Musical Space 12/27: The Embarrassment

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KMUW / Mark Foley

In the late 1970s lifestyles and music were changing. Disco was dying and punk rock, the gritty counterpart to affected radio glitz offered anyone with a guitar and some guts the chance to make music.

Wichita quartet The Embarrassment came on the scene in 1979 with its own Midwestern take on this new anti-Xanadu grubbiness. The Embarrassment wasn’t as belligerent as some of its contemporaries and fused simplicity and exuberance with the circumspect awareness of art rock. The members all had art backgrounds and guitarist Bill Goffrier has a painterly way of using his instrument to apply thick strokes of color and texture.

Embarrassment lyrics were smart, too: “Celebrity Art Party” rhymes “artistic” with “narcissistic,” “Patio Set” compares a lover to lawn furniture, and the lyric to “Death Travels West” is a free-association riff suggesting a beat poet traversing Route 66. Despite all the intellect, though, The Embarrassment never let go of the youthful energy and homemade, garage-band feel which made the group’s recordings and live shows eminently lovable.

The Embarrassment broke up in 1983 but in those four short years the band earned critical acclaim and built a loyal following which lasts to this day. Kansas-born singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston is quick to sing the band’s praises and members of R.E.M. have also shown appreciation for the band. The group occasionally reunites and on those happy occasions fans come from all corners of the U.S. and even some from abroad to celebrate a group that’s still ahead of its time.

For KMUW, I’m Mark Foley

Music: “Celebrity Art Party” by The Embarrassment from Heyday: 1979-1983