Monday, August 8, 2011

First and Last and Always

This classic has been a minor obsession lately. Sisters of Mercy's debut full length First and Last and Always never fails to take me back to the late '80s when I first arrived in San Francisco, a fresh-faced rube from Chump Junction, Florida. This record is me with a fake I.D. haunting many a dark, methy, goth club on the hunt for strange poon. I used to detest this band, but a few years ago I gave this record an objective listen, and fuck is it ever great. It bumped loud on a house sound system while I awkwardly chatted up raven haired tweak dilemmas in corsets. I would sip on G&T's and occasionally break to the toilet to scoop more bath tub crank into my softened skull. Every so often I would meet a girl but usually blew it in the cab on the way to her shitty flat that she shared with a nazi skinhead and an art student. Jesus, I just bummed myself out.

21 comments:

Soggy Bob said...

Your description kinda reminded me of Bukowski. And yeah its a really great record.

TMM said...

Three Cheers for G&T's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alex said...

love this record so much...
its addictive...

veganboyjosh said...

Aesop, i hope that within my lifetime a biopic is made of your life story, and that i get to see it.
whoever gets cast in the lead role will undoubtedly be some as-yet-unknown actor, who will be thrust into stardom as a direct result.

is there a kickstarter project i can donate to for this?

Θόρυβος Τώρα said...

While drinkin G&T I m surprised you even got in the taxi with her! That fuckin drink is a recipe for disaster and melancholy. Living in Greece means you can spend all night drinking in bars and wake up at 3 - 4 in the afternoon and about 5 minutes later Brian Fuckin Ferry would creep into your skull singin we re on a road to nowhere.After several months of that I switched to beer, pot smoking and the occasional Vodka to keep the octanes high. I am however bummed cause 2 nights ago I went from Drunk Dionysian Happy to Unimaginable Prick in under 3 seconds!

Θόρυβος Τώρα said...

Fuckin David Byrne by the way and not Brian Fuckin Ferry

Icky said...

I always thought these guys were "gay as fuck" and went right ahead and skipped over them back in those evil tweak days of the SFC way back when.
I had a good laugh & then I got sad when you mentioned the goth clubs & goth girls & getting high & striking out - only because it happened to me at the same time.

I am now downloading this & will try to have an open mind and we'll see what happens next. Cheers, Aes - hope you're well, bro!

MissMetal86 said...

What Lo-Res Viscera said, maybe not "Gay as fuck" lol but I'm gonna listen to this for sure.

Darryl Whalen said...

thanks so much for this and for what you do - you are great man! i am not gay and do not know if sisters of mercy are, yet i do know that they were the shit way back when and people loved the fuck out of them; especially the hot straight girls that would not give me the time of day.

the wizard said...

Ahhh....the hunt for strange poon. Memories....

pavel said...

frankly, i wish i knew where in new york to find tweaking goth chicks. other than that, your evenings back then sound uncomfortably like mine right now. and yeah, this album rules. it actually took a while to grow on me too, the songs don't exactly jump out at you but there's a ton of depth to them. now Sisters are one of my favorite bands.

theallnightrocker said...

what? you people are high...how the hell do you hear "Marian" and go "eh that sucks"

Daniel said...

Funny how goth girls always seemed to be hangin' out with nazi boneheads...I guess it was another way to get back at their rich parents.

theallnightrocker said...

i had a 19 year old goth girlfriend from manteca when i was 30..we did tons of crank,listened to goth,and had goth crank sex...damn,i love tweaker goth girls. oh and her brother was a white power bonehead. lotsa that in manteca

Carm said...

Strange poon is the best poon.

Johan van Hattum said...

I always ignored this band, now I can't stop listening to this record. Thanks for this!

Nina said...

A great blast from the past! I saw them in 1991 when they played a huge outdoor arena in the Chicago 'burbs with Public Enemy (what genius tour organizer set that one up?). We got there super early and I remember seeing this little goth dude skulking around looking super full of himself with a bunch of scarves hanging off his belt, and I pointed him out to my friends, giggling. When the show started I realized the guy I'd been making fun of was Andrew Eldritch, but they put on a pretty awesome show. (I've had lots of sex to them too, but without the crank.)

Mr. B. said...

I love this post. +1 for rolling with G&T by the way. Long did I also go down that road striking out with tweaking goth chicks. And yeah the Sisters of Mercy were great. A bit of Motorhead in the basslines and a that dirge voice. They made some weird music videos too.

Doug said...

love this record, love this band.

Bruce said...

Great album.

Voluspa9 said...

Funny that "Marian" was mentioned as the stinker in the bunch, 'cause that is the song that most often creeps in my head from this album. I love SOM despite the fact that they are the goth vagina from whence spawned so much broke ass, fishnetted, eyeliner smeared smegma (most of the Cleopatra catalog, namely). I don't fault them any more than I fault At The Gates for the legions of mediocre teen bopper metalcore that seeped from its loins.

Anyway, this album, Floodland, and Some Girls Wander By Mistake are pretty essential. I have come to view what could be seen as their cheese factor to actually be their charm, and assistant to the mysterious aura of the band. Kind of the same way I have sublimated some of the more theatrical (aka corny) aspects of some black metal that I enjoy.