Saturday, November 10, 2012

Sad News for a Guy Who's Nostalgic for Bands Most People Have Never Heard Of

Tonight, I heard the sad news of the passing of Jo Dunne, bassist/guitarist of Bastard-approved band Fuzzbox, who put out the great album "We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It".

While the band is perhaps best known for their outré cover of Spirit in the Sky, Fuzzbox was an influence on Riot Grrrl bands with such songs as Bastard fave and feminist anthem XX Sex:





The band's aesthetic was Day-glo and cartoonish, the music a combination of stripped-down, primitive instrumentation and soaring vocals, the lyrics often critical of the Patriarchal Dominance System:





Even their songs about more conventional subject matter, such as failed relationships, were somehow subversive:





Here's another good one about the difficulties women have in communicating with condescending men:





It's amazing that the band had such mature insights at such a young age:





Rest in peace, Ms. Dunne

3 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Nice tribute, B^4 (as I work through the playlist!).
~

Hamish Mack said...

What BBBB does best, tells me stuff I didn't know.

M. Bouffant said...

Fucking blows to die at 43, esp. if you were in a good band. I.e., a minimalist outfit that I like.

(Not BBBB's fault he was born too late to acquire real musical taste, mind you.)