Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Electronic and "Get The Message"

What happens when The Smiths and New Order have a musical baby? You get something that kinda sounds like late '80s Tears for Fears. Or Tonic.

Electronic - “Get The Message”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 2 weeks (June 22 and June 29, 1991)

Previous Modern Rock #1 hit: Elvis Costello - “The Other Side Of Summer”

Next Modern Rock #1 hit: Siouxsie And The Banshees - “Kiss Them For Me”

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• Paula Abdul - “Rush Rush” (6/22/91 and 6/29/91 - 3 total weeks so far)

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There will come a time in the writing of this column that a great many songs will feature some mix of electronic synthesizers and electric and/or acoustic guitars, played to great effect. Those songs will top the charts and I will lavish praise on them for being so slick and so vital to my teenage years, or the living soundtrack of my 20s and 30s.

What I have to remember as I go through this retrospective exercise is the idea that there will always be tracks I’ve never heard of that help set the path for the songs that would follow in their footsteps. And while I can honestly say I’ve never paid any attention to the band called Electronic, and while I can honestly report that I am not the biggest fan of their only Modern Rock Tracks chart topper “Get The Message,” I totally understand why both the band and the song are in rarified air among certain music-loving circles, and we can break that down here today.

In some music circles, it would be verboten to call out anyone who once played for either The Smiths or New Order and say that their combined efforts were not terrifically good or enjoyable. We fall into a trap of deifying musicians who played really great music together as part of one group and steadfastly maintain they are just as good, if not better, when they go it alone or form “supergroups.” So it goes with Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr of The Smiths, who formed Electronic and created music that I’m sure was pretty great at the time, but sounds oddly derivative when you’re hearing it for the first time, as I did this week.

And that’s the trap I’ve fallen into this week, because I *know* this track is decent and I really like parts of it. The bass line slaps, the bridge has this really terrific synth-horn arrangement that draws you in between verses, and Sumner’s voice is a well-played instrument on its own merits. For 1991, I have to think the marriage of New Order’s electronic synth-punk aesthetic with The Smiths’ guitar-rock greatness must have been mind-blowing for fans of both acts.

But in my case, weighed down by the baggage of 40+ years of alternative rock loving, this song doesn’t sound fresh to me, even though it’s brand new to my ears. All I hear are derivations.

It starts with a former MRT #1 hit, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” where I hear comparable guitar chord progressions and a weird mix of synthy sounds. I think I like “Get The Message” a little bit better, but I feel like the songs are making similar attempts to mix genres, and it lessens my ability to look at Sumner and Marr’s effort as something new.

I also hear a lot of future music in here (well, the “future” from the perspective of summer 1991). The first minute or so of the song, I could swear I was listening to a subtle derivation of Tonic’s first single, “Open Up Your Eyes.” Obviously, it would have been Tonic using Electronic’s track as its inspiration, but if that’s the case, I have to admit, I think Tonic did it better.

And, of course, there’s the lyrics. What’s interesting here is Marr is quoted as saying “Get The Message” is the best song he’s ever written, as part of an interview with BBC News in 2009:

“The best song I've written is ‘Get The Message’ by Electronic, with Bernard Sumner. It's great because I have no idea how it happened - I can remember starting with a bassline.”

“Ten minutes later the backing track was done, and then this person who I find interesting and unfathomable came in and wrote these words which were interesting and unfathomable with an amazing atmosphere. It seemed like it belonged to somebody else.”

Musically, I can absolutely see his point. Again, for its time, Electronic did something new and fresh, and it’s a track I would absolutely be proud of if I had the talent and vision to create something like this. But lyrically, I’m less inclined to agree. I’m no poet, and I’ve often spoke about how I dissociate lyrics from the music as much as possible, to the point of considering the vocal track an additional “instrument” rather than a voice speaking about a topic. That division helped me look past Elvis Costello’s biting social commentary in “The Other Side Of Summer,” and enjoy it more as a summer beach party jam rather than a depressing ode to society’s failings.

With “Get The Message,” unless I’m misreading it, the message seems to be telling a nice young lady to quit spending money. Or something like that. You wouldn’t get that contextually from the way the music unfolds, but I don’t think it’s done intentionally like Costello’s hit, and it’s hardly deep and poetic in the same way Sting’s chart-topper “All This Time” folded a reflective lyrical journey about his father’s passing into an otherwise pop-friendly musical package.

In the end, I really do appreciate when supergroups come together and create something new and interesting, even if it’s not quite the same as the mega-bands that came before the mergers. Talk all you want about the greatness of Audioslave or Velvet Revolver or Mad Season, as they all managed some solid hits in their heyday, but when asked what stands the test of time, more often than not, it’s the original bands that made those musicians famous.

Electronic is still considered a great pairing to this day, and they’ve certainly retained a kingly status among British audiophiles. But for modern audiences, they’ve gotten lost in the shuffle of similar-sounding acts who came after them. Their biggest hit, “Getting Away With It,” had the benefit of Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys bolstering the sound, and I covered it in the “Chart Check” portion of my writeup on Peter Murphy’s “Cuts You Up” when it peaked at #4 on the MRT chart in February 1990 (it was also a Top 40 hit on the Hot 100, peaking at #38).

The band would go on from here to score additional top-30 MRT hits with “Feel Every Beat” (MRT #27) and “Disappointed” (MRT #9), but the latter would be their final mark on the U.S. charts. In the U.K., however, the band would go on to score a handful of top-20 hits through the rest of the decade before disbanding.

As I think about Electronic’s contribution to the musical landscape, I have to give them credit for helping to pioneer sounds that break out of the silos of “synth” or “rock”; in a lot of ways, pairing these sounds or intermixing genres helped create the landscape of what will always be considered “alternative” music. And perhaps that’s the best place to put this particular track: it’s influence far outweighs its replayability, and while I respect the greatness of the musicians, this one feels like it belongs more in the history books than in your current playlist.

Rating: 4/10

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Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period

R.E.M. continues its chart dominance related to the release of “Out Of Time,” but outside of that, most of the front-runners this week are bands whose legacy did not last the test of time for myriad reasons.

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“Texarkana” by R.E.M.: “Losing My Religion” got all the mainstream love as the lead single from “Out Of Time,” but there are so many great tracks on the album that didn’t get nearly as much visibility. This is one of them, a track that’s arguably as good, if not better, than “Religion.” This one topped out at #4 behind Electronic, and it won’t be the last we hear from this band and this album.

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“Diane” by Material Issue: This band is new to me, but it’s a pretty decent track. “Diane” finished at #6 behind “Get The Message,” but is a reasonably solid guitar-rock song by this Chicago-based trio. Lead singer Jim Ellison, who in this music video looks a lot like a young David Spade, took his own life in 1996, leaving the band’s legacy cut tragically short.

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“Flowers In The Rain” by Stress: A super-deep alt-rock cut from one-album wonder Stress, who hit #7 on the MRT chart with “Flowers In The Rain.” It’s actually not a terrible song, so I’m surprised the band never followed up with more albums or singles, but this is their lasting legacy.

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“Vote Elvis” by The Popinjays: Wendy Robinson and Polly Hancock formed pop-punk act Popinjays in the late ‘80s, and much like Stress, the band only scored one major U.S. hit before disappearing into the ether. “Vote Elvis,” a fun little ditty, peaked at #17 on the MRT chart behind Electronic.

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