Probably comparable with one of Velvet Underground's shadowy moments yet Pere Ubu's lead singer/director David Thomas sang with an unnerving sense of desperation that separated them entirely from anything gone before. A similar American desperation at the time came over in bands like Television, Richard Hell and Patti Smith,
The title of the song 'Final Solution' was of course taken completely out of context to the lyrics and a lot of lower life forms assumed it had anti-Semitic connotations. This was nonsense of course especially when the lyrics are plainly not inflammatory and not about the holocaust, but the damage had been done and Thomas refused to perform the song live for many years.
Befitting a band who were best described as experimental rock they had produced a great rock and roll moment in Final Solution, and in true John Cage fashion it was a second of silence bang in the middle of the track. In 1976 that silence hit exactly the right note!
Pere Ubu were underground rock, and had a far reaching influence to groups who would be more widely recognised. "To define their music, Pere Ubu coined the term avant-garage.."
David Thomas always had a wry sense of humour. Here's "Final Solution"...
