Friday March 29th 2024

Babylonian Gorgon – The Bags

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Pure Punk Picks
Babylonian Gorgon – The Bags

 

Andy Bang, who just handed me a beer and a small bag of Cheetos while uttering one word, “Write,” is a bit confused as he sees I’m writing about a band called The Bags, while peering over my shoulder, gazing at my typewriter. ‘Cause I know he’s thinking it’s the great, local band in Boston, The Bags, I’m writing about, one that we saw many times in Boston, mid to late eighties. A band that successfully combined metal and punk, one of the first bands, locally, to do so.

The Boston Bags was a great and wonderful band and was playing, more or less, what became known as “grunge” a few, scantily clad dressed years later in Seattle.

Our band The Bags was pretty cool and yes, they more than deserve a spot in Pure Punk Picks at some point. And, by golly, if I have anything to do with it they will- Well, come to think of it, I guess it is really all up to me. Someday, our Boston Bag’s will be here, which I calculate, is equivalent to being awarded a gold star on Hollywood Boulevard.

I might be slightly off there. But Mr. Bang just interjected that I may be onto something. Oh, I stand corrected. He said, “That I may be on something.”

Though he does realize that my distorted perception of reality is more a product of my unbalanced mind. Oh, he just handed me a beer and another small bag of Cheetos! What I write has not been induced by any mind-altering drugs.

I was vaguely aware of this band as they only released one single during their short existence, barely making it into the eighties. And I do recall their appearance in the eighties documentary of the L.A. punk scene, “The Decline Of Western Civilization.” But their performance was eclipsed by better known bands such as The Germs, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, Fear and X.

But now, becoming acquainted with their recorded, but unreleased material at the time- I’m very impressed with their work.

They combine the wildness, energy and musical anarchy of early punk, alongside the experimental and dissonant style that was about to rise shortly in many of the punk scenes, including New York, London and Boston.

I’m guessing some bands to follow that may have been influenced by The Bags were Bush Tetras and Lydia Lunch from New York. A lot of the early female, abrasive punk bands from England such as The Slits or The Au Pairs and the Seattle riot grrl bands in the nineties.

But even if I’m wrong, Alice Bag needs to be spoken of and included with her female contemporaries of her time, like Patti Smith, Siouxsie Siouk, Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spec, Penelope Houston of The Avengers, Joan Jett and Debbie Harry of Blondie- All pioneering punk women.

“Don’t want your private lives. Don’t want your industrial lies. Your politician dreams, your psychodrama schemes…Here I go, Babylonian Gorgon. I’m gonna babble, babble on.”

This song surges along at a fairly, moderate pace but, like a lot of songs from this early era, it bristles with tons of creative energy. The vocals alternate between a snarling, spoken like verse into a catchy, melodic chorus. Some might say this sounds like a punkier Blondie, which still sounds great to me.

There’s also a loose, but gritty and tough rhythm section that supports a guitar that goes off on a Chuck Berry/ Johnny Thunders rampage, riffing rambunctious, rollicking licks that rip a whole in the stratosphere during each musical interlude.

This song is pure excitement, energy, fun and suggests reckless abandonment to me- and it still sounds fresh today.

Alice Bag is actually Alicia Armandariz. A lot of the folks in the early L.A. scene were of Spanish descent, which should be of no surprise to you, if you’re familiar with California.

And she is also, a writer who expresses herself from a minority and feminist view.

All of the original punks were misfits who didn’t fit in with society, outcasts who were not the captain of the football team or Queen of the cheerleaders. We still consist of misfits and I’m proud of how we welcome all and everyone in, as I feel, we all know how difficult it can be to be different. And I can only imagine that the punk scene will always be this way.

This is a great song, from a great band from a time that was pretty great as well, the early punk days.

Those times have passed, I don’t want to relive them. Nostalgia is for folks who like terrible bands like Journey. Mainly, because they remember getting laid in the back seat of a car while a song by a lame band was playing.

So please don’t look at this as music from a better time, but more so, music that contains the same excitement and joy, and creative rebelliousness that is alive in your current favorite bands, that is alive in your bloodstream and that exists right now.

So I could babble on, as I am wont to do, but instead- I entreat you, please listen to this song.

 

Babylonian Gorgon – The Bags
Babylonian Gorgon

 

(Slimedog)

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