Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music

After pioneering industrial music greats Throbbing Gristle broke-up in 1981, founding member Genesis P-Orridge started Psychic TV along with former bandmate Peter Christopherson and Alternative TV founding member, Alex Fergusson. Psychic TV would be a multimedia and experimental music and video art collective, while becoming one of the most unique bands of the era. Besides experimental music, the band's music explored psychedelic, acid house, industrial, electronic, punk, post-punk, and even melodic pop.During the late 1980's, Psychic TV was one of the more influential artists for the genre of acid house music releasing several compilation albums of songs they recorded under various fake band names helping to popularize the sound.When formed, Psychic TV was more than just a band as they also built a creative occultist organization known as Thee Temple Ov Psychic Youth or T.O.P.Y., which would be the magical order and philosophical portion of the venture.As a music collective, Psychic TV involved a wide range of artists and collaborators while P-Orridge remained the primary songwriter throughout the band's history. Pyschic TV would release over 100 albums, which included the years 1981 through 1999, and again from 2003 until 2020, until the passing of Genesis P-Orridge. This podcast episode shall tell the story of the band and their music from formation through the early years and into the beginning of the 90's.

After The Church formed in Sydney in 1980, the band would begin to develop a distinctive ethereal and psychedelic indie rock sound with atmospheric and surreal soundscapes. The Church released their debut album in 1981, Of Skins and Heart, followed by a number of excellent albums including The Blurred Crusade and Heyday. It would be with the fifth studio album, 1988's Starfish with the hit song "Under the Milky Way", that the band would experience their most success on their way to being one of the most accomplished Australian bands from the post-punk era.Behind lead singer and bassist Steve Kilbey, The Church's  music over the years has ventured through various sounds and genre influences. During the 80’s, they were one of those bands that did not get the attention or notoriety they deserved for their music. Still recording and touring today, the band built a large international following while creating 27 studio albums over their career and has become one of the great alternative bands of the 80’s and beyond.This episode will tell the story of The Church from their formation and early years, and through through the 80's and into the 90's beyond the song "Under the Milky Way", a song whose title was the idea behind my title of this podcast series.

Jane's Addiction was one of the most influential bands of the alternative rock movement that helped usher in alternative rock of the 1990’s.The band was founded in 1985 in Los Angeles by lead vocalist Perry Farrell, often referred to as the Godfather of Alternative Rock, and bassist Eric Avery following the disintegration of Farrell's previous band, Psi Com. Jane's Addiction would add drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Dave Navarro to round out the band before their first release.Jane's Addiction's debut was their self-titled live album in 1987 followed by the two studio albums, Nothing's Shocking of 1988 and Ritual de lo Habitual of 1990. Their fanbase grew with these releases that included iconic songs like "Jane Says", "Mountain Song" , and "Been Caught Stealing". The band's first farewell tour in 1991 launched the beginning of Lollapalooza. The event was co-founded by Farrell and included bringing together a large and diverse collection of bands forming what Farrell called, the "Alternative Nation".  This episode will tell the story of the forming of and the early years for Jane’s Addiction,  the band from their live album through the turbulent times of their first two studio albums, all while leading the way to being one of the first commercially successful alternative rock bands and setting the stage for 90’s alternative rock.

Years before the hit songs "True" and "Gold", the English band Spandau Ballet had formed in 1979 inspired by the local post-punk underground dance scene. By 1980, the band became the house band at London’s Blitz Club for the club clientele, known as the Blitz Kids, and became a key band in the burgeoning New Romantic scene. Starting with their 1980 debut single "To Cut a Long Story Short", a song that would reach No. 5 in the UK, Spandau Ballet would became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era and part of the second British invasion.  In early 1981 the band issued their debut album, Journeys to Glory, with music centered on the underground scene and the New Romantic movement. As the Blitz Club scene had faded, Spandau Ballet recorded and released their second album Diamond in 1982 album.The band chose to pursue a more pop-oriented sound leading to the 1983 International hit album, True, with the title track "True" and second single "Gold" becoming major hit singles.This episode will tell the story of Spandau Ballet and their music from the early years including the first two albums, all before "True", "Gold", and international success. 

Although the band Young Marble Giants created only one full length studio album, that one album from 1980, Colossal Youth, would be a post-punk tone setter.  This Welsh band formed in Cardiff in 1978 and was based around the vocals of  Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. The trio created a sound from post-punk's experimental tendencies in a very minimal and unique form. There was nobody else like this band from this time.Based on a couple of demo songs, Young Marble Giants was signed by Rough Trade Records and would create their debut Colossal Youth followed by two EP’s. After that, the members moved on to other projects. The band would reunite a few times over the years as new generations of indie artists would be influenced by the unique music of Young Marble Giants.This episode will discuss the band and their music during the early years, the debut album Colossal Youth, and the years and projects after the original run.