Ooohh....Controversial!!
Now here's a rum old hot-potato from 1969....'That Creature' by The Sweet Acids is either inexplicably misogynistic, or it's an unsubtle paean to recondite homosexuality!!
Just have a listen to these woman-baiting lyrics; "Who was that creature loving you?// Was she from the local zoo?// Put her down you silly clown// Before the word gets all around", okay....so far so 'buddy telling is friend that his girlfriend isn't blessed in the looks department', but it goes on, "Can't you see that I'm frantic// Can't you see that I'm mad// Leave that ugly thing from another planet!" .....hmmmm, now why would he be frantic and mad do you reckon? A clue might be found later on as the singer intones almost tenderly, "Let's go back to where we started// Lot's of fun before we parted". Virtually everybody I've ever let hear this song almost immediately asks if this is a gay song? I'm not entirely sure....it could just be a song about how ugly one guy thinks his best friend's partner is, or it could be a pure novelty/comedy song about someone dating then dumping an alien....or maybe it really is a declaration of relief from one man that his male lover has decided to quit 'the woman situation' and return to him.
Personally I think it's the middle theory....given all the weird sci-fi noises that run through the song, I think it's just a novelty piece about a man's love affair with an alien. I certainly don't think that band were trying to put across a woman-hating vibe, and I think it's just some unfortunate rhymes that lead to speculation about homosexuality.
The Sweet Acids hailed from Carrollton, Georgia(and therefore may have been some influence on The B-52s), and the single was released on Unique Records. As is often the case in these situations, this was their only release and it failed to do anything anywhere! However, word of mouth down through the decades has led to the record achieving cult status and a much sought after release. It's certainly well played with lots of acid-y guitar and some nice Farfisa playing in the middle.
They REALLY don't make 'em like this anymore!No....really....they don't! My Streetlamp cohort Griff recently pointed out that you simply don't get proper novelty/unusual records anymore. It's all too corporate and business driven these days. In the Sixties, characters like Tiny Tim, Mrs Mills, Thunderclap Newman or The Temperance Seven could easily score some chart action with the most uncompromising of songs, and this trickled down into the Seventies and Eighties. One-off 'talents' like Wild Man Fischer could, under Frank Zappa's patronage in the late Sixties nearly bother the charts, which is almost mirrored on Kurt Cobain's enthusiasm for Daniel Johnston who could, in any other decade, have become a bona fide chart act. Yet somehow in these Reality TV/ *cough* Talent Show days when everything is about ratings and chart positions, eccentricity and individuality is snuffed out. Even something as crap as Susan Boyle is given such a vigorous studio/professional polish that it blands itself into vapour.
Annoyingly we seem to reverted back to 1962; uninspiring, dull, faceless tin-cans on a production line; pop-stars as business commodity all over again. And tragically The Beatles won't be coming to save us this time, Kids!!
And for that, we really should clasp records like 'That Creature' to our collective bosom.
Keep Your Mind Open!
~Gordon~
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