The Giant Panther

I can't recall the exact year, but I'm guessing around 1987 or so, I came across a CD by a band called The Godfathers in a used record store and I bought it. I'm a cover freak, (by the way thank you so much for the non verbal support of my Foo Fighters posting below! That's a lot of traffic for a couple of days. I'm glad you apparently liked it.) so when I noticed The Godfathers made an attempt at John Lennon's Cold Turkey I figured it was worth the $6 or whatever I paid for it. Nobody, let alone me, had heard of The Godfathers in those days. Nice grab! A few of you, and I'm guessing not many, will remember a song called This Damn Nation that kind of put them on the map, if they ever really were on any imaginary map. It had a funky slide to it and it was catchy, but that is not why The Godfathers were eventually relatively popular; they had this great snarl to them. Kind of like Billy Idol, but different. They stomped their way through most of their numbers and I was drawn to them immediately. The truth is though, I didn't expect much from this alternative rock band from London. Lord knows I have 50 CDs just like this buried amongst my stellar collection that I loved but that never got off the ground. I figured I just made a nice find no one else in my circle would ever hear. Wrong. Less than two years later they were all over college radio and touring the states.

The next year, in 1988, The Godfathers surfaced with an all time alternative foot stomping classic called Birth, School, Work, Death. I'm a card carrying pessimist most of the time so this tongue in cheek kind of hopelessness appealed to me. That and the crunching beat. I love it. It was a pretty big hit all around. Wikipedia tells us that this single reached #38 on the U.S. charts. For an alternative song that is ridiculous. Just me and 50,000 college kids were actually listening to that genre in those days. I'm kidding of course, but selling The Godfathers to my Van Halen loving buddies was near impossible. I went to see them play at The Paradise in Boston and they rocked my world. Not Goth rock exactly, but it had enough WTF is the use backbone to appeal to that crowd. It was more rock & roll, but it was clearly alternative. I hate trying to label good music anyway; it's more fun trying to label the folks who show up at the gigs I always felt. What you need to know about the CD Birth, School, Work, Death is that it was a great record. If I Only Had Time (I'd think of the perfect crime) and 'Cause I Said So were hard rocking supplements to the title track. When Am I Coming Down was also a plus on this CD. No self respecting alternative rock junkie from the 80's should be without it as far as I'm concerned. B,S,W,D was an angst ridden sing along anthem the second I heard it and it enjoyed a long run on the local alternative rock station WFNX.

1988 had it's share of great records; The Church - Starfish, The Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll, Julian Cope - My Nation Underground, Big Audio Dynamite - Tighten Up Volume '88, The Feelies - Only Life, The Fine Young Cannibals - The Raw & The Cooked, Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking, Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - Conscious Party, Midnight Oil - Diesel & Dust, Morrissey - Viva Hate, Peter Murphy - Love Hysteria, Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine, NWA - Straight Outta Compton, Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Grahm Parker - The Mona Lisa's Sister, Iggy Pop - Instinct, Prince - Lovesexy, Lou Reed - New York, R.E.M. - Green, Shriekback - Go Bang!, Siouxsie & The Banshees - Peepshow, Patti Smith - Dream of Life, The Smithereens - Green Thoughts, Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation, The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good, The Talking Heads - Naked, They Might Be Giants - Lincoln, Treat Her Right - Treat Her Right, U2 - Rattle & Hum, UB40 - UB40, Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, The Violent Femmes - 3, The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues, Wire - A Bell is a Cup Until It's Struck....are you kidding me? Did 2008, twenty years hence, produce that kind of quality? Call me old & crazy, but I don't think so.

My point in naming those records is to let you know that Birth, School, Work, Death not only held its own among these giant records, it still sounds great and fresh to this day. Of the four stages, I used to be on stage three (Work) until I lost my job, but I'm not giving up just yet. Stage four is kind of final if you know what I mean and where else would you go to track down all these quality tracks if I suddenly expired? OK, don't answer that. Hope all is well out there and please turn one of your friends onto the long forgotten Godfathers if you can. This tune is in your face nasty and I love it! According to their web site they have reunited so maybe we might see some more from them soon.