An Ongoing Solution

Back in the mid-'70s, the avant garde of rock music was Ohio, and one of the most interesting Ohio bands of the era was Pere Ubu, a sonically challenging band which formed out of the breakup of legendary proto-punk band Rocket from the Tombs. Early on, the band facetiously described their musical style as avant-garage. One of Pere Ubu's most celebrated early singles was ode to teenage alienation Final Solution, a song which the band refrained from playing live for years because of the association of the title phrase with Nazism.


The song's first incarnation was a spare, edgy version performed by Rocket from the Tombs:





The original Pere Ubu single version had a richer sound, a slow tempo number which still achieves a nice burn:





Recently, a reconstituted Rocket from the Tombs has toured, performing a version of the song which, to my ears, has a plaintiveness substituting for the angst of the original version:





Covers of the song have popped up from time-to-time, with Peter Murphy, frontman of Bauhaus releasing a version as his debut solo single:





Yesterday, I found a smoldering cover of the song by Living Colour, which inspired this post:





For a song originally recorded by a bunch of young Midwestern weirdos, it sure has legs.