The Pop Group

The Pop Group - 'We Are All Prostitutes'

Before it was ever labeled anything (aside from troubling perhaps), post-punk was bridging the adding to the sound of punk bands such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols by bringing in the influence of reggae, free jazz and just plain experimentation. In the same family of bands such as Mark E Smith’s Fall is The Pop Group. A screeching explosion of howls driven by a deep underground bass, their music is as confrontational as it is melodic. With Gareth Sager’s over-strung guitars accompanying Mark Stewart’s strained vocals, the band sounds like a nervous breakdown with a beat that you can dance to.

Listen to The Pop Group’s ’79 single ‘She Is Beyond Good and Evil’ and you can hear the echoes of the oncoming Manchester Sound, hip-hop and even a bit of trance… a steady drunken locomotive powered by a near-infantile rhythm and boundless energy. The band itself did not last long, but one of their more memorable releases remains a split single with the Slits.

Former lead singer Mark Stewart is still very productive and has worked with several well known pop idols such as Trent Reznor. Stewart has continued to embrace reggae and jazz in his music as Mark Stewart & The Maffia and under his own name. Gareth Sager went on after The Pop Group, to perform in Rip Rig + Panic with Neneh Cherry and later released excellent The Last Second Of Normal Time on Creeping Bent. He has also worked with the undefinable Jock Scot.

‘She is Beyond Good and Evil’

Mark Stewart/Pop Group Documentary trailer

The film On/Off – Mark Stewart – from The Pop Group to the Maffia will be released on DVD Spring 2010.

Purchase online

The Pop Group – Y
CC Sager – The Last Second of Normal Time
Commercially Unfriendly: the Best of British Underground 1983-1989
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984

Outland

Released in 1981, Outland is an unusual science fiction movie in that it is so damned stripped down and spare. In many ways, it’s just pulp set in space. Directed by Peter Hyams (of Capricorn One, Timecop and 2010, the Year We Make Contact), the movie is remarkable for its ingenuity in using the staples of one genre, science fiction, to tell a story that is more less a western. Another innovation that the filmmakers came up with is known as IntroVision, a rather clever camera trick that allowed for convincing shots of actors and miniatures.

The film stars Sean Connery as Federal Marshal O’Niel who is assigned to a security detail on the Jupiter mining facility on its moon Io. What appears to be a simple blue-collar operation soon becomes exposed as a haven for crime and drug trafficking. What makes matter worse is that only O’Neil seems bothered by this. As his own personal life decays around him, only the job remains. The investigation of a death uncovers some sordid dealings and again, only O’Neil stands out as the man interested in getting to the bottom of things (well, him and the crusty medical officer).

Eventually it becomes clear that O’Neil is the one lawman in a colony of crooks, and he decides to take the law (and a shotgun) into his own hands.

Think Punisher in zero gravity.

The movie barely made an impact when it was released and perhaps due to its downbeat mood and lack of spectacular special effects or monsters is largely forgotten by sci-fi fanatics which is a shame. In many ways it is still ahead of its time. I highly recommend it.

Trailer

The film was also adapted in comic book format by Jim Steranko in the pages of Heavy Metal.

You can even read the whole story (for free) here.