Hungry, So Angry

They used to play it on WLIR, Long Island's new wave station way back in the day. Yes, I remember it.

Funnily enough, I only know this track by them...as it appears on many a compilation it seems. You might dig The Rapture if you enjoy this. Also, check out APB (of "Shoot You Down"...er...fame), who sound like Medium Medium with ridiculous Scottish accents.

This was one of my first postings, from the "Non-funny mishearings that you prefer to the 'real' version" thread...

When I would hear Medium Medium's "Hungry, So Angry" at NY clubs in the early 80s, I used to think the singer was chanting "we're so punk we're so gay we're so punk we're so gay" instead of the title. I thought it was a right on anthem for disaffected showtune-hating East Village homos like my friends and I. Of course, now I love showtunes.

-- Arthur ([email protected]), May 31st, 2001 5:00 PM

So, yeah, it's great! And it was a big hit in NYC clubs.

As for what I waited longest to hear, probably Jobriath. I remember the media blitz from '73, but I didn't actually find a copy of the first album till the early 90s. It's great, but a bit more singer/songwriter-ish than I expected. And the vocals have this strange Broadway Jagger tinge that took some getting used to. I could see why it wasn't a huge success, as fab as it is. What did you think of it, at first, Sean, honestly?

I dunno why I missed this track years back. APB - I remember, they were from Aberdeen IIRC.

This might work better in a personal email to Arthur, but since he asked, the truth is that I bought both Jobriath LPs for a couple bucks each at a used record store in maybe '88 or '89. I was kind of amused by them, but overall found them to be an embarassing Ziggy Stardust ripoff, and at the time Bowie was an untouchable god for me. I traded them away soon after. About five years ago I *had* to have them again, and tracked them down on eBay, and payed a lot more for them. Funny, I hardly hear the Bowie influence now. Arthur's spot-on re the Jagger-on-Broadway sound. I also hear a bit of Elton John.

No, I originally got them in '86.

Sean n Arthur = threadjackers
but that's cool cos don't mind hearing bout Jobriath

Dr. C, I have Medium Medium's The Glitterhouse album which ain't bad, though haven't listened to it much. see also Glaxo Babies. stuff from that era (better/worse?) interests me anyway, though there seems to be a conscious attempt now to separate out the pop potentials from the overexperimental tracks - just as there probably was in the new wave discos of the time. most of the poppier tracks got 7" or 12" release too.

quick online search reveals Adrian Sherwood may have been behind the controls for "Hungry So Angry". I read a diss of this track recently - Jess, Tim or Matos maybe
(tars as many of his fave reads as he can...)

"I dunno why I missed this track years back."

I dunno why you missed 'em when they played Reading Uni. in 198(0/1?) Dr. C! ;~)

I saw 'em 2 or 3 times around that time and I've got 2 or 3 singles by them, all of which were pretty good as far as I can remember but evidently not good enough to make buy the album.

I suspect at the time they may have fallen unfortunately between two stools by sounding too punky for the new romantics and looking too new romantic for the punks.

Stewart -i started there Oct 1980, and they definitely didn't play during my time unless it was in one of the halls or something, but unlikely. Must have been just before my time.

Paul - most of Glitterhouse is on the Cd I bought. You're right, there does seem a bit of a demarcation between the experimental and the pop.

I suspect it must have been earlier in '80 then Dr. C.

I know I saw them first at The Lyceum (supporting Killing Joke if I'm not very much mistaken) and I also saw them playing the SU Bar at Whiteknights - if my poor old memory isn't playing tricks yet again, I think they were bottom of the bill supporting U2 and The Thompson Twins (this is back in the days when there were 7 or 8 Thomspn Twins and they were still good, of course!).

I'll try to have a trawl through my old copies of Grinding Halt when I get home and see if I can find any more details!

PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release

Medium Medium Reunite, Relaunch at CMJ Music Marathon 2004

Los Angeles, CA (August 21, 2004) -- Post-punk/funk pioneers Medium Medium have reformed. Best known for "Hungry, So Angry," the 1981 dance club hit that helped pave the way for the current new wave of bands influenced and inspired by the early 1980s, Medium Medium will perform for the first time in 21 years at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City (October 13-16, 2004).

Medium Medium, formed in Nottingham, England only one year after the Sex Pistols' last show, released "Hungry, So Angry" after signing to Cherry Red Records in February 1981. The band's groundbreaking second single made influential Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau's best-of-the-year 'Dean's List,' entered the Billboard Disco Top 50, and "introduced scads of young bassists to the popping bass line" (Salon.com).

The band's self-styled "extreme dance music" and "searing Zen funk" combined dance grooves with funky guitar, squawking sax, and found sounds to create a "free-blown dubbed-up white funk" (NME). The new sound positioned Medium Medium "at the forefront of the post punk funk movement" (Cashbox).

Whether you call it no wave, neo-dance, death disco, disco punk, or punk funk, the music continues to influence such bands as The Rapture, Moving Units, !!!, and Radio 4. As Dan Martino wrote about "Hungry, So Angry" in the New York Press recently (Aug. 4-10, 2004), "With its disco drums and horns and screeching, anxiety-attacked vocals, it's obvious it was all done better the first time around."

Medium Medium's music, included on compilations and playlists for over two decades, is enjoying renewed club and radio play around the world. In 2001, Cherry Red released "Hungry, So Angry," a 15-track retrospective, the single was reissued on a U.K. indie label in January 2004, and, in March 2004, Coldcut included the single on "Life:Styles," a compilation album of the U.K. DJ duo's influences. These releases, combined with the emergence of new
punk/funk-inspired bands, have resulted in a resurgence of interest in the band, culminating in Medium Medium returning once more to the live scene.

They can tour with Gang of Four then. Many a gig in Hoxton beckons...

On two separate occaisions I tried to understand the hype about Medium Medium. When's the Gang Of Four reunion?

Wierd - I was listening to MM last night and apart from 'Hungry..' I conclude that they're utter shit.

Second that emotion. To my ears they always sounded like an immediate precursor to Duran Duran than confreres of Gof4. "Hungry" brings back memories of NYC clubbing ca 1981 -- a mixed bag at best. For what it's worth Liquid Liquid were no great shakes either, aside from "Quicksand."