The Economic Mekons
- Like Fugazi and the Washington DIY scene, they have never been commercially successful, can't make a living off the band, and only release music through small independent labels.
- But, and this is crucial, their commercial failure is not for lack of trying. They signed with A&M before getting sacked after one album (The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll, which many critics call their best work). To be fair, that whole album is explicitly anti-corporate rock. They couldn't let go of the principles enough not to bite the hand that feeds. OR they made a dumb move. However charitable you want to be.
- "The Curse of the Mekons", the album they put out in 1991, plays on this central idea of the band's myth: they are failures.
- But the paradox is that this sincere, accidental failure is also what makes the band such a punk success in the minds of critics and fans, why their music feels so resistant, and why their project can almost feel utopian (which I'll get to).
- Jon Langford (Mekon): “the key to our success is our lack of success. We survived because we weren’t supposed to survive” (Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune).