Groove of a different but no less essential stripe.  

The embryonic nexus between what we call punk, post-punk and new wave could be distilled down to Fred Smith's alternatingly loopy 4 note 4 bar bassline which opens "Marquee Moon".  That's really more than enough.

Nigel Harrison is a pretty good bass player, but.....

Jinnistan wrote:

I'll avoid the obvious...

This makes me sad. 

I didn't think death did that to me anymore.

It's turning into one of those weeks.

Frederick Wiseman of the pioneering doc Titicut Follies, who continued working rightinto his 90s.  Billy Steinberg might surprise some that a man wrote some of the sexiest feminine lyrics of the '80s (Madonna's "Like a Virgin", Heart's "Alone", DiVinyls "I Touch Myself").  And although I failed to mention James Van Der Beek, it isn't only because I've never seen an episode of Dawson's Creek in my life.  His work in Rules of Attraction justifies a tribute by itself.

Looking back, it's a shame how much Rev. Jesse Jackson became a bit of a punchline in the '80s, as a stalwart but presumably unrealistic political prospect in a Democratic party which was still condescending to the chances of a black man having any kind of leadership position.  And although his chances in 1988, specifically, may have been dim (it was the year of the "highly effective" Willie Horton ad, after all), the question of exactly how much worse could he have been than fucking Dukakis remains one of those eternal dilemmas.  Another example of the perennial mix of tepidity and temerity of the Democrat party.  There's much less debate about the fact that the same year Jackson gave one of the all-time great political speeches at their convention.