Oblivious: Galaxie 500

Posted by: zac | From: July 28, 2004

Here's the thing about Galaxie 500: you have to buy the whole package. It's a hard prospect, and one I've had a great deal of difficulty with in the past. It's how a friend of mine describes the MC5--a band I've classically had problems with: if you question it, you'll never understand it. They're a package. the music is just an extension of that greater consciousness. Which, all in all, sounds like something of a cop out to me. but it's the only way I can describe Galaxie.

Like Dinosaur Jr., the Galaxie folks fell into that slacker archetype, though of the distinctly collegiate variety. Dean Wareham, Damon Krukowski, and Naomi Yang met as teens in New York, and reacquainted in New England of the mid-'80s while the trio attended Harvard. Dean and Damon played together in a former band, which became Galaxie 500 after Dean's reluctant acceptance of Damon's girlfriend, Naomi, as a novice bass player.

The trio began playing an ephemeral, opiated rock in the tradition of lighter Velvet Underground and Television. The difference, of course, is that Galaxie 500 were staunchly anchored by something those bands could never really be accused of--Galaxie 500 were just plain boring. and over the course of their three proper albums, they never really got any more exciting. Wareham's guitar playing was a beautiful wash, his lyrics lazy and obtuse. the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi serviceable, but never really rising above simply going through the motions. but that's the whole thing--that's the Galaxie 500 hook. There's a simple progression amongst their albums, but honestly, their entire catalog could have been recorded in one sitting. it's such a compacted, effortless vision--and it makes for one of my favorite bands of the 1980s. They make me pine for a time I never knew. Ivy leagues. the early '80s. New England in the woods.

Galaxie 500 dissolved in 1991, with Dean forming the similarly effortless Luna and Damon and Naomi forming, well, Damon and Naomi--but the beautiful simplicity had pretty much already run it course. Galaxie 500--the Greatest Band of All Time to pass out to.

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