Transmission: Merriam-Webster Dictionary – An act, process, or instance of transmitting, such as radio electronic waves, between transmitting and receiving stations.
“Transmission:” Joy Division band song – “Radio, live transmission” Ian Curtis sings as the opening bass, then drums, then guitar come together in this 1979 classic.
Poptransmission. Highlighting the new, while honoring the influence of the past in popular culture. Rock n’ roll will be a focus, both in its recorded forms and live in concert (concerts, remember those?). The post-punk song the site is named for is a good representation of the site’s musical direction (The Cure, The Who, Bowie, Pearl Jam, Doves, Future Islands). Also lots of TV, movies, and a book now and then. The approach is from an older person’s perspective of life, and thus, a less frenzied approach to the latest in pop culture. I won’t be staying up all night reviewing the latest just-released Netflix movie. There are so many movies or TV shows to watch later as a discovery we haven’t gotten around to yet or just plain missed in the avalanche of choices. I’ll also end each post with a trivia question (and answer) related to the post because trivia is fun.
Music. My musical re-birth occurred in the late 1970s. One minute it was Genesis and Led Zeppelin and the next it was the Talking Heads and that memorable first punk album I heard, Wire’s “Pink Flag.” I still appreciate some classic rock (The Who and Bowie, yes, the Eagles and Doobie Brothers, not so much) and love the new wave (The Cure, Smiths, and Costello). I particularly enjoy hearing the new music that many 80s and 90s (and even 70s bands) have just recently released circa 2020: X, Psychedelic Furs, the Pretenders, Pearl Jam, and The Who, among others. Look for a future post on some of these bands that went 20+ years between releases. I’m also always on the look out for newer bands and have recently discovered the new releases from Future Islands, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and Peel Dream Magazine. I’m sure I can get some new music ideas from all of you.
If you’re looking for proof that rock and roll is not dead in the 2020s check out my post in the Music section.
TV. Where to start? We have been fed more TV shows than we can possibly ever keep up with. The streaming services saved the day during the pandemic. Or did they? I’m not sure. While Netflix and all the other streaming services have created countless good shows for our viewing pleasure, have they created an insatiable appetite for quantity at expense of quality? We’ll explore this more in the future. Also, I enjoy seeing the TV show (or movie) after having read the book (or vice versa). Stay tuned for a comparison of the Firefly Lane book and its Netflix TV rendition.
For now, check out my post in the TV section about a show that at first glance you might have thought, “great, all we need now is another L.A. cop show.”
Movies. When I saw the The Invisible Man in March, 2020, little did I realize that it would be the last movie I saw in a theater for a year, and still counting. In my region, movie theaters have not been anywhere close to open in any capacity since the pandemic began. For most of us, Video on Demand and streaming services became the only outlets for movie releases and the only way to watch movies during the pandemic. Streaming services, primarily Netflix, had already upended the traditional model for theater release with its Roma in 2018. That was the first time I saw a current Best Picture picture nominee at home on TV. Netflix also announced in January that they will release a new original movie every week in 2021. Look for a future post on the pandemic-themed and post-apocalyptic movies (and TV shows) of 2020-21. For now, see my review in the Movie category of a tale about the Pacific Northwest in the early nineteenth century, a unique friendship, and a cow.
“Transmission.” It’s a dark song from a dark band (lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980 at the age of 21.) In The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll in Ten Songs, Greil Marcus goes as far to say that the song “is a realization that the act of listening to the radio is a suicidal gesture. It will kill your mind. It will rob your soul.”
I tend to focus on the end of the song where a more hopeful message appears to surface:
“Well I could call out when the going gets tough, the things that we’ve learnt are no longer enough, no language, just sound, that’s all we need know, to synchronise love to the beat of the show, and we could dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio.”
So, in that light, here’s the haunting and glorious “Transmission” by Joy Division: