Cities Made of Song, 1986

 Cities Made of Song, 1986 - Dear God by XTC

"Dear God, hope You got the letter and
I pray You can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that You made in Your image
See them starving on their feet
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God"

 

​While The Trial of a Time Lord, Part One was airing on the BBC, a British rock group was making a big splash overseas. This wasn't exactly a common situation for XTC, a Swindon band formed in 1972 as Star Park before achieving their "classic" incarnation. As a rule, despite the rare Top of the Pops appearance or Top 30 single, they achieved very little in the way of fame and fortune during the height of their career.

This was partly because of their management, which ranged from the nonexistent to the actively hostile. This enabled their record label, Virgin, to give the band an absolute bollocking without anybody to push back and argue for the band's rights. As a result, they barely ever saw either a cent or a pence for their record sales and constantly struggled to repay their various debts to Virgin.

Although several people were a part of XTC over the years, the group was chiefly centered around its songwriting duo, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, and its guitarist and arranger, Dave Gregory. Partridge and Moulding grew up on the same council estate together, listening to the same music and developing similar tastes. Although they each brought a different sensibility to their songwriting, I think they complemented each other well. I also happen to think they're two of the finest songwriters of the last century, and that it's criminal that they haven't been widely acclaimed as such due to XTC's endless financial issues and lack of commercial success.

Even if this opinion exists at an extremity, one would be hard-pressed to look at the string of albums from 1979's "Drums and Wires" to 1992's "Nonsuch" and deny XTC's artistic achievement. Emerging from the primordial ooze of punk and New Wave, they came up with a sound that was influenced by both, but not quite either. Another important ingredient was the 1960s music that they grew up listening to, which infused a bit of acid-pop quirkiness into their material. If the Beatles had gotten their start in the late Seventies, I have to imagine they would sound sort of like this.

This period wasn't entirely a positive one, of course, even leaving aside the band's constant issues with their label. During the 1982 tour for "English Settlement", Partridge suffered a nervous breakdown which soon prompted the band to stop touring altogether and become studio-bound from then on, incurring a large debt due to their show cancellations in the process.

Between the collapse of the tour and the other issues simmering concurrently in the background, when 1986 rolled around, Virgin put their foot down and threatened to cut the band off entirely if their next album failed to sell well. Faced with a list of producers dictated by the label, the band chose Todd Rundgren, reportedly because his was the only name they recognized. It was a good choice, in the event; Rundgren was, and still is, an innovator, and matched well with the group, despite the personality clashes that arose between him and Partridge during the studio sessions.

The end result was "Skylarking", which released in October 1986 in the UK, and December in the US. It seems inadequate to call it a masterclass in rock music, each track flowing seamlessly into the next, and all beautifully arranged, courtesy of the irreplaceable Gregory. Songs like Mermaid Smiled and Earn Enough for Us showcase XTC at their very best.

Despite this, the album received a lukewarm reception in the band's native Britain. It only rose as high as #90 on the album charts, no doubt an unwelcome response considering the pressures they were under.

Then something curious happened. The B-side of XTC's August 1986 single - made up of two outtakes from the "Skylarking" sessions - exploded in popularity. Written by Partridge, Dear God tells the story of an agnostic grappling with the notion that a God can exist with so much evil in the world. Its sound was inspired in part by the Beatles song Rocky Raccoon, one of the first songs Partridge ever learned to play on guitar back on the council estate in Swindon.

It was a massive hit on college radio stations in America, so much so that the American pressings of "Skylarking" were recalled and re-pressed with the song added, a move which would end up causing years and years of controversy among XTC fans. Nevertheless, it worked out, propelling the album as high as #70 on the US album charts and giving the band a much-needed break.

Given the song's popularity, it is surprising that it wasn't included on the album in the first place. Rundgren proposed the final order of the songs on it, so he may not have found a good place for it. Alternatively, Partridge has said that he is regrets releasing the song as is, because he found it did not adequately reflect his actual opinions about religion.

This would certainly explain why it was relegated to the B-side of their single, but I think the heavy lyrics were a factor in themselves. Accolades and airtime weren't the only responses to the song's release; the band received plenty of hate mail, and radio stations caught flak too, up to and including bomb threats.

I must say, speaking as somebody who's not even an atheist, I think the song is compelling, emotional, and beautifully composed. It's a good example of how pop music can challenge the listener. I just wish we lived in a world where those who felt the most challenged by it didn't feel entitled to respond with threats of violence.

That's all for now. We aren't heading into Season 24 just yet; the Sixth Doctor still has some stories to tell, starting with Peri and the Piscon Paradox, next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 8 June 2024.)