Old fashioned Rock n Roll has always figured into ’80s pop music, especially when it came from England. For a host of reasons the English presented the world with American influenced music even when Americans had long discarded it as a source of inspiration. One faction of this influence came from rockabilly.
On similar ends of the rockabilly spectrum, were bands like The Smiths and Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. Both were influenced by rockabilly, but Lloyd Cole and the Commotions added a touch of early rock n roll (soul) as an influence. Combine that with a sharp wit and an a deep appreciation for literature and you have Rattlesnakes, one of the ’80s most literate pop albums.
In 1984, many Americans had no idea who Lloyd Cole & the Commotions were. Before the age of MTV, they were like most English bands who would get their start on college radio in America. It was not unusual to hear “Perfect Skin”, “Forest Fire” and the title track on high rotation throughout the ’80s, even as their second album Easy Pieces eclipsed Rattlesnakes.
Speaking of college, Lloyd Cole started his band while at the University of Glasgow where he no doubt brought much of his English literature homework into his songs. With lyrics named for novels (“Speedboat”) or name dropping people like Norman Mailer (“Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken”), Rattlesnakes was easily one of the year’s most literate albums. The Commotion’s simple sound on the surface sounded vintage, but with subtle synths adding a bit of modernism.
There was no doubt that the band revolved around Lloyd’s songwriting. As the band’s primary songwriter, his uniquely flat crooner styled voice sounded at once comical and sincere. Cole’s voice In front of a mostly guitar based production softened any lyrical sarcasm. It was also one of the reasons Lloyd Cole and the Commotions stood out for some of the same reasons The Smiths did.
There were also other similarities with the Smiths in that both bands featured smart witty lyrics, although Lloyd Coles often lacked the saucy double meanings that came with Morrissey’s songs. LLoyd Cole and the Commotions would also have much in common with the sophist pop movement, although they were not directly associated with it.
Rattlesnakes appeared during the a time when English rock from artists like Billy Bragg and John Wesley Harding were coming of age. New wave had already become the new pop and the next wave of English alternative music was somewhere between vintage sounding (The Smiths) or lush retro (Everything But the Girl). Many of the leaders of these movement featured productions that were centered around guitars where electronic arrangements were kept to a minimum or were downplayed. Rattlesnakes features some of these attributes, but it’s more direct influence from rockabilly and early forms of soul would oddly put it closer to The Fine Young Cannibals than The Smiths thanks to judicious use of the tambourine and organ.
Either way Rattlesnakes was one of 1984’s more original debuts. That’s quite an achievement considering that in that same year The Smiths, Sade and Frankie Goes to Hollywood all had debut albums. It also is a credit to it’s influences that Rattlesnakes still sounds fresh due to its limited uses of synthesizers.
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