Swans: Classic or Dud?

Alex, they had a heavy goth streak

Live Skull? No they fucking didn't.

Look, I LOVE a lot of unapologetically Goth bands -- from Alien Sex Fiend through Theatre of Hate through the Mission through Fields of the Nephilim -- but the fact remains that Live Skull and SWANS simply WERE NOT members of that flock.

Well, at the time, goths sure as hell wanted nothing to do with Swans. This is true. It'd be more apt to call the Misfits goth, 'cause they were loved by every goth in (my) town.

ANYWAY.

i confessed that i always thought that the song failure was really funny.

One of my favorite Swans moments ever -- I'm DJing at KUCI during my grad school years and someone calls me up during finals week or just thereafter. Turns out it's another grad on campus, like me a TA. He goes, "I've been looking at all these student papers and I have a request -- can you play the Swans' "Failure" for them?" And so I did, and I would have also bought him a drink if I could.

As soon as Jarboe joined Swans (the Time Is Money 12") it became fair to call them goth. If you saw them during the Jarboe period you know that was a proper goth throwdown.

Snuffer counts as goth. However, the only evidence I can offer for this proposition is "it sure seemed goth to me at the time, and that is in fact why I bought it."

it became fair to call them goth

If by "fair" you mean "abjectly wrong," then yes.

ilm must've wandered into a wormhole, this is like 2005 all over again

Did anyone else there at the time refer to Swans as "tribal"? Swans, Savage Repubic, (new EP is good BTW), Test Dept, anything with a bunch of blunt percussion we called tribal, tribal industrial. In Pittsburgh, circa 86-89.

Alex I'm older than you, don't make me come over there

Or to be more exact: circa 1985 on the west coast, there was not a goth that lived and breathed who didn't love or at least respect Swans. Their audience was largely goth (still "death rock" in some quarters) people, and industrial lovers who were more or less goths without so much makeup, and some punks. Your crowd defines you, to some extent. Certainly Swans are nothing like Fields of the Nephilim. But their lyrical themes, their relentless darkness, and THAT WOMAN WITH THE GOTH-ASS MAKEUP YOWLING ABOUT THE YUM-YAB KILLERS OR WHATEVER makes them goth whether one likes it or not.

Ah, west coast.

Alex I'm older than you, don't make me come over there

You're older than 39? Bring it on, old man.

Oh, god...old men fighting about what is goth...

OH!! Will you two wear black lipstick and long black trench coats???? Oow. That would be interesting....

guys I totally support the sudden surge of goths on ILX, keep it up 2007

Aja, that's just a FAP invitation.

Um...I feel stupid...what is FAP?...I know I learned this like 2 years ago, but I don't remember what it means....

*Blushes*

"Fancy A Pint" but I don't think the pints are required, it's just a generic term for irl meetings of ILXors.

Ok. Now I remember.

Yes, pints would be appropriate I guess. But I want to watch too...Can I have a Roy Rodgers?

*chuckling trying to imagine Alex in black lipstick*

HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alex in black lipstick and with EYELINER!

guys I feel like this is an appropriate time to mention that "fap" has never meant anything to me other than the sound of masturbation

Well I've always felt the appeal of the term is that it does also call to mind that meaning. It's a double entendre, and I'm sure many jokes have already been made about it here.

yeah

it was really weird and off-putting for me at first, though, like moving to some foreign land where everyone referred to cars as "cunts" and thought nothing of it

WAHT IS THE HEN FLAP AND WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP ASKING FOR IT???

Wait..."Hen Fap" I've heard that before. What does it mean?

It's the name of the server ILX runs on. Nothing more. Now go about yr bidness, citizen.

Hahah! I see! The things you learn!

LOL @ Ned's story. Once I requested "Raping A Slave" on my hometown college station because it took me forever to find that EP, and after the DJ played it he said "Well, my girlfriend has called me to demand that I never play that song again".

I have so much to say on the topic that it's tempting to say nothing.

as a college dj I did a 3 hour swans show. at one point some guy called up and said "I'm going to come up there and kill you" and then started laughing hysterically. so I got on the mic and dedicated "coward" to him. he didn't call back (or show up, obv).

around '99 gira was selling the master tapes to the labor e.p. on his website. wonder if that's why it hasn't been remastered.

I am still missing one Swans live album in particular -- Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room. So if anyone has a full burn of it around...

hold on

The hotmail address ILX tried doesn't work, I tried the k**i.*rg one I remembered, is that one ok?

Yup.

the new angels of light is fucking awesome by the way

I love SWANS.

Alex in NYC OTM.

I refuse to be forced to choose between any of their sounds/periods (early! cathartic! melodic! apocalyptic!) though. They all rule in their own way.

Cheers, Alex! I was just thinking of Swans today while walking around outside on my lunch break, funnily enough. I started singing that lyric "Nothing inside you is real" from "You're Not Real, Girl". It was the only thing that kindof shook me out of a bad mood, today.

A few months ago at work, I was immersed in "Holy Money" when my coworker appeared at the door of my cube, grinning. I removed my headphones, and she said, "Didn't you hear the fire alarm? Didn't you leave the building?"

Immolated in a sterile grey cubical, while the coworkers wander off... Would have been a Giraesque way to go.

COP!

The sex in your soul will damn you to hell

Feel Good Now version of "Sex God Sex" is epic.

Feel Good Now version of "Sex God Sex" is epic.

Just to be clear again, Swans were not Goths. Ever.

Classic. Personally their one of the most important bands in regards to what I’m interested in. Children of God and Filth should be in everyones collections.

I'll say it again...

I LOVE SWANS

Just to be clear again, Swans were not Goths. Ever.

While this is technically true, I never knew an 80s goth who didn't have much love for Swans, and Jarboe brought the goth flavor to the stage throughout The Great Annihilator tour. They certainly transcend the genre, but the overlap is pretty undeniable.

Swans are less goth than Killing Joke, but like Killing Joke, they're still only a few steps away from goth proper.

the first two world of skin albums were totally goth. in a good way. i think i talked about the goth/swans thing on some thread. maybe this one. swans/gira still one of the few acts where i love/loved EVERYTHING they/he did. can't say that about too many people. jarboe on her own can be hit or miss (depending on who she is collaborating with), but she's put out some amazing post-swans stuff too.

Scott, have you heard the Blackmouth disc that's her and two of the guys from Trust/Obey? V. good, been a while since I've listened -- might dig it out here tonight!

nope, never heard it. she has lots of stuff i haven't heard. i still want to get her mystery of faith swans/skin comp too. and i'm curious about her men album. had blixa on it and alan from low doing a song with her. i really liked her anhedoniac album. crazy stuff. the early stuff i wasn't that big on. the 13 masks album and the beautiful people ltd. album. kinda patchy.

i liked the neurosis/jarboe album too. i thought that was really cool.