In around 1987-1988 when my musical tastes were rapidly evolving away from the likes of Howard Jones, Thompson Twins and Elton John, one of the things that fascinated me and helped me burn the bridges behind me were song that for the most part consisted of overwhelming walls of guitar noise, drowning out such sillyness as singing and drumming. In particular I got fond of an album called Star Booty released by one such noisy band called Bitch Magnet. Unlike Howard Jones' and Elton John's work, this album is still to this date one of my favorite, along with it's counterpart Umber, but these two albums were later released together on CD. Oddly enough Bitch Magnet seems to be mostly forgotten and the picture above is the only one I could find on the whole internet.
I never really knew anything about the band, but now I've found out it was formed in Oberlin College in Ohio in 1986 by one Sooyoung Park. He later went on to form a band called Seam, and if i'm not mistaken currently plays in a band called ee. Although formed in Ohio, Bitch Magnet was based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1989 their debut album "Star Booty", produced by Steve Albini, was released on an indie label named Communion.
While Star Booty was rather an EP than a full lenght album, 1989 saw the release of the full-length LP "Umber" which was excellent, and in 1990 they released "Ben Hur" which for some reasons never gets played while I return again and again to it's two predecessors.
All in all, Bitch Magnet was a good band, and I recommend buying the Umber/Star Booty CD for some pure guitar-noise enjoyment. In the meantime here are three songs to whet your appetite:
From Star Booty - Sea of Pearls
From Star Booty - Circle K
From Umber - Big Pining
And by the way, although I severely severed some ties to various artists back then, I still occasionally put those old flames back on the turntable. And Thompson Twins were a remarkable band. Too bad Joe Leeway left.
i always thought ben hur was the best. i guess it really makes a difference which one you hear first. great post. i saw ee a couple years ago. good stuff.
Ben Hur is my personal favorite as well.