BOC: fakes? SFG liner notes revelation

[Robert C. Mayo]

Well, by now I'm sure you've read this 1,000x: it's amazing that these
records were never released; they're really quite good. Oh, that and: Rhino
eally did a great job on the mastering/packaging. But...there's a section in
the liner notes that's causing me some concern.

'Meltzer: " They had a meeting one day and said, 'Can we go metal?' They
decided no. 'Could we be pseudo-metal?' Sure, let's try. But the metal they
played at first was pure comedy, they were never serious about it."

Now I'm aware of the concept conscious Meltzer and the image conscious
Pearlman's (or was it vice-versa?) hand in crafting BOC's early sound/stance,
and I think BOC's best material has always been written and delivered with
tongues in cheeks, but it's more than a little disheartening for this fan to
read that, after being screwed by fate and Elektra Records one too many
times, the band made a conscious decision to try to 'become' a (pseudo-)
heavy metal band. And the 'metal they played at first' was a joke to
them---what, like the debut lp? Tyranny and Mutation? To this admitted
purist, it just kinda sounds like they couldn't make it as themselves, and
decided to pretend to be something else they thought would go over better.As
a musician and fan, that's just a little disappointing. If the time were
different, would they have become a pseudo-disco band? Gaahhhhh!!!!!

Sure, it's the music biz, and you gotta do what you gotta do, and I don't
begrudge them a 'change in direction'. And I've always regarded them in the
same vein as Cheap Trick, who operated successfully as a teen/power-pop band
while simultaneously making fun of teen/power-pop bands. In BOC's case, it's
obviously metal they're 'using'. I knew that all along; it just kind of hit
harder reading it there in black and white. My fantasy, I guess, was that
they were simply one of the best metallic bands ever; not just a parody of
one that turned out to be so successful, they eventually owned a large part
of the genre's history.

This, my freinds, brings new relevance to the lyric: '...And the joke's on
you'...

I can feel the flames already...
Bobm