79. Mexican Radio – Wall of Voodoo

From the opposite coast to TMBG, WoV were similar in so far as they seemed to be living a SoCal noir-ish that also didn’t exist in reality. Drive She Said is a perfect example of that seedy, late night LA view, reminding me of driving endless around the city looking for something to do, something that could never be worth all that driving but drawing you onto the highway anyway, telling a fully-formed story in a few minutes that James Ellroy would need 500 pages to describe.

But as great as that song is, it’s Mexican Radio that stayed with me for longer: the relentless drive and sheer weirdness, the ‘wait, let’s throw this in too’ build-up and radio voice pay off making me chuckle every time I hear it. Somehow this got released in Australia, and there’s a huge section of aging people there who would laugh at the opening notes and stay to hear it through, flashing back to the barbecues or pubs or clubs where they heard this first, and smiling at the memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCEexG9xjw