Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Gene Loves Jezebel and "Jealous"
Gene Loves Jezebel, founded by sibling rockers turned sibling rivals, scored their only #1 Modern Rock Tracks hit with "Jealous," which is nowhere near as interesting as the Aston family drama
Gene Loves Jezebel - “Jealous”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 2 non-consecutive weeks (August 11, 1990 and August 25, 1990)
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Mariah Carey - “Vision Of Love” (8/11/90 and 8/25/90, 4 total weeks)
It’s rare to see musical acts overcome internal beefs and dramas to extend their careers past, say, a decade or so. There are exceptions, of course, thinking of bands like U2, Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, etc. These are bands whose core group stays together for the long haul, working through troubled times and putting their art ahead of the artists.
Most other bands, especially those that rise to prominence in their particular musical genre or taste mainstream success, tend to fizzle out over time, due to either waning popularity or, more commonly, “creative differences” and disagreements that cause former good friends and relatives to branch away from their group and forge a new path.
Adding an extra layer to these interpersonal rifts is the familial dynamic, when siblings, lovers, and spouses fail to keep things together for the sake of their art. This creates another level of tension, and typically draws people into the fray even more. Off the top of my head, two examples come to mind when I think of close, personal band members breaking things apart because of that interpersonal drama: Fleetwood Mac (I’m pretty sure at one point or another, every male member of the band dated/married every female in the band) and Oasis, they of the dueling brotherhood of Noel and Liam Gallagher. We’ll be talking more about the brothers Gallagher in the not-too-distant future.
Why am I going off for several paragraphs about band breakups instead of talking about this week’s Modern Rock Tracks #1 hit, “Jealous,” by Gene Loves Jezebel? Because, honestly, it’s really not a great track. And, of course, there’s the drama behind the breakups and reunions (and future breakups and lawsuits) spawned from the ashes of the first iteration of Gene Loves Jezebel, co-founded by brothers Jay and Michael Aston.
First off, my apologies: Technically, I believe the credit for this song goes to the iteration of the band called “Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel.” You see, at some point in the middle of their decades-long feud, the brothers who brought Gene Loves Jezebel into existence decided to go their separate ways while both still maintaining that their groups be named Gene Loves Jezebel. So, at least as of this writing, there are two Gene Loves Jezebel bands, one headed by Jay and one headed by Michael — assuming I’m reading things right with my limited research on the topic.
Here’s a breakdown of the series of lawsuits and dismissals and the naming convention for the bands per the Los Angeles Daily News in 2018:
“The settlement agreement they eventually reached established a compromise. In the United States, Michael Aston could tour as simply Gene Loves Jezebel, and the same went for Jay Aston in the United Kingdom. When they wanted to travel to play on the other’s home turf, they had to attach their name in front of the band’s. The agreement also included language about not disparaging the other band.”
So depending on which band is playing and which country they’re playing in, you could be getting one version of the band or the other. I find it all fascinating, but at the same time feel compelled to mention that “Jealous,” which appeared on the Gene Loves Jezebel album “Kiss of Life” in 1990, was the version of the band headed by Jay Aston. Michael left the band prior to that album’s release.
That breakup, according to interviews with the band’s founding brothers for Louder’s “Classic Rock” magazine in 2017, started from a difference of opinion on the band’s artistic direction with the album “The House of Dolls,” which launched in 1987:
“Jay Aston can remember when Gene Loves Jezebel started to fall apart. It was around the time of their 1987 album The House Of Dolls, and his band had changed from spider-haired post-punks into goth-pop pin-ups. ‘I’d been planning to leave Gene Loves Jezebel for a while and form a band with our bassist. I was getting frustrated with how things were and how my brother was.’”
“His identical twin Michael can remember when it unravelled, too. ‘That album, The House Of Dolls, was awful. I was in agony at how simple the songs had become, how moronic the lyrics were. I didn’t want to be around that. So I left.’”
