THE JONESES
The Joneses were a band from Southern California whose style was a mixture of punk rock and rock and roll. Founded in 1981 by guitarist and singer Jeff Drake and professional skateboarder Steve Olson, the incarnation of the Joneses that was voted “Most Loved Band” in the 1983 L.A. Weekly Reader’s Poll included, in addition to Drake, three ex-Mau-Mau’s, Scott Franklin (the Cramps), Paul Mars Black (L.A. Guns), and Johnnie Sage (Christian Death). Their only full-length LP Keeping Up With The Joneses, was released by Doctor Dream Records in 1987. Although the record was promoted to be released in July 1986 and hugely popular on college radio stations, legal delays kept the album from being available until well into 1987. By then, for all intents and purposes, the band had broken up. (More from Wikipedia)
According to the promotional material by Bomp! Records for the band’s EP, Amanda Jones, Amanda Jones was born in March 1995 as a collaboration of Amanda (Mandy) Brix and Jeff Drake, previously in the punk rock band the Joneses. The combination of her first name and his former band name clearly brought about the band name Amanda Jones, but they were almost certainly mindful of the Rolling Stones connection also: Their sound has the same kind of playful spirit as early mid-period Stones albums like Between the Buttons (released in January 1967); besides “Miss Amanda Jones” and “Ruby Tuesday”, the album also includes the song “Let’s Spend the Night Together” that got the band into so much trouble with The Ed Sullivan Show – Mick Jagger sung the title lyric as “let’s spend some time together” as Ed Sullivan insisted, though he and bassist Bill Wyman were rolling their eyes at the time. A few months back, I discussed the controversial lyrics in their first big hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”; the Rolling Stones were able to sing that number on The Ed Sullivan Show with no censorship.
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Jeff Drake was the lead singer for a punk rock band called the Joneses; another of their bandmembers was Paul Mars Black, who was a bandmember in the past UARB Dead Hippie. This is not the same band as the 1970’s Boston hard rock band called the Joneses or the Pittsburgh R&B band also called the Joneses that was part of the Philly Soul scene of the 1970’s. This band called the Joneses was formed in 1981 and was active in LA through the end of the decade. They have a Wikipedia article but no notice in Allmusic, while the Boston and Pittsburgh bands have Allmusic write-ups but nothing in Wikipedia. The Joneses released several singles and EP’s but only one full-length LP, Keeping up with the Joneses (not surprisingly I suppose, the Pittsburgh band also released an album called Keepin’ up with the Joneses).
(December 2015)
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Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
December 2015 – 1990’s pop/punk band AMANDA JONES; Story of the Month on the early American singles by the Beatles; also, Rochelle Harper, Lisa Loeb, 3 Doors Down, Level with the Ground, Chris Stamey with Yo La Tengo, Meri Wilson, Bobby Brown, the Cruzados / the Plugz, Terence Trent d’Arby, An Emotional Fish, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Hunters & Collectors, Looters, Shakespear’s Sister, Robert Tepper, Y Kant Tori Read / Tori Amos, Ugly Kid Joe, Paul Young, the Rolling Stones, Mandy Brix, the Joneses.
(Year 7 Review)
