108. THE NATION OF ULYSSES - 13 POINT PROGRAM TO DESTROY AMERICA (1991)
I finally own this again after losing it when I moved house a few years ago , so i`m now happy.
I got into this lot in the late 90s after getting into Ian Svenonius following band The Make Up. I liked The Make Up but I found that a lot of the gospal style preaching detracted from the music. I found myself wishing that Svenonius would just shut up & play. The Nation of Ulysses seemed to me to be a more streamlined band than the Make Up and I liked them a lot more for that.
I like the band for the same reason I like bands like the New York Dolls & Motorhead, It`s pure dumb loud rock n roll. I`ve always thought that if the New York Dolls were a post punk band they would sound like this. In fact during the song 'Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry' features the exact same spoken word intro to the Dolls 'Lookin For A Kiss'.
I do find it funny there are some people consider this band an influence on emo. I think that kind of misses the point. The whole beauty of the Nation Of Ulysses is that they are totally superficial. The defining theme of this album is image , it`s about looks , clothes , manifestos , political imagery , preaching , In fact you could say that the Nation Of Ulysses are the ultimate scene/poser band , something that your average 'real' emo fan seems to detest.
The whole subject of album is little more than a joke to me. To me this is satire of musical elitism done so well you wonder if they`re being serious or not.But the music on it is faultless. Punk? post punk? hardcore? post hardcore?....who the hell cares, to me it`s great rock n roll.
Favourite Songs - Spectra Sonic Sound , Look Out ! Soul Is Back , Asprin , Target USA