What About Greg? He's Dead, Well He's Aliiiiiive! - The Moodists

The Moodists

There are no girls that I was smitten with in this post. Nonetheless this is a story of lost love.

It's unfair to the Moodists that they share in this sad story of a waning of passion. It has nothing to do with their music. To quote Bob Dylan somewhat incorrectly, "they just happened to be there, that's all."

But first let's give the Moodists their due. Another Australian band that could (and still can as evidenced from some 2015 videos of them reuniting in what looks like some guys' living room!) rock circles around the majority of career rock n' rollers out there. I learned about them when asking for a recommendation from the original Greg's Music World (Australian Mail Order CD house I used to build my collection in the late 90s). "You'll probably like Dave Graney."  So they send me this CD that's mostly soft (well, and sexy as the title said) lounge singer material. Gregs know Gregs though, and I caught on and loved it pretty quickly.
Anyone remember the Trouser Press Alternative Music Guide? A book (physical thing that used to contain pages and words before the internet) containing all (well at the time I thought it was all) the music I would ever want to know about. Holy shit, the entries are all online now!!! (No duh Greg, you just never thought to look until now!) Well anyway, the entry on Dave's old band The Moodists was incredibly intriguing to me, "graduates of the thump n' grind school of gothic punk."  Yeah, man let's check that out!!!
Alas, Greg's Music World informed me none of the Moodists material was still available. And thus began the great search. The Moodists' records became the holy grail of rock n' roll acquisition for me. I searched the record shows, the pages of Goldmine, sent e-mails to other record stores in Australia. And somehow I found some Vinyl singles and the awesome album "Thirsty's Calling."  But the ultimate jewel, the Double Life EP constantly eluded me.

And then one day I discovered I could put this internet thing INSIDE MY OWN HOUSE!!!! And from there, I could find anything!!! From downloads, orders, youtube there's nary a sound I can't find. This is the best thing ever!!!!!

But it's not the best thing ever. Yeah I acquired those songs from Double Life. And yeah, they were the best music they had ever done. It was worth the wait. So why isn't this the best thing ever?

The feeling wouldn't come back again. The Moodists were my last great Holy Grail of rock. There were things I just never realized about myself before. To quote Deep Purple as they used a cliche in a 1984 song that I never realized was about anal sex until I was much older, "It's not the kill, it's the thrill of the chase."  And as time passed and I acquired every song I ever wanted to hear....the passion waned severely. And the poor Moodists will always be associated in my mind as the band that brought on the change.

Well times change and people change. Writing this little music blog is helping me re-charge my passion, and the Moodists are now poised to be apart of the revival. So listen to "Double Life" below and never forget to love rock n' roll.

Double Life Live

Buy most of the Moodists music on this awesome compilation