The Wiz III

How many Number One Hits do you have to write before anyone bloody-well notices? For their their third single, 1989's Less Than Senseless, the MC4 again topped themselves to little commercial avail. In "Less Than Senseless" all the instruments seem to be battling Wiz's vocals for supremacy, as if the band applied metal legends Motorhead's mantra of "everything louder than everything else" to pop music. When that indelible chorus finally wins out, it's a great rush.


The next a-side is "Dancing Days are Over", an all-adrenalin 1:50 blast whose chorus echoes forties film dialogue, while its verses dissect a lost friendship ("It would be funny/If it weren't so sad").

Perhaps the shy humility of the band doomed them publicly. After all, the British music press' insatiable thirst for outrageous slurs is so strong that they continue to quote the Brothers Gallagher (Oasis), each of whom cannot construct a single slurred sentence without using some permutation of the verb to fuck as adjective, noun, verb or conjunction. For evidence of the the MC4's early awkwardness, see this interview and the accompanying video for "Occupation".


Download Less Than Senseless

P.S. Speaking of the MC4's songs of rain and sadness, listen to the folk-punk-rock of "January", a fitting song if you're enduring an inclement January (mine involves -44 with the windchill and if you don't understand that say a little prayer of thanksgiving).