Michael might have a point. Gene Loves Jezebel’s most popular U.S. song prior to “Jealous” was “Motion Of Love,” a paint-by-numbers pop-rock confection that topped out at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. There’s nothing terrifically memorable about that track, and the formula of punk-rock turned into pop-rock had already been perfected by dozens of other bands at that time. Juxtaposed against their highest-charting U.K. track, the 1985 U.K. Independent Singles #4 hit “Desire,” you can’t help but notice the dropoff in musical depth and artistic freedom that came with tracks like “Motion Of Love.”
Which finally bring me to “Jealous,” which honestly is even less compelling than “Motion Of Love” for a lot of reasons. I was initially hooked by the guitar intro, which I thought would build into a strong punk-rock track. Instead, the guitar stays pretty static throughout, and the lyrics lack any cohesion or pattern.
It’s just hard to listen to the song that feels like it should have some kind of rhyme pattern in the lyrics, but then it doesn’t and it just falls flat and sounds clunky. Good example:
Who's hurt you baby? I like you a lot
You are so beautiful and that is a fact
It’s just off to me. And maybe it’s a combination of the lyrics and Jay Aston’s voice that don’t work for me. I feel like Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction should be singing this track, and at least then it would sound better somehow. And maybe that’s because this song weirdly reminds me of a latter-day Jane’s Addiction hit and future subject of this Substack: “Just Because.” It’s probably unfair to compare anyone to Perry Farrell from a lead-singer perspective, since his voice is unique and powerful in its own way, but that’s where my brain went with it, and I found myself disappointed with “Jealous.”
Nevertheless, both iterations of Gene Loves Jezebel continued to produce music into the 21st century. Jay’s version of the band has the most recent release, 2017’s “Dance Underwater,” and based on all accounts from the articles I’ve read about the band, there are no plans for a brotherly unification anytime soon. I hate to see family members unable to work out their differences and make music together, especially when it began with such a promising start in the 1980s and neither one has captured the same level of success independently that they had when they were together. “Jealous” encapsulates that idea, as a track that might have hit the top of the U.S. alt-rock charts in the moment, but is ultimately lost to time, leaving listeners wondering what could have been if the brothers Aston stayed together.
Rating: 2/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Happy Mondays, Iggy Pop at home, and bands named after a particular way to mix drugs color this portion of the Substack this week. Each of these tracks could make a strong case for finishing higher on the chart than Gene Loves Jezebel, but even though they didn’t, I can at least highlight their relatively goodness here.
“Home” by Iggy Pop: Iggy Pop’s 1990 release “Brick By Brick” brought his biggest chart success to date with the #2 MRT track “Home.” Even though the lyrics can be repetitive, the rock chops on display in this one are unmistakable. For what it’s worth, this deserved the top spot more than “Jealous,” but sometimes the charts just aren’t fair.
“The Crying Scene” by Aztec Camera: Speaking of tracks that deserved a higher peak chart position, “The Crying Scene” is a solid early ‘90s pop-rock hit that resembles the post-grunge rock that would find a home on the mainstream alternative and airplay charts in the mid to late ‘90s. Aztec Camera never found a foothold in the U.S. but had considerably more success in the U.K. before ultimately fizzling out in 1995. This track peaked at #3 behind “Jealous.”
“Step On” by Happy Mondays: Happy Mondays had a brief glimmer of success in the U.S. in the early 1990s, beginning with this breakthrough track. Not only did “Step On” find a home on alternative radio, peaking at #9 on the MRT chart behind Gene Loves Jezebel, but it also managed a bit of crossover love, hitting #57 on the Hot 100. We’ll be talking about Happy Mondays again soon, probably due at least a little bit to the popularity of this track leading into their next release.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” by Candy Flip: I learned two things from this track: first, the band name “Candy Flip” is based on a drug reference for taking ecstasy and LSD at the same time, and second, there’s a band named after a drug reference who released an electronic, acid-house version of the classic Beatles track. In the mish-mash of alternative music at the time, this one fits in pretty well, and managed a decent #11 peak behind “Jealous.”