The sad news went down over the weekend while I was pre-occupied with getting through the remainder of my week.
People in my age bracket may recall the band, but not the members. I’ll throw out a hint, Flesh for Lulu was the band that did the anthemic song “I Go Crazy” for Some Kind of Wonderful, also John Hughes’ last teen-centric flick. They had some other minor hits on the college circuit before there were commercial Alternative stations by the Nineties. “Postcards from Paradise” and “Siamese Twist,” easily come to mind. I do also now remember “Sooner or Later.”
I did have the good fortune to see them open for PiL in the Fall of 1989. Their new release Plastic Fantastic was sadly not memorable yet I think I have it on CD…I do! I just checked my database. I need to see if I used anything from it for my old mix tapes. During the PiL concert, I managed to get Nick’s autograph while I was going to/returning from the restroom at the VFW. He was a really good sport about it despite the turnout being poor; PiL had played at Summerfest earlier in the Summer and it was Milwaukee in the Eighties, a Midwestern city still musically trapped in the pre-Punk Seventies with some exceptions.
The Onion AV Club had a nice synopsis covering Nick’s career after Flesh for Lulu disbanded in 1991. It’s good to know he never really gave up on music like some others have; with the exception of those who landed interesting new careers. Thanks Nick, I’ll go fishing for your generous autograph and think about the great stuff you provided me to play at WMUR.