ARE WE NOT MONKEY'S?
Melt-Banana takes up the de-evolution charge
By Cole Coonce
"One banana, two banana, three banana, four... Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more"
-"Tra La La," the Banana Splits
Okay, Melt-Banana went apeshit at the Glass House and the Troubadour last week, but first, some background ...
History Lesson, Pt. 1: About 40 years ago, there was a proto-anime, real-life cartoon on teevee entitled The Banana Splits. Every Saturday morning on NBC, the Banana Splits (a.k.a. Fleagle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snork) - four mutant half-dog, half-ape, half-human hair shirts in sunglasses - wheeled around terra firma in a hybrid dune buggy/moon vehicle and got into various scenes of high jinks and schtoink. Of equal importance, they had a really catchy theme song.
History Lesson, Pt. 2: About 30 years, a collection of college students got together in Akron, Ohio, and made music. Their goal was not only to sell records, but to attempt to get a message across and to promulgate meta-statements. They would make a lot of money and a lot of pop art, subverting and deconstructing the templates of rock 'n' roll. They called themselves "Devo," wore flower pots on their heads and sang about the inevitability of homo sapiens "de-evolving" into primordial beings, or "spud people." During their career, as often as not, they pulled it off. One song that didn't chart, however, was "Uncontrollable Urge," a power-pop anthem that was, in essence, a sped-up interpretation of "Tra La La" by the Banana Splits - the chord structure is identical, but Devo just sang different lyrics. In doing so, Devo screwed the pooch, so to speak. Nothing is more "jocko homo" than the genius of the Banana Splits. To wit:
"Two banana, four banana, one banana, three Swinging like a bunch of monkeys hanging from a treeHey there everybody won't you come along and see How much like Banana Splits everyone can be..."
The Banana Splits were well ahead of Devo, who were well ahead of ...
***
"A human might just be a monkey, but by putting on the shoes he becomes human and materialistic, so he take the shoes off." Thus spake Ichiro Agata, guitar chimp for Melt-Banana, as he explains to the Japan Times his interpretation of Yasuko "Yako" Onuki's lyrics in the 11-second micro-screed "Zoo, No Vacancy." On her own behalf, Yako, who "sings" in, umm, "English," has often explained phrases such as "make your brain breathe like a screen seen in your wheeze" have no meaning whatsoever and that her diction is chosen strictly for the way the words sound.
Fair enough. But I'll be dipped in low-sodium soy sauce if I can make out a single syllable Onuki is ack-ack-acking, and I patronized both the recent Glass House (May 19) and Troubadour (May 20) shows.
But by attempting to make a point and extricate "meaning," perhaps I am missing the point and finding none. Perhaps.
I know this much: Yako is a star, and the onomatopoeia of life is her muse. At first glance, she is a delicate flower in military khaki pants. But when the stage lights dim and cohort-in-grind Agata sets the controls for his guitar gizmos to "Revenge for Nagasaki," Yako shakes, shimmies, and eructates with the precision of Pearl Harbor.
This fucking band is O-N, and is one big spicy tuna hand-roll of metaphor, mamason. My notes from Pomona are a tangle of mixed metaphors and racist generalizations, but reads as follows: "Like a fighter plane in a sumo wrestling ring, Agata is the Subcommander Marcos of guitar"... "Melt-Banana tora-tora-tora'd their way through a blistering set of Jap-core that melted the ears and eyes of awestruck punk rock kiddies." ... "Yako is sarin gas down the vestibule of your own private subway." (You get the general idea ... .)
Anyway, both nights in L.A. County, their penultimate ice pick to the senses was a cover of the aforementioned "Uncontrollable Urge." Maybe Yako knew she was actually singing that we are collapsing into an ever-tightening feedback loop of de-evolution.
And as we de-evolve, Melt-Banana is the muse and pop culture is the medium.
I say roll over, Mark Mothersbaugh, and tell Fleagle and Bingo the news.
Published: 05/26/2005
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