Of all the good songs on the record, it's the first one that got to me first. I didn't know anything about The Brains. Had never heard of them. Didn't know they came from Atlanta, Georgia, and didn't know that Lauper picked a track off their 1980 debut album to be the first track on her solo debut. By the time their song was a hit for Lauper, The Brains had already broken up. It must be strange to be known and still unknown.
Most everyone in
the band kept playing music. I couldn't find out much about the
bassist, but the other three members all joined other groups,
sometimes playing rock, or blues, sometimes going on tour, sometimes
working as session players. The guitar player ended up playing for
the Georgia Satellites, but no one else seems to have scored another
substantial pop hit. It must be strange to have a hit after throwing
in the towel.
I wish I could find
out more about the bass player. He seems to have showed up for every
Brains reunion show. It must be strange to have reunions for a band
that lasted all of three years.
But breaking up the
band didn't seem to change much. Most of them still wrote and
recorded more songs. They explored traditional styles, going deeper
and deeper into music. They moved to other towns where the music bent
their lives in different directions. They never stopped playing. I
was glad to read about this. Some people do. I hear about it from
time to time. People form bands, write songs, go on the road, and
then later give it up. Pack their instruments away and take other
jobs. Sometimes go for years without playing. They say they need to,
for their sanity, for their wives, for money. They say sobriety,
kids, or the revelations of age changed their priorities, or that
money changed everything.
It must be strange
to be sober, to have kids, to have revelations that make you stop
playing music.
I wonder what
that's like.
