[[Image:Special affect.jpg|thumb|225px|right|'''SA:''' L-to-R Marty, Al, Frank, Harry]]

'''Special Affect''' was a Chicago "punk/glam/new wave" band from the late 1970s until the early 80s. Three of the members of Special Affect became well-known with the Industrial groups [[Ministry]] (Al), My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (Frankie) and Concrete Blonde (Harry).

== Members ==

* [[Frankie Nardiello]] (vocals)
* [[Al Jourgensen]] (guitar)-- replaced [[Tom "Atomic" Hoffman]]
* [[Marty Sorenson]] (bass)
* [[Harry Rushakoff]] (drums)

== Releases ==

[[Image:specaffects_Moodmusic.jpg|right]]
* ''Mood Music'' 7" ([[1979]])-- w/Tom Hoffman
**I Know A Girl
**Vertigo Feeling
**Innocence
**Dress Me Dolls
 

[[Image:specialaffects_Toomuchsoftliving.jpg|right]]
* (The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) ''Too Much Soft Living'' (Album) - November [[1980]]
Produced by Martin E Delaney
Side One:
1. Nuclear Gloom 4:00
2. Headache 2:13
3. Blondes on the Run 2:35
4. Nothing Nothing 2:55
5. Too Much Soft Living 3:51

Side Two:
1. What Next 2:10
2. Cleancut 2:32
3. Bruiser Boy 3:00
4. Unbreakable 2:37
5. Killjoy Inerference 3:00
6. Let Go 1:54

[[Image:specialaffects_Toomuchsoftliving.jpg|right]]
* ''Too Much Soft Living'' 7" (June 10, [[1981]])-- w/Al Jourgensen
''The Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture''
 

== Notable Shows ==

* April 30th, 1980 at [[Club 950 Lucky Number]] - grand opening
* November 7th, 1980 at [[Wizards]] - album release part / source of the live YouTube performances

== External Links ==

* [http://post.queensu.ca/~fletchra/TKK/Faq/band.html TKK history page about SA] - most of this page info comes from here
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSblRxYZLi0 Live performance of Too Much Soft Living] - 1980 at Wizards
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5cfVheM8bo Live performance of Out of Order] - 1980 at Wizards
* [http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cabrona131@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/2a23 Couple of photos of Special Affect]

[[Category:Al Jourgensen]]
[[Category:Bands]]
[[Category:YouTube]]

2006-12-29T23:00:55Z

Strellj: Formatting changes

[http://www.the-imports.com The Imports] forged their unique brand of post-punk in the quiet and tree-lined neighborhood of Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago in the spring of 1980. Making up the core of the Imports were '''Ben Krug''' (vocals), '''Tom Krug''' (guitar) and [http://www.joestrell.com Joe Strell] (bass). Like many bands, the Imports went through a series of drummers including '''John Krug''', who helped establish the Imports as one of a precious few Chicago punk bands in early 1980, '''Alec Dale''', who accompanied the outfit through its transition from punk to post-punk, and finally '''Tom Wall''', who with his inimitable minimalism completed the band's singular sound that would prove to be decades ahead of its time, a sound commercially realized only in much later bands such as Interpol and the Strokes.

During their brief career, the Imports played extensively throughout the limited nightclub circuit of Chicago's underground music scene, a scene they shared with other Chicago new wave and/or punk (the distinction was never that clear) bands such as '''Bohemia''', '''Da!''', the '''Dadistics''', '''Epicycle''', the '''Ferraris''', '''Heavy Manners''', the '''Men''', '''Naked Raygun''', the '''Oil Tasters''' (from Milwaukee), '''Painter Band''', '''Phil 'n' the Blanks''', '''Poison Squirrel''', '''Skafish''', '''Special Affect''', the '''Subverts''' (from Rockford), the '''Sweatermen''', the '''Throbbers''', the '''Trouble Boys''', and the '''Vaguelys'''.

Initially, the Imports played a quick pop punk set of originals inspired by late seventies American and British punk acts such as '''Iggy Pop''', the '''New York Dolls''', the '''Ramones''', the '''Sex Pistols''', the '''Clash''', and the '''Jam'''. Their repertoire soon swelled to over sixty originals, few of which ran much longer than two minutes, if that. The songs were fast and to the point, their earnest vocals and basic harmonies backed by driving durms, a melodic three-string bass, and the grist of a Gibson SG Junior Les Paul pumped through a Fender Twin Reverb. However, soon after their Chicago debut at the club '''Ann Arkees''' on March 6, 1980, the Imports were to trade their high-intensity pop-punk bombast for a hypnotizing style wrought of brooding melancholy.

In a meeting with '''Paul Weller''' during the '''Jam's''' "Setting Sons" tour, on Friday, March 7, 1980, the Imports ran through a quick "unplugged" set of their material before the Jam played a gig in Old Chicago, a combination shopping mall and amusement park on the far south side. After hearing the Imports play, Paul said that they would go over well in England, and that they reminded him of '''Joy Division''' and '''Gang of Four''', which he recommended that the Imports check out. And so they did. Seeing the light (or dark) the Imports immediately tossed out their entire collection of punk originals and begin carving out their own nich in the post-punk landscape of the early 1980s, writing stark, mesmerizing compositions that relied not so much upon rapid chord changes but rather employed subtle differences in texture and voicing to convey an underlying message of existential angst and accompanying despair.

The Imports released only one professional recording: a 7" single on '''Cirkle Records''', published in 1980 with the songs "Visions of Reality" and "Darkness of Light" intentionally listed only as "Side One" and "Side Two", respectively. These songs were recorded on a four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder in the Imports rehearsal space in the basement of the Krug's home in Hyde Park. The recording engineer was '''Andrew Clark''', guitarist and vocalist of the band '''Epicycle'''. In order to achieve some manner of separation between tracks, each member of the band was sequestered in his own corner of the basement. Recording lineup: Ben Krug (vocals), Tom Krug (guitar), Joe Strell (bass), Alec Dale (drums).

In addition to their single, the only other extent recordings of this band's extensive repertoire is a board tape made from their penultimate performance in December 1980 at '''Sammie's''' in Minneapolis, where they opened for the '''Jim Carroll Band''', and a couple of practice session tapes, recorded on a monophonic Sears tape recorder.