Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 37-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
“In Canada, the anarchist collective Black Wedge lampooned the yuppie culture that newspapers celebrated in the style section.” —Brent Bambury, longtime host of Canada’s iconic national radio show Brave New Waves
While touring as part of the Black Wedge in the 1980s, Mecca Normal would have performed “Beaten Down” (and most of the songs on our first album) at almost every show. The word lampoon never came to mind, but I suppose it’s adequate in hindsight.
“Beaten Down” from Mecca Normal (Smarten UP!, 1986; reissued by K, 1995) (download):
