In 1998, I got in contact with David Kaufman, the drummer for the cult 80’s band The Nails which had put out one of the best recordings of the decade – “88 Lines About 44 Women”. Below was our correspondence:
From dakaufman@****** Sun Dec 6 18:51:18 1998
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 14:14:54 -0500
From: David Kaufman <dakaufman@********.com>
To: Dean <goldd@*****>
Subject: Re: Answering
(Dave)
>>> Hey Dean
>>> Thanks for visiting The Nails’ website. Where are you from? Did you
>>> access the site with a Mac or PC? Did you hear the music? How old are
>>> you? Have you seen or heard the Mazda commercial?
(Dean)
> My father used to play the Mood Swing LP when it first came out. (Which I
> have since tried to locate with no success, though I am sure I could if I
> tried harder) I’m 21 now, so I was a little kid then and so my mother
> would get pissed off when he would play 88 Lines About 44 Women. Today
> its probably my favorite 80’s song, up there with Bela Lugosi’s Dead (even
> though that was 78 or 79) by Bauhaus. It was surely the only punk album
> my father even touched, but he liked 88 lines so much, it is sort of a
> twisted father-son timepiece now.
(Dave)
I’ve relayed this message to friends and band members since it makes us
feel old (I’m 44) but on the other hand we’ve got quite a bunch of new
Nails’ fans proving the song has stood the test of time even though
generational changes. I believe there is less of a generation gap between
people of our age and yours due to the rock’n’roll era being firmly
entrenched now. My parents grew up in the pre-rock era and hated rock
though my parents like The Beatles and Janis Joplin (!). Some of the
pre-rock era music was awful despite the swing revival. Anyway I
correspond with a Penn State college student who thought 88 Lines was a new
song until she discovered it was released when she was 6!
(Dean)
> I was wondering about something. I once got a hold of the Corpus Christi
> cd and heard the “90’s version” of 88 lines. Am I correct in thinking
> that it is virtually identical? It seems to have the same vocal track,
> although
> the extended drum beats, etc snazz it up nicely and tastefully without
> defacing a classic.
(Dave)
Thanks. You’re right in that it is “virtually” identical, yet it was
completely re-recorded with a new vocal track by Marc. As you know the
original 1981 version of 88 Lines is also on Corpus Christi. As far as the
two new versions on it, the re-creation of the 1984 version and what we
call the “house” version, I don’t think they have the same vocal track.
You pose a good question. I’ll have to ask. I helped mix and arrange the
re-creation but had nothing to do with the house version. In addition I
was not involved with CC but my songs appear on it.
(Dean)
> As for the Mazda commercial, yes I did see and hear it. I was really
> shocked when I heard that song in an advertisement. Firstly, because of
> the fact that it is relatively obscure. Second, I was surprised that
> whomever made the marketing decision to use the song would want to
> associate its product with a song containing lyrics like those in 88
> Lines. Thirdly, I was surprised that The Nails would want to let their
> song be used in such a context.
(Dave)
Well most people think it’s a cool jingle. Only the “in crowd” knows it’s
a real song. That is the gap we are trying to bridge to possibly resurrect
our careers. The marketing decision was made because someone at an ad
agency liked the song, knew the lyrics could be changed and would become a
“cool” factor besides that it’s a great visual commercial that features
women driving a car for a change. You’d think that only men drive cars if
you watch commercials…. For us it was an opportunity to get our song out
there to millions and financially capitalize on it for a change. We sold
out and are proud of it. U2 can afford to not have a sponsor on their
tours; the Rolling Stones can afford not to but choose to. Who has more
integrity?
