Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Gentlemen (1993)
When the Afghan Whigs of Cincinnati signed with Sub Pop in 1989, they were only the second non-Pacific Northwest band to record for the label. While their first Sub Pop album, 1990's Up in It, was fairly guitar-heavy and the band toured with Mudhoney and Bullet LaVolta, the Whigs started to change up their sound soon afterward.
Their next release, 1992's Congregation, saw the band adding Motown influences to their heavy rock mix. With alternative rock becoming more popular, the Whigs got some videos in rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes and ended getting a contract with Elektra Records. Their major label debut was 1993's Gentlemen, a dark breakup album written from the point of view of a toxic dude. Frontman Greg Dulli was quick to point out that it wasn't completely autobiographical, lest we think he's some sort of monster.
Because Gentlemen does not hold back. Lyrically, the songs are steeped in the ugliness of a breakup: the lies, deceit, guilt and regret. Combined with the band's potent blend of post-punk and R&B, the album delivers a powerful statement. The title track has the protagonist looking back at what went wrong in the relationship.
"I stayed in too long/But she was the perfect fit/And we dragged it out so long this time/Started to make each other sick/But now I've got time for you/For you, you, you and me too/Well, come and get it, come and get it/'Cause I'm done."
Dulli's character sings with a deadly combination of bravado and self-loathing, fully realizing he's an asshole even as he blusters away.
"Let me in I'm cold/All messed up but nowhere to go/You got indecision, and indecision is my enemy/Unlock the cabinet, hey hey hey/I'll take whatever you got/Now I'm on it, now I'm on it/And you're done."
When I picked up this album, I was in a bit of a dark spiral myself. Renting a room in a house in Middleton, working weird hours and still smarting after the end of a long relationship, I spent a lot of time by myself listening to this dark-ass music. It was cathartic and exhilarating and also kinda depressing, but I got it.
"I waited for the joke/It never did arrive/And words I thought I'd choke/I hardly recognize."
I saw the Whigs on the Gentlemen tour at the Paradise in Boston and the sheer live power of the band was impressive; I've seen them a bunch of times since then. They released two more excellent albums before splitting up in 2001. Dulli went on to form the Twilight Singers and continued to make great music. In 2012, the Whigs reunited for a tour and since then have released three albums, the most recent being 2022's How Do You Burn? No longer an angry young man, Dulli remains one of rock's best and most underrated songwriters.
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