thedetroiter.com remembers Majesty Crush - Celebrity stalkers from the roaring 90s!
Once upon a time there was a little four piece band from Detroit called Majesty Crush....a very beautiful and disturbing band.
The band, formed in 1990, featured O'Dell Nails on drums, Michael Segal on guitar, Hobie Echlin on bass and the enigmatic David Stroughter on the mic.
I was recently reminded of them after seeing the new Tarantino film "Kill Bill" , starring Uma Thurman....a very beautiful and disturbing movie.You see, Majesty Crush are one of my very favorite Detroit groups from the early 1990s and "Uma," their 3 1/2 minute ode to the actress, still plays though my head whenever I see her.
Other songs like Penny for Love, Kournikova, Seles (yes... both about tennis players.) and the classic #1 Fan ,all tap dance (or shoe gaze) around the subject of desire, obsession and celebrity worship. Weird Wild Stuff. Their songs were at the same time moody, beautiful, fascinating...and well.....creepy.
But whether it was because of Captain Stoughter's often tasteless"Axl Rosish" antics on stage or perhaps because of some of the band's destructive bad habits off stage, the group just never quite made it over the hump. Did bad business and bad behavior get in the way of some great music?
Perhaps....
But, whatever the reason, it is really unfortunate because when you strip away all of the wannabe Jim Morrison channeling and Mr. Brownstone shennanigans (or as we like say in 2003...the band's "issues"), this group really did have the musical goods. Simple, emotional. Their music was certainly underground but also surprisingly accessible. And they maintained the difficult balance between melodic and uplifting AND at the same time dark and unsettling.
You might say....emoting two sides of the same Samurai Sword...umm...but....I wouldn't.
...but hey, why not judge for yourself.
Listen to "Uma" by Majesty Crush today on thedetroiter.com radio!
"Uma" appears on the Majesty Crush album "Love 15," and while it is no longer in print, enough copies were released that it should still be relatively easy to pick up in the used record stores. Or, you might find a copy of Stroughter's more recent works with his group P.S. I Love You.
Other new additions to thedetroiter.com's ever evolving playlist include Andrew W.K., The Gories, Bob and Willie's collaboration "Last Stand in Open Country," plus up and comers Lisboa!
Remember, we DO take requests. So if you have a comment or a suggestion for our playlist please make a post in our reader feedback area, or email me directly at tommy@thedetroiter.com
Click here to read last month's thedetroiter.com radio article.
Technical info:
Our virtual radio operates in much the same way. Each push button selects a different station. The left and right knobs control power and volume respectively. Additionally, once the radio is playing, the left knob will function as a track skip control. The radio will 'stream' the songs to your computer. What this means is that you will not have to wait for the entire song to download to your computer before it begins playback. Generally the songs will begin to play after approximately 40% of the material has 'buffered,' or reached your computer. Those of you accessing us over a cable modem or DSL line will find playback to be practically instantaneous. If you are visiting us via a dial up connection the songs may take a minute or so before they being playing. The good news is that most computers will 'cache' the song into a special folder on your computer so that the next time you access that particular song from our radio, playback should begin immediately.