Too Much Joy was one of the most unlikely semi-successful post-punk oddities of the late ’80s/early ’90s. Self-consciously hilarious in the great college-rock tradition, the Scarsdale, N.Y., quartet was perhaps a bit too ruthlessly sarcastic for its own good, with a lead singer and primary lyricist in Tim Quirk who didn’t speak so much as verbally emote. In other words, TMJ was a band destined for implosion—and subsequent white-collar careers.
In truth, Too Much Joy still exits (in theory anyway). But for the moment, the spotlight (such as it is) is on Wonderlick, the side project that inadvertently came together between Quirk and TMJ cofounder Jay Blumenfield more than 20 years ago. The duo’s new release, Wonderlick Goes To War (People Still Suck), boldly and somewhat uncomfortably traverses the peaks and valleys of the human condition, with production help from Dave Trumfio (Pulsars, Mekons, Wilco, Built To Spill).
A bouncy addict’s lament, “Popping Pills” was inspired by true stories of childhood friends (including TMJ bassist Sandy Smallens, who’s namechecked in the song) feeling their oats and acting irresponsibly. The primary lyric came to Quirk as he was sorting his daily medications into one of those excruciating pill organizers.
“He realized he used to pop pills because he mistakenly thought he was immortal—but now he does so hoping merely to live an extra day,” says Blumenfield. “I wanted this one to sound like the Band, so I got really excited when Simon (Horrocks) told us he was channeling Levon Helm when he laid down his drum part.”
We’re proud to premiere Wonderlick’s “Popping Pills” video.
—Hobart Rowland
See Wonderlick live.
