Channel 3: Airborne

Knee-deep in what they now refer to as the "You guys Suck!" phase, Channel 3 (see here) refused to retreat. The 1985 e.p. Airborne recorded for screwed-up, major label affiliated Restless Records, takes the jagged jangle-pop of "Indian Summer"and jacks up the ante. But vaulting ambition aside, these four fully-formed songs give no hints of the drastic shit to come. While in these grooves you can hear a lurch forward in the level of professionalism, Magrann's sandpaper growl and sharp lyrics remain front and center and the band still plays its guts out just in a more measured, precise way. It's polished but this stuff is way too strong for A.O.R., listen to those (tuneful) gang vocals on the full-throttle, "Waiting for the Sun to Go Down" and you can rest assured we're not in Kansas yet, Toto.

Channel 3 - Waiting for the Sun To Go Down

Then there's the title track, "Airborne", into which Magrann throws all the youthful intensity and skepticism of their early blitzkrieg boppers into a grand-scale pop song with his band-mates shouting along like a gang of disillusioned choir boys. This song should've brought the world to their door. Damn history for her betrayal of Channel 3.

Channel 3 - Airborne

Airborne
(Magrann/Langsford)

If money talks, it also lives
The fat and pale faces show
In East L.A., a baby dies
Well, that's just the way it goes
In their white cars, they drive through slums
And talk of art and distant wars
They shake their heads, and click their tongues
As they reach to lock the doors
In every world, in every age
There's a "they"
And what do they say?
They say we're Airborne
The trapped generation of lies
They say we're Airborne
Dead innocents, aloft with bent desires
May I use "We"?, we're forced to see
The pain of life most every day
I'll have a drink, I'll close my eyes
Then I'll turn to fly away
And so we cry, misunderstood!
Our souls alive, red burning youth
But colors fade, and we might pale
And crash down in three piece suits
I asked a kid the other day
What they teach in this nuclear age
We had some fun in school today
We learned to get under our desks
And start to pray!

(Image courtesy of record collectors of the world unite)

Download Airborne 12" e.p.

Following this the criminally ignored e.p., the band did a grisly volte-face and became a party-metal outfit, stopping to cover Aerosmith in the process. The album in question was panned by most at the time but now has its champions of which I am definitely not one. On this album Magrann's voice is coarser and less expressive, the music and lyrics less distinctive and the whole glam-frat shtick is half-baked at best. Available here for those still curious.
As fort the 21st century, Ch 3 are still on (here's their cover of "Scratches and Needles") and, earlier this decade, they recorded a new album for Dr. Strange Records plus there's a documentary on them called, One More For My True Friends.