Love and Rockets | |
---|---|
Origin | Northampton, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1985–1999, 2007–2009, 2023 |
Labels | Beggars Banquet, RCA, American, Red Ant |
Spinoffs | |
Spinoff of | |
Past members | Daniel Ash Kevin Haskins David J |
Love and Rockets are an English rock band formed in 1985 by former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash (vocals, guitar and saxophone), David J (bass guitar and vocals) and Kevin Haskins (drums and synthesisers) after that group split in 1983. Ash and Haskins had recorded and performed in another band, Tones on Tail, between 1982 and 1984.
Love and Rockets' fusion of underground rock music with elements of pop music provided an early catalyst for alternative rock. Their 1989 single "So Alive" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [1] They released seven studio albums before breaking up in 1999 and reformed briefly in 2007 for a few live shows, before splitting again in 2009. They reformed in 2023, and announced several tour dates.
The band's name was taken from the comic book series Love and Rockets by the Hernandez brothers. Gilbert Hernandez later referred to the confusion caused by this in his book Love and Rockets X , as there were several different bands named "Love and Rockets" for a period. [2]
Despite their previous band's status as a gothic rock act, Love and Rockets moved towards a slightly brighter and more pop-influenced sound, as demonstrated by their first minor hit being a cover of the Motown classic "Ball of Confusion" [3] (reached #18 on the Canadian charts in January 1986). [4] Their first studio album was 1985's Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven (1985). [5] Their second album, 1986's Express , continued in the same vein, adding even more of a pop feel to the mix. It included the dance hit "Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)". The 1987 follow-up, Earth, Sun, Moon , had a more acoustic sound and spawned the minor hit "No New Tale to Tell". The following year, they released the single "The Bubblemen Are Coming" under the alias The Bubblemen.
In 1989 the band released their self-titled album, which presented a more AOR sound. [6] The second single from the album was the T. Rex-inspired song "So Alive", which became a hit, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, [1] a feat no Bauhaus-related band or artist has achieved before or since.
After a gruelling tour schedule in support of their big hit, Love and Rockets took a few years off before returning to the studio together. The result was a move to an electronic sound that had more in common with The Orb than their rock or goth roots. Their label, RCA Records, dropped them. They signed with Rick Rubin's American Recordings to release Hot Trip to Heaven in 1994, followed in 1996 by Sweet F.A. . In April 1995, during the recording of Sweet F.A., a fire broke out in the house owned by American Recordings, where the band were living and recording. None of the members were injured, but their visiting friend Genesis P. Orridge of Psychic TV was injured whilst escaping the fire. The band lost their gear (a photo of a burnt guitar was used for the album cover of Sweet F.A.) and months of work on the album. There was a lengthy legal battle between the band, their label, and the label's insurance company. Love and Rockets were found not responsible for the fire, but were left with a large legal bill. [7] Lift came out in 1998 on Red Ant Records, and, after performing in Toronto in April, 1999, Love and Rockets disbanded. [8] [9]
Love and Rockets announced in October 2007 on their MySpace page that they would reform to play one song at "Cast a Long Shadow", a tribute to Joe Strummer and benefit for Strummerville, The Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music, on 22 December 2007 at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California.[ citation needed ] They covered The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go", playing the song twice, the second time inviting members of the audience to join them onstage to sing along. [10] They performed on 27 April 2008 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and also at Lollapalooza on 3 August 2008 in Chicago.
In an interview in June 2009, Ash emphatically stated that he had no further plans to play with Love and Rockets. "We've worked together since 1980. I really want to work with new people, I'm sure everybody feels the same." [11]
A tribute album titled New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets was released on 18 August 2009 featuring contributions from The Flaming Lips, Frank Black, Puscifer, A Place to Bury Strangers, Film School, Better Than Ezra, Johnny Dowd, The Dandy Warhols, Blaqk Audio, The Stone Foxes and Monster Magnet. [12]
On 23 January 2023, Love and Rockets announced a reunion for an appearance at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, California on 20 May 2023, the band's first concert in 15 years. [13] They later announced a 2023 U.S. tour in support of their appearance at Cruel World. [14] A Bauhaus reunion was aborted in 2022 after Peter Murphy forced the band to cancel the tour as he entered rehab. [15] Ash said that the 2023 tour would be the band's final. [16]
Studio albums
Bauhaus were an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. Known for their dark image and gloomy sound, Bauhaus are one of the pioneers of gothic rock, although they mixed many genres, including dub, glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. The group consisted of Daniel Ash, Peter Murphy, Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass).
