Twentieth Century Styles
About Being Happy And How To Get Around It
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All it takes is one person (read: Colmus) to express interest in my earlier works and I'm ready to plaster it all over town.
First up, we'll delve into Twentieth Century Styles. In 1998, I tired of the band thing and* decided to start playing more solo shows and* recording little demos and* albums on my 4-track, which eventually morphed into a Tascam 488 MKII 8-track tape machine. Thus began 20thCS. The initial concept was to record and release one album per month for the rest of my life. I'll tell you some other time how this idea played out, but let's start and stay in May 1999 for this tale, where everything worked out just as planned. All 8 of the Tascam's tracks worked flawlessly and I was primed for a real lo-fi career.
For the most part, I would write the songs as I recorded them, with the exception of a few songs that I had demoed throughout the earlier months. I'd set-up a metronome track, then lay down an acoustic guitar or a simple bass-type line on the keyboard (I didn't own a bass, so I depended solely on the western most keys to provide the bump), thus creating a really basic verse/chorus/verse type song structure. From there, I'd layer 4 or 5 additional keyboard or acoustic guitar lines overtop. Occasionally, those melodies would conflict with each other, but I didn't care and just figured that I'd "fix it in the mix."
Then, I'd move onto the vocals. Mostly, I was still in the business of writing the girl songs, albeit with lyrics a bit more abstract than what I'm working with these days. This was the part of my life when I was first learning about harmonies and how much they could turn an okay song into a hit. So I went to town recording as many harmonies, ooohs and aaaahs that I could think of. As you'll be able to pick out, some were much more successful than others.
The next step was always the most difficult. The drums. The only portion where it wasn't totally in my hands. Fortunately, Gary B was gracious enough to agree to play the skins for these songs. [As a side, you must understand that during this period, Gary wasn't the easiest person to get to do anything. This was around the time that while at a surprise birthday party for our buddy Eric, he infamously blurted out, "I don't even want to be here," for Eric and most of his family to hear. Not coincidentally, this is also around the time when we all fell madly in love with him.] So, we scheduled an afternoon where I took the tape machine to his family's home. I had given him a tape of the tracks a few days earlier, but all of the songs were still fairly unfamiliar territory to him. He was a gamer though and I sat around as he went through each of the eight tracks and wrote a part for them. The other problem, with which is something that I still suffer, is that I have no clue how to record drums. I set up some crappy mics in all of the obvious [read: wrong] places and again, I figured that I could fix any problems in the mix. In the end, it sounds like a few of those microphones were a little too close to the cymbals, so occasionally, you'll be treated to an excruciating sound or two.
I've now made two references to "fixing it in the mix," neglecting to let you know that I don't know anything about mixing either. After I re-did a vocal or two, I spent an evening mixing the album, whilst printing out the dumb artwork I had thrown together using Corel Draw. The next day, I was dubbing copies and driving around town to give them to my friends. It became a tradition that I'd stop at Mike's house, followed by Mark's...staying long enough to listen to the album with each of them.
It should be said that six months later when I learned how to transfer tapes to my computer, I re-released this and the subsequent albums on compact disc. In addition to the new format, I re-recorded a part or two and remixed everything. They sounded a little better, but still not great. I imagine that one day, I'll find the motivation to buy a working Tascam 488 (spoiler: my tape machine sucks now) and transfer these tracks to Cubase and release my Definitive Edition of these classics. I'll probably do some George Lucas shit to the songs too and piss everyone off.
Without further ado, I present to you About Being Happy and How To Get Around It. These are the CD mixes. And I'll be live blogging as I listen to each song! To download any of the songs individually, Ctrl/Right Click on the song title and click on "Save Target/Link As" or click here to download the entire album in a nice zipped format.
