Every Second, Every Moment: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Posted by: marisa | From: July 04, 2004

Man, the last couple of weeks have been effed. Steve's out of town right now, so I'm sorry if updates aren't so daily. I'd also like to formally apologize for the strict over-abundance of Y chromosomes present on GBoAT authorship thus far, an issue I would like to begin to correct starting today with our latest guest writer, Miss Marisa Meltzer. Enjoy.

Do you ever suspect that the universe is trying to tell you something? Maybe I'm more susceptible to this than most. Just the other night, I was taking a break from work, and as I turned on the TV, I wished more than anything that Wet Hot American Summer was on. And lo and behold, it was. And get this: towards the end of the movie, there's a shot of Janeane Garofalo's character at the climactic variety show and faint graffiti on the wall behind her spells out "MARISA". Clearly there was a message there.

Similarly, last winter I had a renewed love affair with "If You Leave" by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD) after hearing it in store. I told a friend I had been obsessively listening to it all week. The next day he emailed me saying that he heard the song in its entirety on the radio. That night, on The OC, what song plays while Anna tearfully returns to Pittsburgh? "If You Leave". (It should be noted that it was a kind of weak cover of the song by Nada Surf, but still.) This time the message was clear: I was to remain hermitlike in my apartment for the duration of the winter, obsessively listening to OMD. I heeded the call.

I've always felt sort of proprietary about OMD. People ask me my favorite song (okay, no one actually asks about my favorite songs, but I wish someone would.) and I start waxing on about how "If You Leave" was my first favorite song. And yet despite all the fuzzy feelings I have for their music, OMD has never been a band I've known a lot about. I've never had a crush on one of its members. Until today, I couldn't name a single dude in the band. I've never been to one of their concerts.

So let's turn to the facts, shall we? OMD is four guys from Liverpool with delightfully British names: Paul Humphreys, Andy McCluskey, Martin Cooper, and Malcolm Holmes. Apparently, Liverpool in the lates seventies was the kind of city whose music scene revolved around one club, Eric's Club, which launched Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Echo and the Bunnymen. Humphreys and McCluskey were huge fans of GBoAT alum Neu and Kraftwerk and started making experimental electronic music in homage to their Teutonic heroes. They even called themselves VCLXI, after a valve diagram found on a Kraftwerk album. "Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark" was the title of a VCLXI song, and they somewhat confusingly used that song title as the name of a side project that was to feature catchier melodies, and OMD was born.

Tony Wilson, the Factory Records impresario, was duly impressed by their live shows and released their debut single, "Electricity" in late 1979. Their self-titled first album came out in 1980 and featured "Messages" and cemented what would be their trademark mix of melodic melancholia. Sure, I guess you could call their songs synth-pop, but I'm not sure that gives them enough credit. While all their songs sound undeniably like a product of the eighties, none of them sound dated. There was a quick succession of more hits ("Enola Gay", "Maid of Orleans") and albums with awesome titles (Architecture and Morality, Dazzle Ships). Martin was added to play keyboards and Malcolm to play drums.

All of this spirals toward their biggest hit, "If You Leave", which will always be known as That Song at the End of Pretty in Pink (it was written specifically for the movie). Beyond a generation's seemingly collective love for the John Hughes oeuvre (and its impeccable soundtracks), we all remember that song because it's just so damn good. It still gives me the shivers nearly two decades after I first heard it. There's something about the phrasing, there's an urgency threaded through the song--and all OMD songs--that never lets me down, no matter how many times I listen to it. In 1989, Humphreys, Cooper, and Holmes left the band, citing constant touring as the reason for the demise. Andy continued under the OMD moniker, but the era had ended.

If I had more time, I would tell you about how all of OMD's songs sound like the perfect soundtrack for a first kiss. Or how someone will play "Electricity" at a party (and they're getting plenty of play at parties, OMD seems to be encountering a bit of a hipster renaissance here on the east coast.) and it will make you sprint to the dance floor. Or how their song "Secrets" will make you sort of wistful because you're not English and you don't have bangs, both things seeming really important late one Tuesday night in March. Instead, I will say this: Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark is the Greatest Band of All Time.

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