On this day, 34 years ago, Divine died at the age of 42 (19.10.1945 - 7.03.1988). Divine was an American actor, singer, and drag queen, born as Harris Glenn Milstead.
Closely associated with the independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions and adopted a female drag persona for his music career. Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women's hairdresser. By the mid-1960s he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and befriended Waters, who gave him the name "Divine" and the tagline "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost."
Divine joined Waters' acting troupe and adopted female roles for their experimental short films. Divine next starred in Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972), which became a cult classic and established Divine's fame within the American counterculture. Then Divine moved to theater, appearing in several avant-garde performances alongside San Francisco drag collective The Cockettes.
He starred in two more of Waters' films, Polyester (1981) and Hairspray (1988), the latter of which represented his breakthrough into mainstream cinema.
Meanwhile, in 1981, Divine embarked on a career in the disco industry by producing a number of Hi-NRG tracks, most of which were written by Bobby Orlando. He achieved international chart success with hits like ’Shoot Your Shot’ (1981), ‘You Think You're a Man’ (1984) and ‘Walk Like a Man’ (1985), all of which were performed in drag.
Having struggled with obesity throughout his life, he died from cardiomegaly, shortly after the release of Hairspray.
Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly within the LGBT community, and has provided the inspiration for fictional characters, artworks and songs.
A worthwhile documentary film devoted to his life is I Am Divine (2013).
Today it’s exactly 38 years (7 March 1980) since English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees released the 7” Happy House, the first single taken from their third studio album Kaleidoscope.
Happy House and the Kaleidoscope album marked a change in musical direction for Siouxsie and the Banshees due to the arrival of two new musicians: drummer Budgie, previously of the Slits, and guitarist John McGeoch, previously of Magazine.
When asked if "Happy House" was a cynical song, Siouxsie replied: "It is sarcastic. In a way, like television, all the media, it is like adverts, the perfect family whereas it is more common that husbands beat their wives. They are mental families really but the projection is everyone smiling, blond hair, sunshine, eating butter without being fat and everyone perfect.
The single became the band's second top 20 hit, peaking at number 17 in the UK Singles Chart
Happy House (Lyrics)
This is the happy house-we're happy here in the happy house oh it's such fun
We've come to play in the happy house
And waste a day in the happy house-it never rains
We've come to scream in the happy house We're in a dream in the happy house
We're all quite sane
This is the happy house-we're happy here There's room for you if you say "I do"
But don't say no or you'll have to go
We've done no wrong with our blinkers on It's safe and calm if you sing along
This is the happy house-we're happy here in the happy house.
To forget ourselves-and pretend all's well There is no hell.
Songwriters: Siouxsie Sioux / Steven Severin
Dark electro band, BLAZERJACKET speaks of a parasitic society with new video, 'Get Out'!
Ukrainian dark electro band, BLAZERJACKET is pleased to unleash their new video and single, "Get Out".
The song addresses the ease of being drawn into Stockholm Syndrome and the severity of the consequences. You have to get out of the abusive and parasitic society. By just noticing the first signals, you will feel better.
BLAZERJACKET is a couple of crazy creators who are constantly experimenting with sound. The change in the vector of their art is as unpredictable as our lives. Danceable beats, powerful bass, and crazy synths are always part of any new BLAZERJACKET formula.
With "Get Out", BLAZERJACKET plays in the arena of Dark Electro and EBM together with DIRTY BIRD 13; a band known for inhabiting this territory.
BLAZERJACKET is a resident at the international festival Comic Con Ukraine - a speculative fiction entertainment, annual exhibition and fan convention of computer and video games, TV series, and comic movies in Ukraine.
In 2021, the song "Get Out" was first performed on the Comic Con Ukraine music stage before the official digital release. The band managed to capture the moments of that performance and insert them into the video.
LIA HIDE unveils “Proposal” video/single from new album, ‘The Missing Fourth Guest’.
Greek dark pop artist LIA HIDE has recently unveiled the first single from their new album, The MIssing Fourth Guest.
“Proposal”, the song:
The “Proposal” is an invitation to a debate, a dispute, a symposium, where the three people involved are discussing the ideas that puzzle them throughout their lives. The lyrics are weaved in a dialogue between the lead singer and her alter-ego.
“Proposal”, the video:
“Proposal” video was shot at the historic Bagkeion Hotel, in Omonoia square, Athens, Greece. The three band members are investigating elements of the Timeaus (Plato) dialogue, getting ready in their rooms for a later dinner (“Dinner” is also the title of the next single & the musical sibling of “Proposal”), in the Timeaus Sonata, the conceptual three-part work of the album
The forthcoming album, The Missing Fourth Guest:
“The Missing Fourth Guest”: The Plato’s Timeaus dialogue discusses among others, Atlantis' war to Ancient Athens, the purpose and properties and leements of the universe, the world-soul, and the nature of the physical world. Modern scholars have argued that there is musical 'secret' hidden in the text, in the form of that missing fourth guest, and that if early scholars have investigated the texts with music and mathematics in mind, the entirity of Western Music would have had a totally different sound and structure, today.
Socrates: “One, two, three; but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourth of those who were yesterday my guests and are to be my entertainers to-day?” Timaeus: “He has been taken ill, Socrates; for he would not willingly have been absent from this gathering. Socrates: Then, if he is not coming, you and the two others must supply his place.”
This month it is 45 years ago since Kraftwerk released Trans Europe Express (March 1977), their sixth studio album. The album was recorded during the summer of 1976 in their Kling Klang Studios and released on their own label Kling Klang Records. Two singles were taken from this album, Trans-Europe Express and Showroom Dummies. It was the first Kraftwerk album that was recorded in two different versions. One in English, one in German. The song Showroom Dummies was also released in France and Belgium as Les Mannequins, with the lyrics sung in French. The original German title was Schaufensterpuppen.
Musically Kraftwerk again moved further away from their improvised instrumental Krautrock style, fine tuning their tracks into more melodic electronic compositions.
The introduction of the analogue and customized 32-step Synthanorma Sequenzer with 16 channels was an important game-changer on this record. Kraftwerk also went to railway bridges to listen and analyze the sound of trains passing by which they altered slight to make it more danceable.
The lyrics on Trans Europe Express refer to David Bowie’s album Station To Station and to the actual event of Rafl Hütter and Florian Schneider meeting Bowie in Germany. At that time Bowie was living and recording in Berlin with Iggy Pop (The Stooges). Ralf Hütter refered several times to Iggy Pop And The Stooges as his most favourite band.
Joy Division singer Ian Curtis introduced Kraftwerk to his bandmates and insisted Trans Europe Express was played every time before the band went on stage.
Siouxsie And The Banshees covered the song The Hall Of Mirrors on their cover album Through The Looking Glass (1987). A cover version that todays only remaining original Kraftwerk member today, Ralf Hütter, hailed in glowing terms as extraordinary version.
Many still see this album as one of the most important pop albums of the last decades.
Trans Europe Express (Lyrics)
Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express
Trans Europa Express
Rendez-vous auf den Champs Elysees
Verlass Paris am Morgen mit dem TEE
In Wien sitzen wir I'm Nachtcafe
Direkt Verbindung TEE
Wir laufen 'rein in Düsseldorf City
Und treffen Iggy Pop und David Bowie
Trans Europa Express
Songwriters: Emil Schult / Ralf Huetter
