Three Imaginary Girls

Seattle's Indie-Pop Press – Music Reviews, Film Reviews, and Big Fun

Yesterday, I was in Rasputin Records in Palo Alto and was browsing their “$0.50 or 30 for $10” section (yes, indeedy) and ran across Ebbhead by Nitzer Ebb. It was on sale for, yes, $0.50, and I couldn’t bring myself to get it. That is how far Nitzer Ebb has fallen in the world of music. They are surrounded by used copies of Collective Soul, Britney Spears, Hootie and the Blowfish and yet, they still can’t sell an album to someone who has a passing interest in the band. Pretty much, I like “Family Man” because it reminds me of when I started watching 120 Minutes when Dave Kendall was the host and you could be sure of lots of Ebb, Die Warsau, Meat Beat Manifesto, PWEI and the like. Do I really like the song? I’m not sure. “Family Man” is kind of cheesy late 80s/early 90s industrial that seems more like a act than anything real tough and, well, industrial. So, now, in 2007, my marginal value for Nitzer Ebb is below $0.50 … which would explain why I have a pirated copy of “Family Man” on my iPod that constitutes my entire Nitzer Ebb discography. That, in part, is the fun of the <$4 used music bins - you can begin to get a sense of what certain bands from your youth (or present) are valued in your mind. I actually did purchase Elastica's self-titled debut (yes, I didn't have a copy ... sorry) for $1.95, which is, in itself, a sad testament to the former NME darlings. However, I just couldn't bring myself to shell out the two quarters to get a proper copy of Ebbhead