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GREAT PLAINS
Length Of Growth 1981-1989
Old 3C Records
www.old3c.com
To most people music of the 80's was INXS, Simple Minds, The Human League and Prince, but to me the 80's was a time of great experimentation in rock music. The punk attitude of style and creativity
over instrumental proficiency prevailed and the best thing about it was that it was localized. Every region had a sound and scene of its own. Minneapolis, Cleveland, Lawrence, Austin, Seattle, Columbus,
Chapel Hill, Detroit and Athens all had it's own stars. I spent four years of that era (1978-1983) in Columbus Ohio and my friends were the Great Plains. I had either been in a band, lived with or drank
ungodly amount of alcohol with at least the first two versions of the band.
Listening to them 20 years after the fact and sober, I can honestly say that they were truly a great band. Ron House's talent
for writing rock melodies, catchy hooks and smart lyrics is beyond the reach for most accomplished musicians and that's why House always attracted the best musicians in Columbus. Mark and Matt Wyatt (who
stayed until the end), Don Howland (Bassholes, Gibson Brothers), Dave Green (Screaming Urge), Mike Hummel (Mike Rep and the Quotas) all at one time provided the great in the Great Plains. House's vocals are
painful, almost embarrassing at first, like a cross between Jerry Lewis and David Thomas of Pere Ubu, but after four or five songs you realize that House is so excited and enthusiastic about playing his songs that
staying in key or tune never occurs to him. I once saw House almost get into a fistfight because someone didn't think that Lightening Strikes Me Again was the best song ever written.
This double
CD set contains 50 songs covering pretty much their entire catalog. Killer songs like Rutherford B. Hayes, Love to the Third Power, Lincoln Logs, The Way She Runs A Fever, Black Sox Scandal/What Are You Living
On, When Do You Say Hello?, Towns Got A Widow, Martin Luther King & Martin Luther Drinking and Before We Stop To Think sum up what was happening that decade when we had an actor for President and a privilege few
got filthy rich while most of us toiled just to survive. I guess you had to be there.
David A. Kulczyk
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