"