It was 1987, I’m in a freshman dorm at the University of Maryland. My roommate Andre isn’t much for my college alternative rock (though he did instill my love for rap from the era), so I’m pretty much left on my own when it comes to discovering new bands.
Down the hall is a guy named Julian, who despite being from Columbia, Maryland (which is as cookie-cutter a place as ever was one), has the same sort of eclectic love of music as I do – The Smiths, Bad Brains, Husker Du. For whatever reason, and pretty much at the same time, we discover The Mighty Lemon Drops.
There are probably few debut albums with a side one (yes, back in the days of cassettes and side ones) as perfect as Happy Head by The Mighty Lemon Drops. Boisterous and moody, MLD were everything Echo & the Bunnymen wanted to be. Other Side of You, My Biggest Thrill, All The Way, Hypnotised, Like and Angel – the songs came at you with a thunderous roar and never let up.
The Drops would hit it big in 1988 with their ‘hit’ Inside Out, which helped the album World Without End become a No. 1 on the Modern Rock/College album chart.
But I moved on by then. Nothing they ever did was as good as Happy Head, but really, that was good enough.
“At Midnight” was a good song, friend. From a later album.