8/9/06: The Rainmakers (1986)

It’s somehow big news that the Dixie Chicks are canceling concerts. Most of the articles blame evil conservatives oppressing the ladies’ free speech. At least this one concedes that their new album is a departure from their old sound. The writer fails to mention that the album is so creepy and self-obsessed that even Tears For Fears would’ve had second thoughts about releasing the thing.

Anyway, all this commotion—along with MTV’s 25th anniversary—reminds us of a heartland rock band who met up with a true blacklist. The Rainmakers started out strong with their self-titled debut in 1986. The video for “Let My People Go-Go” was rushed into heavy rotation. Their sound was rocking and rootsy and weird, and things were looking good for the band.

Then the music critics listened to the album, including a proud tune called “Government Cheese.” It went like this:

Give a man a free house and he’ll bust out the windows
Put his family on food stamps, now he’s a big spender
No food on the table and the bills ain’t paid
’Cause he spent it on cigarettes and P.G.A.
They'll turn us all into beggars
’Cause they're easier to please
They're feeding our people that government cheese

That was the end of The Rainmakers. “Let My People Go-Go” had to settle for becoming a hit overseas. The band made a fine second album with 1988’s Tornado, but it was ignored by the American music press.

We’ll concede that it was a changing music scene, and a few acts faded fast on impressive sophomore efforts. That doesn’t change how The Rainmakers were blacklisted. We’re old enough to have seen some of the sabotage—just as we’d later see King’s X being blacklisted after a feminist rock critic mistook their song condemning capitol punishment for an anti-abortion anthem.

The Rainmakers did okay for themselves. They kept enough of an European following to keep recording into the ’90s. (“Ironically,” says the baffled AllMusic.com.) The only good thing that came of their right-wing association was a token appearance on 1992’s Say What U Want: Artists for Rock the Vote. The organization wanted this fund-raiser to appear bipartisan, so The Rainmakers—temporarily defunct and without a U.S. label—were brought in for the impressive (if safely apolitical) “Reckoning Day.”

Note that the lyrics to “Reckoning Day” can be found at The Rainmaker’s official site. That can’t be said of “Government Cheese.” The band members are still around, and they’ve wised up enough to realize they’re no Dixie Chicks.

Make it your own: “Government Cheese” made it onto that National Review list of conservative rock songs, but no one told NR that the band began reissuing their catalogue this year. (The article links to pricey out-of-print items on Amazon.) There are bonus tracks on the debut album and Tornado—and you can also get the true indie debut of 1984’s Balls, credited to the founding trio of Steve, Bob & Rich.

 

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