My head's been pounding all weekend and I feel more tired at the end than I did at the start. No selection today, just a couple of songs with 'headache' in the title.
Starting with Frank Black, I'd completely forgotten that this was the sole UK single from Teenager Of The Year, a 22-track double album. I was doubly surprised to find that (1) it actually reached #53 and (2) it wasn't his highest charting single (that was Men In Black, #37 in 1996). Frank Black and 4AD parted ways not long afterwards. Odd choice of single, but a great video.
I first heard of Au Pairs via the 1981 compilation Urgh! A Music War which featured Come Again, their "song about faking orgasm". A remix of Headache (For Michelle) appeared on the B-side of the Inconvenience 12" single, released the same year. The song references Malcolm Owen, the lead singer with The Ruts who died from a heroin overdose in 1980, aged 26. The broader theme is the availability of cheap drugs and the role of the state in enabling this ("'Cause you're not a threat when you're out of your head").
This mimed performance on Belgian TV in 1982 may not have the budget of Frank Black's video, but it's even more compelling.
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