The King's Theme
- For reasons that I can't remember, I started recording these instrumental "themes" for characters that I had not yet created who came from the Mystical Land Of Garbagio, a fictional place that had inspired a crash-and-burn solo tape that I had recorded a year earlier. The idea was to record one or two themes for each tape, all eventually leading up to some really bad concept album and/or, if I remember correctly, a cable access television show. In the end, I think I recorded about 10 themes, but that concept album is last in line behind all of the other concept albums (the haunted house album, the numbers album, space album II, etc.) that I plan to finish eventually. Anyhow, the "King" seemed like a good easy character name with which to start. This is one of two songs that doesn't employ real drums. Oh and listen closely to hear it when the fake horns starting doing a round of "B-I-N-G-O."
Out For Good
- This one was always Mark's favorite track. Purposely, I set this up as the opening track as it starts with the line "The story's set in a distant land," which hints at this mystical land, of which I've previously spoken. This is a love song, but it doesn't really dwell on it as per my usual fare. There's some woe-is-me in the chorus, but for the most part, it doesn't get too out of control. The opening verse sets up the idea of the Sun's wife leaving him for some other star. So, the Sun decides he doesn't feel like shining anymore, which sets up a chain reaction that leads to all sorts of awful awful things! So, yeah, there's a lot of space talk in here, in addition to a Thriller reference.
A Midnight's Terror
- I was seemingly in love with this song. I later re-recorded a stripped down acoustic version of it for the space album, and released the 4 track demo of it on my fake rarities disc. In retrospect, its okay, but not the bees knees. Speaking of bees, I do love that buzzing saw sound that I made on my keyboard. I sing "not near enough" during the bridge...which I stole directly from R.E.M.'s "Near Wild Heaven" off of Out Of Time. Same lyrics, same melody. On the demo, I do recall that I sang the verse with more of a deep David Bowie voice thing.
Officer Web Joins Up
- Unlisted track! This was the one experimental song on the album and I thought I would hate it by now. But as I'm listening to it, its making me smile. There's a good deal of sped up keyboard, backwards tape tricks and some chipmunky voices doing a lot of laughing and mumbling something about the Mystical Land of Garbagio. The centerpiece of the song, of course, is a segment from the "Officer Web" phone message. A few years earlier, when an old band, Emma, did some recording at ACR Studios, our engineer, Craig Bowen, gave us this really funny answering machine message as a bonus track when he made us a disc of our mixes. I forget its exact history, but I guess this lady accidentally left this message on ACR's machine, as opposed to the courthouse or wherever. This lady sounds like she's gone through some tough times, but she's pretty funny nonetheless, even if I have no idea what she's going on about. Something about a dirty cell, her will, a conspiracy involving hearing loss and her dead niece Melody. I hope you enjoy it.
Wasted
- Here's the ballad! The harmonies step on each other a bit, but hold up a lot better than anything else on this album. This is your over-the-top, heart-on-the-sleeve desperation story of a fella that lives his whole life pining for the one that got away, assuming that she's leading a miserable married life. Dude's life is so meaningless, that death doesn't even come to bother him! My favorite line is "You never saw the bulls in Spain or the Italians there in Rome." Or maybe its "The sprinkler sprinks..." The tri-dueling guitar/organ/otherkeyboard solo section is pretty groovy too. This song is also the owner of the most out of place "Look out!" in the history of pop music.
The Dumb One
- I think Gary was delirious by the time that we recorded this one, so this drum beat is a lot less straight forward than the rest. It used to not make sense to me, but now it sounds perfect. Sometimes when I say "You're the dumb one," it sounds a lot like "You're the Don Juan." I bet that I thought that I was really clever and/or worldly when I wrote, "Your laissez-faire was laissez-pas."
Robert Sir
- Oh, Robert Sir. I have no clue what sort of person would ever be called "Robert Sir," but I sang about him anyhow. Here's the one where I totally went hog-wild with backing vocals and left/right panning. I remember this song being heavily inspired by the Herman's Hermits "Silhouettes," although I can't really understand how anymore. The age-old tale of stealing your best mate's girl and not even feeling too bad about it. The fact that Dude's name was Robert Sir probably softened the blow. This is one of my favorites of the 20thCS canon. My buddy Todd gave an oral presentation in college that involved playing this recording for the class, and I often times wonder what he was thinking. My choice line: "She makes my insides fall to pieces. That ain't smart, but you're a genius too, for leaving her alone with me." I think there was an alternate live performance lyric, where instead of "That's a dream, not an obstacle," I'd say "I'm a boy, not a popsicle."
