The 1981 Listening Post - The Silencers - Romanic

 The Silencers - Romanic

#729

1981 Housekeeping

The Silencers

Romanic

Genre: Rock

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Sidewalk Romeo (Angel of Mercy)

1 of Those Girls

Does anyone remember this band? They had a bit of an MTV hit with their cover of “Peter Gunn” which I sort of recall but, then again I really almost don’t. 

This band was big in Pittsburgh. And you know what they say. When you’re big in Pittsburgh…you’re big in the string for Tom Cruise’s All the Right Moves. 

Did anyone else see that movie? Am I wrong? Was Tom fully nude in that thing? Is that just a weird Mandela effect memory? And why would I want to remember that?

Anyhoo, this band sounds JUST like the kind of band that the people in that movie would go to see on a Friday night after a hard week at the mill. Or the quarry. Or whatever hard labor job they had that caused them to die early. 

Except for that one kid, who managed to get out of that town. 

These are pretty ok songs, for the most part. It’s like a second rate Doug and the Slugs.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_DmJkCjtE9vfNgXRJ75PNqXrjJQx9X-8?usp=sharing

The 1980 Listening Post - The Silencers - Rock N' Roll Enforcers

The Silencers - Rock N' Roll Enforcers 

July 1980 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

The Silencers

Rock N’ Roll Enforcers

Genre: Rock and roll enforcing. 

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Head On Collision

Remote Control

Johnny Too Bad

Shiver and Shake

I Can’t Believe It

Requisite 80s Cover: A lot of bands cover the “Peter Gunn Theme”. This version is a beast. It’s a two lane blacktop drag race with blood dripping from the mufflers. 

A cover of “Cold Sweat”. They are no James Brown but, hell yes for trying. 

From the first few seconds you know that The Silencers thought they were gonna be big. Like, maybe the New Boomtown Rats or something. (Those Johnny Fingers keyboards are what keyed me to this)

But they want to be more muscular than the Rats. “Head On Collision” was a single, wasn’t it? I swear I heard that song a bunch of times as a kid. 

It’s catchy as hell. I love the Devo meets Punk “Remote Control” and wish that was the theme song to the game show. RIP, Ken Ober. 

You spend a lifetime writing your first album and then you have to come up with your second while touring and trying to figure out who you are.

I think that happened here because they didn’t live up to this promise. 

Stellar record, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj9352Fwwos&list=OLAK5uy_ndfq_tWIg-FrlD9ckJ9tq7u2BaVc-Wxps