My friend Angela found a version of the Modern Lovers’ Old World today which is pretty swell. I mean the video. This is one of rock’s greatest albums, and Warren Loft’s videos, at least the three I’ve seen, capture the music’s kinetics and precision and depth. I’ll be watching the rest of them, but what better way to start than Roadrunner.
The Modern Lovers are the mothers of Talking Heads, and the Heads knew where to turn when they needed another instrument. Jerry Harrison put Talking Heads over the hump, he added a dimension that they needed. I know people liked them right from the start, as a trio. I saw them at least three times and liked a few songs – Psycho Killer, The Girls Want To Be With The Girls, and a great cover of 96 Tears. I can’t find a video of it so I’ll play the original, one of the great punk tunes. Check out the bass on this, perfect with the ride cymbal:
The Modern Lovers were also a key component of the Cars and, not insubstantially, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.
Interestingly, Ernie Brooks, the Modern Lovers bass player, almost became the bassist in Television after Richard Hell quit the band, but at Patti Smith’s urging (at least in part) Fred “Not Sonic” Smith quit Blondie to join Television.