Tones on Tail were a British post-punk band formed in 1982, originally as a musical side project of Daniel Ash of the gothic rock group Bauhaus. Their music was described by one critic as "doom-and-dance-pop."
Bread was an American soft rock band from Los Angeles, California. They had 13 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1970 and 1977.
The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson (guitar), and Keith Strickland. Ricky Wilson died of AIDS-related illness in 1985, and Strickland switched from drums to lead guitar. The band has also added various members for albums and live performances.
Daniel Gaston Ash is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He became prominent in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the iconic goth rock band Bauhaus, which spawned two related bands led by Ash: Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets. Recently, he reunited with bandmate Kevin Haskins to form Poptone, a retrospective of their respective careers, featuring Kevin's daughter Diva Dompe on bass. He has also recorded several solo albums. Several guitarists have listed Ash as an influence, including Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Hide of X Japan and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Kevin Michael Dompe, born and best-known as Kevin Michael Haskins, is an English drummer, best known from the British rock group Bauhaus. He was also a member of Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets.
Heart is an American rock band formed in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. The band evolved from previous projects led by founding members Roger Fisher (guitar) and Steve Fossen, including The Army (1967–1969), Hocus Pocus (1969–1970), and White Heart (1970–1973). By 1975, original members Fisher, Fossen, and Ann Wilson, along with Nancy Wilson, Michael Derosier (drums), and Howard Leese formed the lineup for the band's initial mid- to late-1970s success period. These core members were included in the band's 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Dream Academy was a British band consisting of singer/guitarist and primary songwriter Nick Laird-Clowes, multi-instrumentalist Kate St John, and keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. The band is most noted for their 1985 hit record, "Life in a Northern Town".
"Lovesong" is a song by English rock band the Cure, released as the third single from their eighth studio album, Disintegration (1989), on 21 August 1989. The song saw considerable success in the United States, where it reached the number-two position in October 1989 and became the band's only top-10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, the single charted at number 18, and it peaked within the top 20 in Canada and Ireland.
Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven is the debut studio album by English rock band Love and Rockets. It was released on 11 October 1985, through record label Beggars Banquet. Seventh Dream was preceded by the non-album single "Ball of Confusion" on 17 May 1985, and the album's first proper single "If There's a Heaven Above" on 13 September 1985.
Earth, Sun, Moon is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1987 on Beggars Banquet.
Love and Rockets is the fourth studio album by English alternative rock band Love and Rockets; released in 1989 by Beggars Banquet Records on cassette, vinyl, and compact disc.
Hot Trip to Heaven is the fifth studio album by British rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1994 on Beggars Banquet in the United Kingdom and American in the United States. Released after a five-year hiatus, the album saw the band drop their former gothic, alternative rock sound in favour of a hi-tech electronic, ambient direction, taking influences from ambient techno artists such as The Orb and Orbital, while retaining the band's psychedelic focus. The group were first intrigued in making electronic music at the start of the decade.
Sweet F.A. is the sixth studio album by English alternative rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1996 by American Recordings and Beggars Banquet.
Lift is the seventh and final studio album by English alternative rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1998 on Red Ant Records.
"So Alive" is a song by British alternative rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1989 as the second single from their self-titled fourth album. The song reached No. 1 in Canada and charted within the top 30 in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. In the US, it topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for five weeks and was ranked No. 1 on that listing's year-end chart for 1989. The song's music video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh and produced by Pamela James.
Go Away White is the fifth and final studio album by English gothic rock band, Bauhaus and was internationally released on 3 March 2008 by record labels Cooking Vinyl in the UK and Bauhaus Music. It was the band's first album of new material since Burning from the Inside in 1983.
The discography of Bauhaus, a British gothic rock band, consists of five studio albums, four live albums, three compilation albums, four extended plays (EPs), eleven singles and three video albums. The band was formed in Northampton in 1978 by Daniel Ash (guitar), David J (bass), Kevin Haskins (drums) and Peter Murphy (vocals).
The discography of Love and Rockets, an English alternative rock band, consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, one live album, two video albums, and 21 singles.
Poptone is a rock band formed in early 2017 by British musicians Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins with Diva Dompé. Ash and Haskins were both formerly of the bands Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, and the Bubblemen.