Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music

The Australian band Severed Heads was a pioneering electronic and experimental artist, and one that is very underappreciated from the early alternative era. As one of the pioneering Australian alternative music acts, their music was part industrial, synth pop, electronic, dance, and ambient as well as experimental bringing in found sounds, tape loops, samples, and noise.The original two members, Richard Fielding and and Andrew Wright, formed the band in the late 70’s as Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign.  Tom Ellard joined in 1979 and soon after the band renamed themselves Severed Heads. By mid-1981, both founding members had departed leaving Ellard to continue the band.As Severed Heads moved through the 80’s behind Ellard, their sound evolved from the early avant-garde to more accessible electronic body music (EBM) style with  synth hooks and pop structures taking on both an industrial and dance-oriented approach.In 1983, the band released their fourth studio album, Since the Accident, followed with the single "Dead Eyes Opened ", a critically acclaimed song that would become a dance club classic.  Beyond the music, Severed Heads were also early pioneers of incorporating video, computer graphics, and digital technology into their performances and releases. In all, the band has 23 studio albums as well a number other releases including a number of video albums over a very prolific career as one of the longest running Australian post-punk era bands.Our podcast will tell the story of the pioneering Severed Heads, well beyond "Dead Eyes Opened"!

The Afghan Whigs earned a cult following during the early 90's with their music that mixed the Motown sound and R&B with indie and alternative rock. Formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1986, The Afghan Whigs were led by singer-songwriter Greg Dulli whose songs presented vivid stories of broken relationships, obsession, guilt and toxic masculinity.  The music was full of emotional anguish and the lyrics were introspective, dark, and mature behind Dulli's intense and  gravelly vocals. The band's signature sound was a fusing of the passionate vocals with melodic guitars, gritty alternative rock of the grunge era, and soul and funk influences. It was all of this that separated the band from their peers in the early 90’s, and resulted in The Afghan Whigs as being one of the most critically acclaimed alternative bands of the 1990s.Their work was best represented on 1992's album, Congregation, where the band found their signature sound, and the critically acclaimed cinematic masterpiece from 1993, Gentlemen, which is considered a landmark, unapologetic breakup album.In this episode we will discuss the early years of the band with a focus on their two classic albums, Congregation and Gentlemen.