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vostoklake) wrote2010-09-06 09:40 am
vostoklake) wrote2010-09-06 09:40 am
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Your suspicion of tradition's so New Wave
I happily posted on Facebook the other day about my appreciation of Shock Treatment, especially the songs thereof. Many Rocky Horror fans rushed to disagree. Heartily.
Here are my thoughts on the subject:
1) Of course we all know that Shocky has problems as a film. Many of these are caused by the fact that the studio was hit by strike action during filming, leading to the abandonment of all exterior locations and setting the entire thing in a soundstage. This lends, I feel, a kind of "claustrophobic", even paranoid feel to the film - appropriate for the subject matter, but very far from the kind of universal, liberatory dynamic of RHPS.
2) I have read according to at least one source that many of the songs for Shocky were recycled from an abandoned RHPS sequel - in particular "Thank God I'm a Man" and "Looking For Trade". A project put together from bits of another project is never red hot on the score of coherency.
3) You do realise, don't you, that Shocky accurately predicted reality TV fifteen years in advance?
4) RHPS has the advantage, as far as longevity goes, of having been "retro" right from the start - looking back to the already-campy world of cheesy 50s rock'n'roll and even cheesier scifi-horror films. Shocky is so 80's it hurts. The only way it could have been more 80s is if the soundtrack had been entirely composed on a Yamaha DX7 and a Linn drum machine. But thankfully Shocky leans closer to the New Wave / "power pop" of the time. (The thudding drums of the title track and "Duel Duet" seem to owe a lot to the Burundi beat of Bow Wow Wow or Adam and the Ants. I like it.)
5) Barry Humphries, Rik Mayall and Ruby Wax in the same film? What's not to like?
6) Charles Gray, he's okay, buthe's got no fuckin' neck shouldn't have been allowed to "sing".
Here are my thoughts on the subject:
1) Of course we all know that Shocky has problems as a film. Many of these are caused by the fact that the studio was hit by strike action during filming, leading to the abandonment of all exterior locations and setting the entire thing in a soundstage. This lends, I feel, a kind of "claustrophobic", even paranoid feel to the film - appropriate for the subject matter, but very far from the kind of universal, liberatory dynamic of RHPS.
2) I have read according to at least one source that many of the songs for Shocky were recycled from an abandoned RHPS sequel - in particular "Thank God I'm a Man" and "Looking For Trade". A project put together from bits of another project is never red hot on the score of coherency.
3) You do realise, don't you, that Shocky accurately predicted reality TV fifteen years in advance?
4) RHPS has the advantage, as far as longevity goes, of having been "retro" right from the start - looking back to the already-campy world of cheesy 50s rock'n'roll and even cheesier scifi-horror films. Shocky is so 80's it hurts. The only way it could have been more 80s is if the soundtrack had been entirely composed on a Yamaha DX7 and a Linn drum machine. But thankfully Shocky leans closer to the New Wave / "power pop" of the time. (The thudding drums of the title track and "Duel Duet" seem to owe a lot to the Burundi beat of Bow Wow Wow or Adam and the Ants. I like it.)
5) Barry Humphries, Rik Mayall and Ruby Wax in the same film? What's not to like?
6) Charles Gray, he's okay, but