The Jetsons – Suicidal Tendencies // Genetically Stupid, Killing (Gulcher Records) 1981. Here’s a great little obscurity from the Midwest. Indiana namely. On Gulcher Records, the same label that The Gizmos, Dow Jones and the Industrials, Amoebas In Chaos and Dancing Cigarettes were on. This maybe isn’t as good as Amoebas In Chaos and Dow Jones and the Industrials but I like it more than The Gizmos who always seemed gimmicky to me. I don’t know why, but I think that if you played me a track by The Jetsons I would know right away that they were from Indiana. They just have that perfect combination of punk-pop with a slight hint of artsy-ness. There are other moments on this 45 that really impress me, like the guitar solo in Suicidal Tendencies which for a moment makes them sound like a So-Cal Band. The chorus of Genetically Stupid is instantly catchy in an Oil-sing-along sort of way. Killing reminds me for some reason of the Embarrassment with a much more angry vocalist. A great example of the Midwestern sound circa 1981. Nothing earth-shattering, but how the fuck else was I supposed to follow the NOVAK interview?
Hardcore Podcasts
September of 2010 I put together eight Hardcore Podcasts. You can check them out here if you are interested. For more insight into how I came up with the years 78-90 for the First Wave you can read about The Hardcore Superiorty Myth.
I’m kinda liking that “Genetically Stupid” song. Yeah, musically it’s very similar to one of those early Cockney Rejects singles (for instance), but a different vocal style, of course.
Are you 100% sure the Jetsons are from Indiana?
I had a girlfriend once who was from Arizona and she claims the Jetsons were the most popular punk/new wave band in the entire state of Arizona and even had a Jetsons button that she wore.
Or did this band perhaps later move to Arizona?
If anyone has more details on this, please post…
My guess, Alarm Clock guy, is that there were multiple Jetsons. In fact, there was a local band called The Jetsons in Saint Louis during the 1980s as well. I wonder why the name “The Flintstones” wasn’t as popular?
I’m pretty certain these Jetsons were from Indianapolis. The back sleeve was done by the singer and he wrote “Indianapolis Is Silly” on the bottom. Great single, and hooray for me that one of my favorite old singles made it to the intertubes.
In the late 80s there was a Jetsons form STL as well. They were fairly popular. Tragically, their bass player was stabbed and killed on a Greyhound bus on the way home from a trip to Chicago. Totally random: Some chemically unbalanced guy just went berzerk, out of the blue.
Any way, this clearly isn’t *that* Jetsons!
The AZ Jetsons (and there was a band calling itself the Jetzons, too) were not the Indiana Jetsons. There’s a Massachusetts connection, though: when Gulcher left Bloomington, IN for NYC, Jamie from the Jetsons went to Worcester and started the Unattached.
Had this on my blog a while ago: Same reactions, from what I remember. I never understood why the JETSONS still appear to be so under-appreciated. To me this is one of the highpoints in early, or better late kinda traditional u.s. punk.
Jamie Sever A.K.A. Jamie Jetson of the Indiana Jetsons went on to write songs for/with Alice Cooper. The title track of the album Trash, which was sort of a comeback for Alice cooper was a demo by the post-jetsons band The Unattached.
The Jetsons were a local band from Phoenix. The Keyboard player went on to play on Stevie Wonders I just called to say i love you, and the bass player was a studio musician on another A list band. I still have the Album. Black, and very good. It was a great band, that disappeared. I had heard the lead singer od’d.
Different Jetsons. This band is from Indy. I talk about the Phoenix, Jetzons here:
http://www.lastdaysofmanonearth.com/blog/?p=2154
The singer who OD’d was in the the pre-Jetzons band Billy Clone and the Same.
There were multiple bands named The Jetsons….
I did lights for the Jetsons once when they played with Dow Jones and the Industrials at Bullwinkles in Bloomington. They also played a couple places in Broad Ripple. Definitely Indianapolis. I liked them OK. I think they might still be together.
There was also a band called The Jetsonz from Orange NJ. I was the bass player. We got started about 1979 and lasted until 1985 or so. We played at the infamous Dirt Club in Bloomfield NJ, and all the usual NYC spots. We were the opening band for such 80s acts as Billy Idol, The Violent Fems, Ebn Ozn, The Waitresses, The Bongs, etc.
http://www.myspace.com/thejetsonz
Back around 1980 the Jetzons played at the Devil House just north of ASU. These guys were amazing, well ahead of their time. They played once a week or so for a year or two and then vanished. I remember they made one album, which I since lost, but the album did no justice compared to the live show. Towards the end of each show the dance floor turned into a mosh pit, with everyone throwing somebody around. After each song ended, everyone was slapping high five’s. Awesome time, could not figure out how they weren’t national recognized. Then I talked with the lead singer a couple of times, and man, was he strung out on something bad, but he never missed a lyric or beat on the stage. These guy’s could have made it big, but even as an 18 year old, I had a bad feeling about their future.
The Jetzons were very big in AZ in the late 70′s-80′s , I think a few of them broke off and formed a band called the Gin Blossoms and have had a few million selling records…..
I saw the Jetsons in Tempe, AZ circa 1983-85 maybe. They played at Merlins (which burned down) & at a couple of other bars in Tempe & Scottsdale. Freaking AWESOME band!!! Way ahead of thier time. Lead singer Bruce______ (Connley maybe). Bass player was a short guy with a powerfull voice. Not sur what exactly happened to them. They did have the one album, black cover with a japanese character on it I think. I lost that album years ago, very bumbed out.
A couple of years later the singer & bass player came back in a local band called Trash Cadillac, or Cadillac Trash. Really good also.
Here we go…
The Jetzons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Jetzons were an American New Wave band based in Tempe, Arizona. The group later relocated to Los Angeles.
The band formed in 1981 after the demise of hugely popular punk group Billy Clone & The Same. Billy Clone folded due to the heroin overdose and death of bandleader Mike Corte. Former Billy Clone guitarist Bruce Connole and bassist Damon Doiron performed briefly as The Burning Flamingos, before recruiting keyboardist Brad Buxer and drummer Steve Golladay to form The Jetzons.
In 1982 The Jetzons released the EP Made In America, to great critical and fan acclaim. Tracks were recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles and Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA, as well as Pantheon Studios in Scottsdale, AZ. The record was released on Pan American Records.
The band was at the forefront of establishing the Tempe music scene that would soon come to national prominence by the signing of many area bands to major record labels.
“I remember when I first joined the band, someone said, “That’s Robin. He’s in a local group called the Gin Blossoms — they’re almost as good as the Jetzons.” Man, I remember hearing that and, at the time, just to be considered in the same breath as those guys was better than selling a million records. That’s how important they were”. Robin Wilson, singer, Gin Blossoms
After The Jetzons breakup keyboardist Brad Buxer went on to work with Mathew Wilder, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and was musical director for Michael Jackson for over 18 years. Bruce Connole has led a long list of critically acclaimed bands including The Strand, The Cryptics, The Pearl Chuckers and The Busted Hearts. Buxer has joined Connole again as a member of both The Revenants and The Suicide Kings. In 2008, Connole and The Suicide Kings signed to Nashville based label Oh Boy Records. Oh Boy is home to artists including John Prine, Steve Goodman and Kris Kristofferson.
The Jetzons catalog is now represented by independent label Fervor Records.