I was the Program Director at WWSP-90FM throughout the 1990-91 academic year, a span I shared a house with five other station “executive staff” members, a house we incongruously dubbed “The Terrordome.” I remember a lot of things about that house–including several messy, messy parties–but one of the clearest memories involves my bedroom being filled with records. At this time, the Program Director also held significant responsibility for the music that went into rotation at the radio station, and we were getting so much material that it was often a practical impossibility to review every new album at the station. This led to bundles of records being brought home to be listened to during homework binges or wolfing down whatever cheap food passed for my diet at the time. When I throw my memory back to that odd, long room I claimed, I see certain albums piled up waiting for my attention.

And, while the timing of its release suggests that I didn’t actually need to review it–online sources indicate it was released in early August, while I was still enduring the mistake of spending a summer at home–the record I see there most often, leaning up against my battered, feeble stereo, is Lovegod by The Soup Dragons.

In many respects, this was a highly atypical selection for my regular personal listening. I was all about the messy clatter of rock bands at the time, as exemplified by a certain band of wild ruffians from the next state over, then in their final days as an active band. Lovegod was completely different stuff. It was dark dance music with a psychedelic groove, sort of a tougher version of the trippy Manchester pop that was all over college radio at the time. I was still deep in one of my many discovery phases when it came to music, eagerly immersing myself in anything new, especially if it was from a band that has other, mysterious-to-me albums shoved into the station’s archives. The Soup Dragons qualified on that front. If on the surface, the music wasn’t my thing, it was just because I was early in the process of learning that “my thing” when it came to music, was much broader and more varied that I thought.

The Soup Dragons, “Lovegod”

(Disclaimer: Lovegod sure appears to be out of print, though I hardly practiced exhaustive detective work the determine the accuracy of this assumption. Maybe it is still in print and available through some online source, or maybe it’s easily purchasable as a little electronic package of MP3s. I certainly remember seeing it in lots and lots of used bins back in the day, so there may be other somewhat readily-available avenues to making a hard copy addition to a collection. I’m posting this under the belief that it’s not so easy to do, especially in a way that provides money to the members of the band. If someone with due authority to do so asks me to remember this file from the Interweb and will gladly and promptly comply.)