
The Modern Lovers
Nationaliteit: Verenigde Staten
The Modern Lovers waren een Amerikaanse rockgroep geleid door Jonathan Richman in de jaren 70 en '80. De muziekstijl van de band wordt ook gerekend tot de protopunk.
De originele band, die bestond van 1970 tot 1974, maar waarvan de opnamen pas later werden uitgebracht, was zeer invloedrijk. Hun klassieke album The Modern Lovers bevatte emotionele liedjes over afspraakjes, het opgroeien in Massachusetts, en de liefde voor het leven. De klank van de band was voor een groot deel te danken aan de invloed van de The Velvet Underground, maar wees ook de weg naar de punk, new wave en indierock van de volgende decennia.
The Modern Lovers were an American rock band formed in Natick, Massachusetts in 1970 by Jonathan Richman. The original band existed from 1970 to 1974 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson (later of the Cars) and keyboardist Jerry Harrison (later of Talking Heads). The sound of the band owed a great deal to the influence of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and is now sometimes classified as "proto-punk". It pointed the way towards much of the punk rock, new wave, alternative and indie rock music of later decades. Their only album, the eponymous The Modern Lovers, contained idiosyncratic songs about dating awkwardness, growing up in Massachusetts, love of life, and the USA.
Later, between 1976 and 1988, Richman used the name Modern Lovers for a variety of backing bands, always billed as "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers". These bands were quieter and featured more low-key, often near-childlike songs as Richman drew on folk-rock and other genres. Of Richman's original bandmates, only Robinson was part of any of the other Modern Lovers incarnations.