1/11/08: Andy Prieboy Sins of Our Fathers (1995)This site couldn’t get through its first week without a
Stan Ridgway entry—and we always knew we’d get around to Wall of Voodoo’s other vocalist. There’s also a WoV guitarist whose solo work we’ll have to write about someday. Nowadays, of course, Wall of Voodoo is considered a mere ’80s novelty act for “Mexican Radio.” In truth, they started with Ridgway as a pioneering industrial Americana act, before hooking up with Prieboy as a glam-goth outfit of surprising depth.
Prieboy’s done okay in the post-Wall of Voodoo years. He stayed busy recording jingles and making a few solo albums. (Prieboy got to remain on a major label in Australia.) A song from
Sins of Our Fathers even inspired a bizarre novel co-written with Merril Markoe. (
Here they are, with Prieboy looking disturbingly like an extra from
Planet of the Apes.) He also enjoyed some success with “White Trash Wins Lotto,” a popular L.A. stage show that should’ve broken through as big as “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
Prieboy’s always been a demanding boho dandy trapped in a gutter-rock world. You can’t really call him a conservative—if only because he’s got the usual hang-ups you’d expect from a straight guy who once took a beating because some creep thought he was gay. Prieboy still let his moralist flag fly on
Sins of Our Fathers, starting with the (near) title track of “Sins of My Fathers.” The song captures the hangover many lazy Republicans felt in the aftermath of Bill Clinton’s election—which was certainly fostered by their unthinking support for our first President Bush. Sadly, that angle’s more relevant than ever.
“My white world is crumbling down,” sings Prieboy, and it’s no racist thought. Our song’s narrator (who misses both drugs and The Gipper) has seen his successful Eurocentric mentors gone to jail, and he’s fallen off the Tower of Babel while speaking summa cum laude to third-world rabble. “We gave them the Magna Carta,” says Prieboy, “they wanted Magnavision.” He’d make that into some kind of Xbox reference today. That rabble is a rainbow coalition, and a lot of them are playing hackeysack.
Prieboy also declares that Alaric is at the gates. Things like that are why the lyric sheet comes with footnotes.
The rest of the album covers similar ground from a romantic angle. Plenty of guys who were single in the ’90s will recognize Prieboy’s parade of addled women who find it glamorous to embrace drugs and sex work. It all leads to “Build A Better Garden,” in which Satan tempts Adam and Eve with an exciting future where there’ll be tons of money in the sex industry. (A bonus track then celebrates the glory of breast augmentation.)
There’s also “Who Do You Think We’re Coming For,” which is a rare effective rant against the music industry from a struggling musician. Something like
Sins of Our Fathers certainly wasn’t going to make things easier for Prieboy. Still, he’s busy as ever, which brings us to…
Make it your own: Prieboy’s solo albums—like his work with Wall of Voodoo—is out of print and pricey. Fortunately, Prieboy’s announced that a lot of old and new songs will soon be available
via his website. Keep checking it through the year. You can already enjoy “Sins of My Fathers”—along with other fine songs—on
this MySpace tribute page.
