UNDERNEATHICA: I Bet You Look Like a Hood on the Dancefloor

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

I Bet You Look Like a Hood on the Dancefloor

At the request of nobody, I have a few more songs by the Dancing Hoods. I wrote about them here once before, noting that they were the first band of Mark Linkous (a/k/a Sparklehorse). Twenty years later, I still carry a torch for the Hoods, who combined lyrical smarts with trashy rock (e.g., NY Dolls) and power pop. "Freddy Mark" Linkous can really play guitar when he wants to.

Pleasure has a classic riff and some great lyrics, such as:

You're the not so obscure object of my desire
You're not the reason I dance, it's just my pants on fire

Impossible Years has some clever lines too:

Hit me with a flower, kiss me with a brick
Throw me up against a wall and see if I stick

Linkous wrote and sang the song Bye Bye Jim. I like this couplet:

I remember someone said to me,
To be a girl you gotta be a man.

The first three songs are from the 1985 album 12 Jealous Roses. The next two are from the Dancing Hoods' first record, a 1984 EP that was produced by Glenn Morrow. I like Mark's "Thunderous" solo at the end of Graveyard Shift. In my mind I can hear David Johansen singing along, "I need a fix and a KISS!"

I also dig Mark's lightning-fast rhythm playing on Not the Only One.

Labels: dancing hoods

9 Comments:

At 6/22/2006 10:19 PM , Anonymous said...: Perhaps Dancing Hoods is a bit strong but...
At 6/23/2006 12:50 PM , jonder said...: I don't understand your comment, but thanks for stopping by!
At 8/24/2006 1:26 PM , Anonymous said...: Dancing Hoods rocked...
Got lucky and saw them three
times in Maryland/DC...

great guys, too...

they shouldn't have gone west
and gotten in with Concrete Blonde...

crash and burn...

I'm glad to have all the 45's, 12 inches,
and records and single CD...

great band... glad someone out there
knows about them and gave them
better reviews than Ira Robbins at
Trouser Press... I don't think he
was listening to the same band
as me...

Take care,

Curtis Mayfield (not the)
At 1/09/2007 12:55 AM , Anonymous said...: Please please please repost Pleasure!!! I can't find that awesome song ANYWHERE!!! Thanks!
At 1/10/2007 5:16 PM , jonder said...: OK, reposted. Does anybody know all the words?
At 2/19/2007 5:30 PM , Anonymous said...: Sweet!

My son will destroy my turntable ,so no 'hoods for me for three years. The first ep was the best worst recorded record ever. Four great tunes and a good one. I do an accoustic version of "Reputation" and people always want to know who it is. Just listening to "pleasure" and it's bringing me back.

Thanks,

Weedy J Jones
At 2/20/2007 8:18 AM , jonder said...: I didn't think the sound of the EP was THAT bad. "Reputation" is an interesting choice to cover. I'd like to hear it!
At 3/28/2007 1:12 PM , Anonymous said...: Thanks so much for "Pleasure"! I've always loved that song, and it's great to have it on mp3 now.

Did you know that the cassette version of 12 Jealous Roses had a bonus song, "Antennas Up"? If you need it, I'll try to make an mp3 of it and send it to you.

Tim
At 2/23/2008 4:25 AM , Threnners said...: Oh please repost! My cassette has long since bit the dust and I've been looking for ANYTHING from 12JR for eons!