簡介:
Beat Happening可以算是美國童稚流行和Lo-Fi運動的早期領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。他們以使用原始錄音技術(shù)而非專業(yè)技術(shù),以及編奏帶有稚氣歌曲而出名。
Calvin Johnson – 主唱,吉他
Heather Lewis – 鼓,吉他,(人聲)
Bret 更多>
Beat Happening可以算是美國童稚流行和Lo-Fi運動的早期領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。他們以使用原始錄音技術(shù)而非專業(yè)技術(shù),以及編奏帶有稚氣歌曲而出名。
Calvin Johnson – 主唱,吉他
Heather Lewis – 鼓,吉他,(人聲)
Bret Lunsford – 吉他,鼓
樂隊最初于1982年建立于美國華盛頓,幾位成員在就讀美國長青州立大學(xué)時相識,Beat Happening這一名稱來源于Bret女友所創(chuàng)作的一部藝術(shù)電影《Beatnik Happening》。
BH最早時的樂器也十分簡陋,Bret甚至沒有什么音樂經(jīng)驗,Heather也曾在采訪中開過一個玩笑:樂隊的歷史可以通過那張記錄了借給我們鼓的人的長名單來講述。
他們的首專Beat Happening(1985)和二專Jamboree(1988)都廣受好評。1991年, 當(dāng)?shù)谒膹垖]婦reamy發(fā)行后,BH則成為了獨立搖滾界最受歡迎的樂隊之一。最后一張專輯You Turn Me On被allmusic稱為“Godsend”。
盡管Beat Happening并沒有正式宣布解散,但樂隊從上世紀(jì)90年代初開始就已經(jīng)不再活躍了;換句話來說,樂隊從90年代初就再也沒有參加或舉辦公開場合的演出
by Jason Ankeny
Beat Happening was among the truly seminal and influential American bands of the post-punk era, a paragon of pop minimalism, rebellious innocence, and indie defiance. The linchpin of the Olympia, WA-based International Pop Underground, they adopted a stance in direct opposition to the accepted norms at the heart of rock music; ignoring all notions of pretense, professionalism, and stardom, Beat Happening created an unorthodox, raw sound which democratically rotated vocal, guitar, and drum duties between members while jettisoning bass altogether. Dropping their last names to further emphasize their everyman approach, members Calvin (Johnson), Heather (Lewis), and Bret (Lunsford) expressed simple truths and simple emotions with simple music, favoring off-key, tuneless vocals and three-chord primitivism over slick, processed packaging; implicit in their work was also a rejection of major-label trappings, as the group steadfastly remained with K Records, Calvins self-owned imprint and a model of D.I.Y. indie success.
Beat Happening formed in the early 80s; Calvin, a longtime fixture of the Olympia scene who also helped establish the original Sub Pop fanzine (the basis for the subsequent label), had already founded K, originally a cassette-only project started to release music no other company would touch. An alumnus of the short-lived Cool Rays, Calvin teamed with Heather and assorted friends in the first incarnation of Beat Happening, playing shows whenever and wherever they could as long as the performances were held at all-ages venues; his canyon-deep baritone quickly became as much a group trademark as their sardonic, even juvenile songs. After Bret joined in mid-1983, Beat Happening issued their debut five-song cassette a year later; a sightseeing trip to Japan followed, and while in Tokyo, the trio recorded its second effort, 1984s Three Tea Breakfast EP. Their 1985 eponymous full-length debut, produced by the Wipers Greg Sage, brought Beat Happening their first widespread exposure, as well as a number of comparisons to the burgeoning British twee pop scene spearheaded by the Pastels. A long layoff followed prior to the release of 1988s remarkable Jamboree, co-produced by Mark Lanegan and Gary Lee Conner of the Screaming Trees.
The four-song joint release Beat Happening/Screaming Trees surfaced a few months later, trailed by 1989s Black Candy. With the release of 1991s Dreamy, Beat Happenings influence on the indie community became increasingly pronounced; not only did the blossoming cuddle-core movement owe the trio a huge debt, but in the summer 1991 Calvin masterminded the International Pop Underground Festival, a now-legendary concert spotlighting over 50 bands — among them Bikini Kill, Fugazi, Scrawl, the Fastbacks, L7, and Mecca Normal — all aligned in their opposition to corporate music. The sublime You Turn Me On followed, but apart from Not a Care in the World, a track contributed to a 1992 Sub Pop sampler given away free to readers of Sassy magazine, Beat Happening spent much of the decade in limbo as Calvin focused on his Dub Narcotic Sound System project as well as the Halo Benders, a band founded with Built to Spills Doug Martsch. Despite its absence from the stage and the studio, the trio maintained that it had not disbanded, and reportedly continued practicing on a monthly basis. Ten years after its last release, the band became the unlikely focus of a box set, Crashing Through.