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Beat Happening is an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a childish or coy nature.

Beat Happening
Beat Happening frontman Calvin Johnson performing at The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon
Background information
OriginOlympia, Washington, US
GenresIndie pop, twee pop, lo-fi, noise pop
Years active1982–1992 (on hiatus)
LabelsK Records, Sub Pop, Domino Recording Company
MembersCalvin Johnson
Heather Lewis
Bret Lunsford

History



Formation


Beat Happening met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band took its name from a student art film, Beatnik Happening, made by Bret's girlfriend.[1] The band's basic line-up was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people whose drums they'd borrowed. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan.[1]

Early recordings made use of an Echoplex machine to add heavy reverb to Bret's guitar, in an attempt to mask his poor performance.[1]

The band traveled to Tokyo in 1984 with intentions of touring. Their first show in Japan was at the high school of a former exchange student Calvin knew.[1] The band members recorded Three Tea Breakfast, a 5-song EP that marked the band's first release.[2]


Studio albums


Beat Happening (1985), their full-length debut, was critically acclaimed, as was Jamboree (1988). By the release of Dreamy in 1991, Beat Happening was one of the most popular bands in the indie rock community, leading to their pivotal role in the International Pop Underground Festival, which brought anti-corporate rock its earliest mainstream acceptance. Their last full-length album was 1992's You Turn Me On, which represented the band breaking many of their established conventions from earlier albums, most notably on "Godsend", which runs 9 minutes and features blatant use of multitrack recording. The album was described by allmusic.com as a "masterpiece." Though never announcing a break-up and claiming at one point to still practice once a month, the members of Beat Happening have moved on to various other projects. In 2000 they released the "Angel Gone" single, their first new release in eight years.

Crashing Through, which collects all of the band's officially released music except for two of their tracks from a live cassette split with The Vaselines, was released in 2002. The box set included a booklet containing a lengthy essay on the history and impact of the band by Lois Maffeo, as well as rare photos of Calvin, Heather, and Bret.

In September 2015, the band announced the release of a new compilation spanning their entire career entitled Look Around, which was released by Domino Records on 20 November 2015.[3]

With the full cooperation of the band and Calvin's K Records label, Domino released a vinyl box set of the entire Beat Happening discography, We Are Beat Happening, in November of 2019.


Influence


The English indie-pop band This Many Boyfriends are named after a Beat Happening song - namely The This Many Boyfriends Club. The Swedish band Friendly Boyfriend, likened to a "corrupted Beat Happening,"[4] has a name that recalls the lyric "You got a friendly boyfriend" from Beat Happening's song "T.V. Girl." The United States band The Snogs have also been compared to Beat Happening,[5] and have released tracks such as "Tastes Like Candy," "Couple of Sleepyheads," and Teenage Sleepyhead" recalling Beat Happening song titles "Black Candy" and "Sleepy Head."

Beat Happening's live performances stood out for Calvin's dancing moves (pogo, hula, and shimmy), which he'd seen on news reports about UK punks. His onstage behavior did not ingratiate the band to hardcore audiences when they toured with Fugazi in the late 1980s, and audiences were openly hostile, even throwing an ashtray at the band.[6] Nonetheless, rock critic Michael Azzerrad suggests that Beat Happening "was a major force in widening the idea of a punk rocker from a mohawked guy in a motorcycle jacket to a nerdy girl in a cardigan."[7] The presence of Heather Lewis on drums and Calvin's non-threatening stage presence presented a wider variety of behaviors and identities than other acts in the hardcore scene of the time, which was predominantly male and focused on aggression or hyper-masculinity.[7] Beat Happening has been cited as an influence on early riot grrl acts such as Bratmobile[7] and Kathi Wilcox of Bikini Kill.[8] Kurt Cobain had the K Records logo tattooed on his forearm, saying it was to "try and remind me to stay a child."[9][10] The song "Lounge Act" on Nevermind references his logo tattoo in the line, “I'll arrest myself and wear a shield.” Cobain also played guitar on a K Records release, "Bikini Twilight," with Johnson, released as The Go Team.[11]

Calvin Johnson was one of the founders of indie-rock label K Records, and comprised one-half of the indie pop band The Go Team, along with Tobi Vail; they had an approach and aesthetic similar to that of Beat Happening.


Current status


Though not officially broken up, the band has not performed together in public since the early 1990s.


Members



Discography


Albums

EPs

Compilations

Singles


References


  1. Baumgarten, Mark (2012). Love Rock Revolution. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-57061-822-2.
  2. Baumgarten, Mark (2012). Love Rock Revolution. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-57061-822-2.
  3. Coughlan, Jamie. "Beat Happening Announce Career Spanning Compilation". Overblown Webzine. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. "Friendly Boyfriend - Pick Up!". Torn Light Records. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  5. "The Snogs". Record Turnover. 15 April 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  6. Baumgarten, Mark (2012). Love Rock Revolution. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-57061-822-2.
  7. Azerrad, Michael (2002). Our Band Could Be Your Life. Back Bay Books. pp. 455–456. ISBN 978-0-316-78753-6.
  8. Wilcox, Kathi. "Bikini Kill: Girl Soldier (Interview)". Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  9. True, Everett. (2007). Nirvana : the biography. OverDrive, Inc. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-7867-3390-3. OCLC 830122168.
  10. Sandford, Christopher, 1956- (2004). Kurt Cobain (2nd Carroll & Graf ed., rev. & updated ed.). New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1369-0. OCLC 54691610.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Baumgarten, Mark, 1978- (2012). Love rock revolution : K Records and the rise of independent music. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. ISBN 978-1-57061-822-2. OCLC 755697720.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)



На других языках

[de] Beat Happening

Beat Happening ist eine US-amerikanische Rockband, die 1982 in Olympia, Washington, gegründet wurde. Beat Happening waren eine der ersten amerikanischen Vertreter der DIY-Bewegung in der Independent-Musik und hatten großen Einfluss auf nachfolgende Musiker, darunter Kurt Cobain.[1]
- [en] Beat Happening

[es] Beat Happening

Beat Happening es un grupo estadounidense de indie pop, procedente de Olympia, Washington. Beat Happening fue uno de los grupos pioneros del indie americano y también del lo-fi,[1] destacándose por el uso de técnicas de grabación primitivas, el desprecio por los aspectos técnicos de la maestría musical, y canciones con temas de carácter infantil o tímido.

[ru] Beat Happening

Beat Happening — американская инди-группа, образовавшаяся в 1982 году в Олимпии и известная своим «примитивистским» стилем — нарочито «непрофессиональная» и несобранная игра музыкантов, простые мелодии, наивные тексты, низкое качество записи. Beat Happening считаются пионерами американского инди-попа и лоу-фай музыки и одними из главных популяризаторов идеологии D.I.Y. Фронтмен Beat Happening Кэлвин Джонсон, кроме того, стал основателем влиятельного инди-лейбла K Records (Bikini Kill, Бек, Modest Mouse) и сотрудничал с основателями Sub Pop.


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