Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#88: The Sisters Of Mercy “Lucretia, My Reflection”
All puns aside, 1987’s Floodland was the high-water mark for Leeds, England’s Sisters Of Mercy, the band that best represented ’80s goth rock. Frontman Andrew Eldritch was pretty much all alone in the batcave for this album—apparently, he was such an asshole that most of his bandmates left and formed the Mission U.K.—and he indulged in some really fantastical, gloomy pop-music flamboyance and prog-rock frippery. “Lucretia, My Reflection” is the record’s best song, purportedly written about Sisters Of Mercy bassist Patricia Morrison (formerly of the Damned, and Eldritch’s co-star in this video) and featuring an evil, close-to-krautrock rhythm. There is much more to be said about the Sisters Of Mercy, and we’ll save it for a future installment featuring the “This Corrosion” video, a shitstorm of betrayal, overindulgence, name-calling and Air Supply. Happy holidays!
