Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to pay another visit to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk past with another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A fresh set of faces to our trashy feature, Goldfinger are a Ska-Punk band who were formed in Los Angeles, California during sometime in 1994, originally beginning as a contributor to the small movement of third-wave ska that was happening alongside peer acts such as No Doubt and The Toasters around the 1980’s and 1990’s by blending elements of Carribean monto and Calypso with more traditional Rock elements from the US mainstream, but by the time that 2002’s ‘Open Your Eyes’ and 2005’s ‘Disconnection Notice’ were released, the distinct act had shed most of their Dub & Reggae influences in favour of a more conventional pop and rock creative direction. They were mostly famous for their twisted covers of tracks like Joe Jackson’s ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him’, and in 2000, they decided to create a Metal-tinged cover of Nena’s ’99 Luft Balloons’ (Or also known as ’99 Red Balloons’ in terms of the English version, as the German version was actually more successful), a track that everybody and your grandmother knows that was an 80’s Synth-Pop classic written about the aftermath of the Cold War. It was taken from the band’s third studio album – 2000’s ‘Stomping Grounds’ – that was produced by Tim Palmer and John Feldmann and mixed by Tim Palmer. Give it a spin.
Reflecting on Goldfinger’s subject cover of ’99 Red Balloons’ in 2000, the band’s vocalist/guitarist John Feldmann said, “I don’t speak a word of German, but I had this coach that kind of helped me and I listened to it and go, “Wow, I speak German”, in a conversation with RealVideo, later adding, “At the time, I had no clue, but it’s definitely a war time song. It’s funny, ’cause when I was a kid and I heard the Nena version – and even when I heard the 7 Seconds version – it seemed more like a Pop song. I mean, it’s 99 air balloons – they’re talking about the end of World War II and stuff”, when discussing when he grasped the true meaning of the still well-liked original version from 1983. Goldfinger, meanwhile, had eventually set up sync deals for the track to appear in movies like ‘Not Another Teen Movie’ and ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ among a few other productions. Musically, we take set for land off with a textured guitar riff that lightly ascends to the lyric of “You and I in a little toy shop/Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got” before the bouncy Synth riff of the original is replaced by a lightly distorted guitar riff. The rest of the track leans into your typical Metal tropes, with heavy chords giving the falsely joyous hooks of “99 red balloons floating in the summer sky/Panic bells, it’s red alert” and “The war machine, it’s red alert/Opens up one eager eye” a more kinetic soundscape that feels more visceral in aggression than Nena’s original, yet the upbeat tone of the original version remains intact. It mixes a little bit of Megadeth and The Scorpions into a blender, while paying a faithful homage to Nena’s “You think this was an innocent and happy tune, didn’t you?” card by enhancing the “We know it’s daft but we’re just having a bit of fun” card that Goldfinger play in return. The melodies are still very recognisable when compared to Nena’s original, however, and a key point of the vocals see Feldmann reciting a verse in German. It definitely incorporates a lot of elements from both the English and German version of the classic recording, both lyrically and instrumentally, but there’s just a small hint of Rush in the opening arrangement and the more softly spoken final verse feels euphoric after the pudding-like mix of Black Sabbath and Queensryche during the main bulk of the track. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this and it was better than I expected it to be as it didn’t become uneven or overstay it’s welcome. I have to say that I didn’t hear the Ska roots of the band coming through strongly at all and it really isn’t anything more than just a fun ‘messing about’ style of cover version, but it brings a few new dimensions to the original track and it is technically competent, if not superb. All things considered, it was perfectly enjoyable.
That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an Irish band who were formed in Galway and released the ‘Waves’ EP last March to critical acclaim. They pin down sweet 80’s and 90’s rock bands like The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins as their influences, and their music has been played on the daytime A-list of BBC Radio 6 Music. Their next EP – ‘Banshee’ – is set for release in February via Fair Youth Records.
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