Forgotten Songs of the '80s: Miracle Legion

Forgotten Songs of the ‘80s: Miracle Legion-“The Backyard”

Connecticut isn’t really known as a hybrid for good modern rock but when the ‘80s came around, that all seemed to change. Miracle Legion came out of nowhere with one of the most haunting and gorgeous alt-rock songs of the whole decade. “The Backyard” speaks to memories of time past and harkens back to a time when life was simpler and people took pleasure in their work, including cutting down apple trees and watching them burn.

The simple melody carried all throughout the song is handled excellently and Mark Mulcahy’s somewhat nasally vocal keeps bringing the memories further into the listener’s mind. The easy as pie riff courtesy of Mr. Ray Neal is one of the most recognizable and forgotten of the eighties. Just being able to listen and here the ease with which everything comes together is phenomenal. Thankfully, this wasn’t their only good song, but unfortunately their entire catalog is out of print.

Maybe it was because of the record’s lack of distribution, being self-released initially before being picked up by Rough Trade; lack of current availability, essentially out of print except for some Best of the ‘80s: New Wave, Volume 80 compilations. Regardless, the song deserves to be heard, either used in a commercial for some shitball restaurant or ritzy soft drink, but the people need to hear it and need to be able to respect the band for achieving absolute greatness on their debut single.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhndh2HSiQQ

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Wondertruck Crashed: The Tale of Mary's Danish and David King

Image
             Mary’s Danish were one of those bands that never made it. They were popular in the L.A. scene in which they were spawned but through a variety of reasons they never hit it big like their friends in Jane’s Addiction or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. What follows is a sad tale of unfortunate errors and mistakes that doomed a really great band to the dustbin of obscurity.              The band formed in the mid-‘80s by a group of friends: singers Julie Ritter and Gretchen Seager, guitarists Matt Colleran and David King and bassist Chris ‘Wag’ Wagner. The band were a little bit of everything including indie rock, alt rock, some surf influences and loads of funk to go around. They blended all of these together in a tasty stew that soon began to attract attention. After working with a series of drummers, Nick Ziegler was drafted in and the band began to attract a heavy fanbase throughout California. The band eventually signed a deal with small independent Chameleon Records and start
Read more

Don't Let 'em Kill the Cowboy: A Chat with Mark Christian of The Big F

Image
Discography: The Big F  (Elektra, 1989) Patience Peregrine  EP (Chrysalis, 1993) Is  (Chrysalis, 1993) The Big F was formed out of the ashes of ‘80s new wave titans, Berlin. Once drummer Rob Brill and bassist/vocalist John Crawford decided they didn’t want to make music like “Take My Breath Away” anymore, they amped up the sound and their image as well and linked up with well-known session guitarist Mark Christian. After releasing their debut on Elektra in late 1989, the band toured with the likes of Soundgarden and Voivod. After the disappointing reception of their 1993 sophomore disc, Is , the band split. John Crawford is now back in Berlin and Christian leads his own country-rock guitar outfit, Merle Jagger. In May 2022, he graciously set aside some time to talk about the Big F and what that ride was like and what he’s up to now. Pete Crigler: What got you interested in music and playing guitar? Mark Christian: Growing up in Southern California near Hollywood in the 1960s and 7
Read more

No Woods: A Chat with Stompbox

Image
S tompbox were a hardcore/metal/rock band from Boston. Their one album, 1994’s Stress on Columbia might be one of the more obscure alt rock records that flooded the marketplace but it’s great. A lot of good riffs and plenty of attitude; unfortunately it didn’t sell and the original band were done by 1995. In 2021, in response to a friend falling ill and having massive bills, the band reunited for their first shows in almost 27 years. With this news coming out, I reached out to guitarist Jeff Turlik and he agreed to talk about the band’s history and what this reunion really meant to them. Pete Crigler: What got you interested in music? Jeff Turlik: My grandfather was a guitarist when he was a young man. He met my grandmother at a dance that he was playing. This was in the 1930s. When I was a little kid, my grandmother filled our house with musical toys…organs and pianos, horns, drums, you name it. When I was 11, my grandfather taught me a few chords on his guitar.   My brother wa
Read more