Everyday Tonight
- I wrote this one specifically to win the Conan O'Brien College Band competition. Of course, its easily the worst song on the album. Its another in a series of Myers songs that deal in such vague generalities and outlandish metaphors that I couldn't even begin to explain what its about. The narrator is aggravated about something. "A fresh mile, a fresh smile, a fresh style" hints at the idea that I probably wanted this to become the 20thCS Anthem. I never submitted it for any competition.
My Arms True
- Another song that I had initially thought was a lot better than it really is. All of the chord changes in the verse probably incapacitated me and put that thought in my head. Again, no clue what this one is about. "Singing love songs to my sheets." I'd like to say that my over-the-top chorus vocals were meant to be ironic, but I'm just not sure anymore. The end is pretty cool when it gets all acoustic punk rock.
Dos and Don'ts (Predominately Don'ts)
- A clever title, I'll tell you that much. I didn't like this one that much, but then Gary B, Matt Dahl and Mike Apichella loved it so much that I began to think better about it. The line that won over Gary and Matt: "Today, my world has felt a terror shock." Mike Ap: "Girl, where's your mother? I'd like to talk to her about your attitude." I love the ton of that keyboard solo and that its insanely long.
The tape ended with a reprise of the King's Theme.
I think it was just a little slower.
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As a bonus, here's an essay that Gittings wrote about it shortly thereafter its release. You might note how the setting sun is still a common theme in my songwriting, even eight years later.
Detours on the Road to Happiness:
The Setting Sun and Other Circles in Twentieth Century Styles
A Critical Essay
By Mike Gittings
Twentieth Century Styles’ album About Being Happy and How to Get Around It is an album about heartbreak. Yet it is ingeniously structured to suggest a solution to romantic conflict, a brighter side around the corner, without the contrived sappiness of many other modern pop albums. In fact, the very name Twentieth Century styles suggests a sort of circular, enigmatic structure that is also present in many of this first album’s metaphors and textures as well. With the Styles’ use of terms reminiscent of Arthurian legend, such as the reference to Sir Christopher Myers and the decidedly medieval “King’s Theme,” the group is at the same time modern and medieval. A similar schism appears throughout the album in such songs as “Wasted” and “Hmmm…(aka Dumb One),” where heartwrenching lyrics are set to major-key ear-pleasers, making the album truly simultaneously about both “Being Happy” and “Getting Around It.”
Elsewhere, the album’s scope functions in similarly complex ways. The first words of the album, “The story’s set in a distant land,” suggest an emotional and situational distance that is present literally, yet absent figuratively. The personification of the sun, moon, and stars in this song energizes the Styles’ juxtaposition of human and cosmic worlds, and sets up the problematic connection between the two, given the beauty that the humans see in the turmoil of the stars. It is not until the end of “Out for Good” that the circle is complete and the cosmic problems are thrust upon the earth in the form of darkness.
Similarly, the Styles posit a complex relationship between the realms of dream and reality, one in which each informs the other. In “A Midnight’s Terror,” the Styles make their first reference to the dream world, in which the imperfections of reality are temporarily corrected, but with constant awareness of the ephemerality of dreams. Here, Myers sings, “You evade me before I get there and I can barely feel your warmth.” Similarly, the grim laments of "My Arms True" are broken by a certain hope found in dreams when Myers sings, “In my dreams I float with space girls, and I awake with hopes that a new day opens doors.” In such moments, the Styles suggest that happiness lies at the intersections between dreams and reality and that denying dreams, or avoiding these intersections, leads to the aversion of happiness. Framed by the enigmatic, anachronistic timepiece “The King’s Theme,” Twentieth Century Style’s album "About Being Happy and How to Get Around It," toes the line separating dreams and reality and finds both cosmic and human beauty in dreams, space girls, and the fuzzy lines between past and present.
