MOG

In a previous post I mentioned the book on the post-punk era. A band that started on the tail end of it was The Sisters of Mercy.
Honestly I consider them goth. AND I think that is a good thing. I am not entirely sure why goth is such an ugly word nowadays. Anyone from the early to mid 80s that had any sort of prominence are now denouncing that tag like a DNA stained dress. Sure you can critique its modern day relevance but all genres of music has the embarrassing sides. Or maybe it should be called Death Rock but I think more of the California bands of the early 80s (Christian Death, 45 Grave, I guess TSOL, etc).
Anyway. When I was younger I loved this type of music. Bauhaus, Sex Gang Children, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, etc. Most of them. In the late 80s I was burned out on punk.
The late 80s were an odd time for me. I was a recovering addict. As a result I lumped punk into that era. Most of my great punk records were stolen during the hazy times of addiction. And the ones I had left I was either giving away or selling after I cleaned up. So I started to revisit a lot of the post-punk, goth, industrial, alternative, college rock, whatever label you want to put on it, bands of the time. Punk (more like hardcore) had become ugly and jocko (especially in light of where my head was).
Back to The Sisters of Mercy. To this day I consider this album "a perfect album side". In 1986 hardcore was already peaked and I was a under age, skateboarding, no care for tomorrow, having fun kid that heard this record for the first time when a friend (Michael who'll I'll talk about later) of my parents brought it to our house. I fell in love instantly and he proudly handed it off. My friends hated it. PERFECT. Rebelling against the rebellion. Plus it was good. The photo above is on the CD and is of the Sisters of Mercy at one of the staples of the Detroit skyline for so long. This picture has floated around for quite a long time and now that I think about it maybe my attraction to them at that age is that they really incapsulated Detroit during the mid to late 80s, and coincidentally, my state of mind. Distant, cold, abandoned, damaged and dark. But more importantly still alive. And defiant without having to scream your head off.
The location of the strip club (along with the long abandoned Motown headquarters, not the original one) is on Woodward near I-75. It is long gone as the area has become more suburban friendly with over-priced condos, theaters, stadiums and yuppies. The owner was quite the character. You would see him at most of the punk shows as he was probably trying to recruit new talent. Barely 5'2", awful comb over, lots of gold jewelry and EXCELLENT smoking jackets (deep red or blue velvet usually) with either a cigar or pipe, as big as him, in tow.
The Sisters of Mercy were playing many blocks away at the historic St Andrews Hall (still there and going strong) for what would be there only appearance in Detroit with the classic line up. Everyone I have known that was at that show is either dead, moved on (out of "the scene"), moved far away or completely off the map. And this was one of those classic Detroit shows where it was wayyyyyyyy sold out and lives on as legend in these parts.
I still love this record. I've seen them a lot since their "comebacks". After the first or second time it gets boring. Pink Floyd without the pigs. And lets not talk about their attempt at making a Steppenwolf record.