The Modern Dance cover

The Modern Dance

Released

This album is the urtext of art-punk. Without Pere Ubu’s debut blast from the Cleveland wastes, there would have been no Mission of Burma; no Pixies; no Pavement. The transition from the chugging kiss-off song “Non-alignment Pact” to the resolutely weird title track is, arguably, one of the most hair-raisingly perfect moments of 1970s rock’n’roll. And then it gets weirder, with tracks like “Real World” and “Over My Head” using herky-jerk rhythms and muttered spoken-word asides to generate moods that were completely alien to pop music at the time. And then the floodgates broke and rock music was never the same again.

Rick Anderson

Recommended by

Suggestions
Akşak cover

Akşak

Holger Mertin, Jaki Liebezeit
Transneptunian Planets cover

Transneptunian Planets

Jan Peter Schwalm, Stephan Thelen
The American Metaphysical Circus cover

The American Metaphysical Circus

Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies
World of Echo cover

World of Echo

Arthur Russell
Hollywood cover

Hollywood

Už Jsme Doma
Friend or Foe cover

Friend or Foe

Adam and the Ants
D.I. Go Pop cover

D.I. Go Pop

Disco Inferno