Music

You Need to Listen To This Song Right Now #30

Heavy Rotation — Dogs of Lust, The The (Dusk, 1993)

Heavy Rotation was a music industry term for songs that one way or another got lots of airplay. It referred to the large amount of rotation that a particular record was given on turntables at radio stations. Since, until the 1980s, this was the only way to get new music into the ears and brains of listeners, heavy rotation meant increased sales. These were good for record companies and artists alike.

Today, some of us still put records on at home and give them a spin. Most of us don’t. However, the term still applies, just in a different way. Streaming services like Spotify sell subscriptions to listeners and then pay artists based on listens. At least, that’s the way we think it works.

For me, heavy rotation means a song that is in my head for some reason. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a day, maybe for longer. It’s a song that you come back to from time to time and still feels just as good.

This series of articles is dedicated to these songs.

Here, I aim to highlight a particular song by a particular band or singer. We should know a bit about the band, a bit about where the song fits into its history, and where the song fits into what was happening in music at that time. Then there’s the song itself. Who’s playing on it, what are the lyrics getting at, and why is it so good? How does it still occupy sonic space in our lives?

I’ll (try to) keep it short. It shouldn’t take you any longer to read this than the song itself. To that end, I’ll put a Youtube clip of the original recording at the top of the article so you can listen as you read. Or not. And because a song is often much different live than in the recording studio, I’ll stick a live clip on at the end.

What song is in your head right now? Here’s the one that won’t leave mine today:

#30 — Dogs of Lust, The The (Dusk, 1993)

There I was, in the bloom of youth in the early part of the 90s, my musical allegiances torn between an embrace of the Seattle grunge sound, which was already starting to deflate, and the very different vibe of music coming out of the UK.

Nirvana never did it for me, but Soundgarden and Pearl Jam sure did. I tried to get into the Oasis vs. Blur debate, but I never really cared that much for either, and James, the Charlatans, and Manic Street Preachers said far more to me than the Gallagher Brothers or Damon Albarn ever could.

But I also loved Social Distortion, Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie, New Order, Lou Reed, and Depeche Mode.

Where did they all fit in?

At the same time as this rock-and-roll spaghetti bolognese filled my ears, a very different sound came my way that provided an antidote and respite to all the teeming noise and cutthroat interests competing for my CD buying dollar.

The The was an always-changing amalgamation of musicians fronted by Matt Johnson, who has been the only constant over four decades. By the time Dusk came my way in 1993, the band was already on their fourth album and, subsequently, only put out two more non-soundtrack albums: Hanky Panky in 1995 and NakedSelf in 2000, which is, for my money, one of the greatest and most criminally underappreciated front to back rock records of all time.

But back to Dusk. This one had Johnny Marr on it. Johnny fucking Marr, at the height of his powers, where he remains to this day. How can you go wrong?

Dogs of Lust, the third track on Dusk and the first single, is the song I put on when it’s nighttime in the middle of the summer, the air conditioning doesn’t work, and the air isn’t moving. So I go out on the balcony, light a cigarette, and let a little trickle of sweat run down while thinking about that certain person.

The opening harmonic blast, courtesy of Marr, sets the tone of bluesy sultriness and is repeated throughout the song's three minutes. It gets your attention quickly with its reminder of a late-night siren going down the street below. Fully insistent drums, bass, and guitar push their way in at 00:11, and off we go. Johnson’s soulful and overheated vocal first comes in at 00:24.

“Here they come

The Dogs of Lust

Out of my mind

Into my life”

Here is a tormented character who needs relief somehow, sometime soon. “Somebody should be here / to hold me / Somebody should be here / To show me, show me.” His voice's sweaty, raw exuberance underlines the fact that he just might be reveling in his aloneness.

“I got it blue

I got it bad

I’ve got the sweetest sadness

I’ve ever had”.

Yup. He acknowledges it, he knows it, he understands it, he breathes it in and owns it, he loves it, and he wants more of it. Though he is trying to break free of the demons that hound him, it’s almost as though he recognizes that this is who he is now….and not only does he accept it, he glories in it.

“I keep reaching up

But they drag me back down

Wherever I try, to hide

I will always be found”

The high notes at 2:04 are a delicious and merciful breeze to counter the oppressive swelter of his life. More Johnny Marr harmonica, and the sweat is dripping off the ceiling through 2:34. “When you’re lustful / and you’re lonely / and the heat is rising / slowly…”

Pour yourself a bourbon on ice, turn on that rickety old fan, try to cool off, and pray for a bit of moving air again from 2:52, until the end of the song, which comes far too quickly to ever save you from yourself.

Let it hang in the air, and try to get some sleep.

Here is a live version from the Jools Holland Show in 1993

If you have made it this far, it will occur to you that if this is #30 in this series, then there must be 29 previous ones. This is a correct assumption, and here I will link #29. At the bottom of it, you will find a link to #28, and at the bottom of it, you can — if you so choose — be taken to #27. This ingenious system that I thought up all by myself continues all the way to #1

I really do hope that you like what you have just read. If you want unlimited access to thousands of writers, consider a subscription to Medium. It will set you back $5 a month and if you use the link below, then I get a slice of that that I will put towards buying this record on vinyl. Just as soon as I get a record player.