Day By Day #110: Loveless Love

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Loveless Love (1980)

When it comes to rock music, sometimes it doesn't pay to be influential. You can influence a ton of other artists and be revered as such, but the gold and the glory don't necessarily follow. Such is the lot of the Feelies, a Haledon, NJ, band that formed in 1976 and did their own jangle rock thing, serving as an inspiration for R.E.M., Yo La Tengo and countless other indie bands of the '80s. People in the know love them, but the general public has no clue who they are.

The band started as the Outkids, formed by Glenn Mercer, Bill Million, Dave Weckerman and singer Richard Reilly. They added Vinny DeNunzio on drums and Keith DeNunzio on bass and changed their name to the Feelies, a reference from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. After a few years, the lineup shifted, with Anton Fier taking over on drums, and the Feelies released their first single, "Fa Ce-La" on Rough Trade Records in 1979. Their debut album Crazy Rhythms coming out on Stiff Records in February 1980.

Speaking of influences, the Feelies were heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, as well as Jonathan Richman, Television and classic rock staples like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Mercer and Million developed a clean guitar sound that was powerful and precise, going from quiet jangle to loud raveups. Mercer's vocal style was calm and cool over the roiling din, and the band used a lot of different types of percussion to augment the sound. 

"Loveless Love" begins with a slow-build rave up, picking up steam as it moves along, and Mercer doesn't start singing until halfway through the 5-minute song. Mercer and Million play intertwined leads in advance of the vocal.

"You made your offer/A little too soon/It's not the first time it's happened/In a moment you said/You don't want to know me/It seems as though that's never done/What I'm seeing as hopeless/You're seeing as won."

The protagonist is looking for something more than a one-night stand.

"The story asking/Could we be together tonight/I was raised by a different standard/And it wouldn't seem right/It doesn't seem important/I'd like to know what matters then/As it happened, they already did/I don't remember it/Loveless love/Is not my plan/Loveless love/Said it isn't romance."

Crazy Rhythms didn't sell well, but it was many best-of lists for 1980. Fier left the band after the album came out, joining the Lounge Lizards (and later forming the Golden Palominos). The band went on hiatus as the members played in various other bands around New York and New Jersey including the Trype, Yung Wu and the Willies. Mercer and Million reformed the band and recorded The Good Earth in 1985 with Peter Buck of R.E.M. producing. The album came out in '86 and the Feelies opened for Lou Reed and R.E.M. In 1988, the band signed to A&M and released Only Life, which was again a critical favorite, and then Time for a Witness in 1991. They also memorably played a band at a high school reunion in Jonathan Demme's great 1986 movie Something Wild.

The Feelies split up after that album. Mercer and Weckerman started the band Wake Ooloo in 1994 but there was no Feelies activity for nearly 20 years until Sonic Youth convinced them to reform and play some shows in 2008. I saw them for the first that fall at the Wilbur, which is a strange venue to see rock music because of all the weird nooks and crannies that wreak havoc on the acoustics. Fortunately there was a pit area, which was filled with a ton of fans way older than me who saw the band back in the early days. The show was terrific and I became a big fan.

The band released its first album in 20 years on Bar/None in 2011 and have continued to tour and occasionally release music (a studio album in 2017 and a live show of Velvet Underground covers last year). I saw them again in 2010 at the Middle East downstairs, a late show that went on seemingly forever. It was awesome but I was exhausted by the end. 

The Feelies are still playing gigs and thank jeebus for that.