Heavenly bodies gene loves jezebel7/31/2023 ![]() ![]() They were not hugely influential and loved and loathed in equal measure. Gene Loves Jezebel was one of the better acts of the later ‘80s in the modern rock genre. Their label was also shutting down, leaving the band with an uncertain future. To some degree greater success seemed to be at hand when “Jealous” achieved a peak of #68 on the US chart and a #1 spot on the US Alt-Rock chart, but when their next album, Heavenly Bodies, came out in 1993 they were unable to achieve much success with it. It would be their last shot at gaining larger success given their sound was falling out of favour as the dominant music styles moved away from the stylized pop of the band. “Tangled Up in You” and “Kiss of Life” were among the best songs they’d recorded. ![]() Jay Aston continued with the band, releasing an album in 1990, Kiss of Life, which proved to be another solid album filled with many quality songs consistent with the band’s sound. “The Motion of Love” was just the first song to crack the US charts at #87. Unloved by core Goth and alternative audiences as being too pop sounding and too close in style to the hair-metal bands of the time, yet with a sound that was too different for mass audiences and not rock enough for the heavy metal crowd, they rode in a space that limited their overall fan base despite the quality of the music. The differences in opinion between the brothers encapsulated the challenge Gene Loves Jezebel was having with its career. ![]() I recall “Desire” being a prominent song of the time, but its chart success – or lack thereof – suggests it was less the breakthrough for them than I thought. Moderate chart success came with their singles reaching the top 100 in the UK charts, and “Motion of Love” reaching #88 in the US. Discover and House of Dolls are filled with catchy, dark pop melodies with outsized choruses, all built on solid R&B structures. That period was a weak one for modern rock, and Gene Loves Jezebel was one of the bright lights, helping bridge modern rock from the lighter, synth-driven period of new wave into the guitar-laden era of grunge. They came to my attention when the great song, “Always A Flame,” was on a Vertigo Sampler album I had.Īfter a move to their label’s parent, Beggar’s Banquet, and a deal with Geffen in the US, the major label support helped them issue two of the best albums of the latter half of the 1980s. The second album was also strong and developed their sound, moving to a larger, more expansive structure. After some promising attention around their early indie singles, their first album, Promise, seemed to be setting them on their way after a #8 spot on the UK Indie chart. It was guitar-driven, with echoey vocals and heavy bass-infused rhythms. Their early sound was the darker pop similar to the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Cult, Cocteau Twins, and Theatre of Hate. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.The band came together around the twin brothers, Jay and Michael Aston. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice. ![]()
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