WEBVTT

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Okay, so I want to run a specific scenario by

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you to kick things off today. All right, I am

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ready. Put yourself in the shoes of a world -famous

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rock musician. It's the late 1980s. You are currently

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in the middle of a massive recording session

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with your incredibly famous band. Right, it's

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setting the scene. But you have to hit pause.

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You actually leave the glamorous life behind

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and head back to your hometown in the Midwest

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simply to help out your mom. Okay. Yeah, that's

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quite a pivot. Right. And while you're there,

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you decide you want to keep working. So you walk

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up to some local kids, you ask them where the

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best recording studio in the city is, and they

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point you towards someone you actually knew from

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childhood. Naturally. You go to this guy's studio

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and you end up recording a massive, globetrotting,

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funk rock hit. I mean, it really sounds like

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the inciting incident of a highly stylized indie

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film. But looking through the detailed encyclopedia

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entry we're using as our source material today.

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Yeah. This is the very real, very grounded origin

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story for Jerry Harrison's 1988 funk rock single.

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Yeah. Rev it up. Exactly. Released under the

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moniker Jerry Harrison Casual Gods. And that

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is exactly our mission for this deep dive. We

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are unpacking the surprisingly triumphant and

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honestly incredibly unconventional creation process

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behind this track. Because it defies almost all

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conventional music industry logics. It really

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does. Because as I was reading through the source.

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The detail that immediately jumped out wasn't

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just that he went back home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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It was the physical location of the studio itself.

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Right, where the magic actually happened. Yeah,

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so the local kids point him to David Vartanian,

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who was an old acquaintance. And he rents Vartanian's

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studio. But this wasn't some polished, soundproofed

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room in a commercial park. No far from it. Here's

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where it gets really interesting. Vartanian had

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built his recording studio inside a literal Cold

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War era bomb shelter. Which immediately makes

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me question the logistics. I mean, a concrete

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bunker sounds like an audio engineer's worst

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nightmare. Acoustically speaking, it usually

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is a complete disaster. Right, because of the

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echo. Yeah, a bomb shelter is designed for structural

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integrity against massive external force, which

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means you have thick parallel concrete walls,

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low ceilings, and absolute isolation. None of

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which you want for recording music. Exactly.

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Yeah. That kind of architecture creates standing

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sound waves and really harsh flutter echoes.

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You usually want high ceilings and irregular

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surfaces to let the sound breathe. But he made

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it work. He did. Because if you consider the

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psychological impact of that space, it completely

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shifts the creative dynamic. Oh, I see what you

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mean. You have a musician taking a break from

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the high pressure, highly visible environment

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of talking heads retreating underground. into

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a space built for hiding and survival. Wow. Yeah,

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that's intense. It cuts you off from natural

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light, city noise, and all external distractions.

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It basically forces a hyper -focused, pressurized

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vacuum. And what he creates inside that vacuum

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is almost the entirety of his second solo album,

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Casual Gods. The source notes there was only

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one exception on the entire track list. Just

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one track, right? Yeah, a song called A .K .A.

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Love. which was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios

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in New York City. The rest of the album was captured

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right there in that Milwaukee bunker. And that

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contrast is really what makes the resulting music

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so compelling. You are injecting vibrant kinetic

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funk rock. into an environment fundamentally

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rooted in Cold War paranoia. It's such a wild

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juxtaposition. Let's talk about that specific

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sound, actually, because Raid Up served as the

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opening track for the album. It sets the tone

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perfectly. Right. And Harrison himself described

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it as sounding like an Eddie Cochran track. So

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you have a baseline of classic driving rock and

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roll, but it's heavily layered with the funk

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rock genre tag. Which is a really tricky balance

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to strike. So how do those two distinct styles

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actually mesh? in a subterranean setting like

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that? Well, it requires an incredibly tight rhythm

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section to pull off. Rockabilly, or early rock

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and roll like Eddie Cochran's work, is characterized

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by a very straightforward driving 4 -4 momentum.

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It just chugs along. Exactly. It's designed to

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push forward aggressively. Funk, on the other

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hand, is all about syncopation. The groove. Right.

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It focuses heavily on the downbeat. the ones

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and then plays with complex rhythmic subdivisions

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in between the beats so you have the drive of

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rock but the bounce of funk yes infusing the

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driving momentum of rock with the intricate pocket

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of funk means the musicians have to be locked

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in flawlessly especially in a dense acoustic

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space where loose playing would just turn into

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a wall of muddy echoes Which totally explains

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the caliber of musicians Harrison brought into

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this bunker. He didn't just bring in local amateurs.

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No, not at all. The primary guitar riff for Rev

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It Up didn't even come from a meticulously planned

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composition session. It was born organically

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out of a jam session with Alex Weir. Which is

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huge. Yeah, if you follow funk music, you know

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Weir from the Brothers Johnson. Having Alex Weir

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in that room is a massive catalyst for this track.

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Spontaneous generation of a hook through jamming

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is essential. essentially a conversation between

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players. And Weir brings a lot to that conversation.

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He comes up with this killer syncopated riff,

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and they build the instrumental foundation around

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it. And then you look at who else is joining

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the jam. You have Bernie Worrell on P -boards.

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Bernie Worrell from Parliament Funkadelic. I

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mean, that's royalty. Exactly. One of the primary

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architects of the P -funk sound, known for his

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revolutionary use of synthesizers. Then you add

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Chris Spedding on bears. Rick Yeager on drums,

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and Jim Liebman handling the horns. It's an all

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-star lineup. These are heavyweight session players

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and genre pioneers. They're taking that dense,

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complex funk rock arrangement and anchoring it

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perfectly, despite being in a bunker. So they

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build this massive, intricate, instrumental track.

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Harrison, who also produced the track, then sits

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down to co -write the lyrics with John Seeger

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and Ernie Brooks. And this is where the song

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takes another unexpected turn. Yeah, because

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given the pedigree of the musicians and the intensity

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of the music, you might expect some avant -garde,

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highly abstract lyrical concept. Something very

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conceptual. Right. Instead, Harrison bases it

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on what he called a very familiar topic. He writes

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a quintessential Americana narrative, a boy and

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a girl driving in a car. Which is actually a

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brilliant strategic choice on his part. How so?

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Well, when an arrangement is that complex and

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rhythmically demanding, pairing it with highly

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abstract lyrics can alienate a broader audience.

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They lose the thread of the song. Exactly. The

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instrumental track inherently feels like kinetic

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movement. Like a motor running, hence the title,

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Rev It Up. Oh, that makes perfect sense. By grounding

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that heavy funk rock groove in the most universally

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understood trope in American popular music, driving

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fast on the open road. You create an anchor for

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the listener. It gives you something familiar

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to hold on to while the music goes crazy underneath.

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Exactly. It translates the complexity of the

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music into a narrative that any listener can

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instantly grasp. It's a fantastic juxtaposition.

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You have a stationary claustrophobic bunker producing

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a track entirely dedicated to the freedom of

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driving down a highway. The irony is pretty great.

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But Harrison completely subverts that Americana

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trope when it comes to the visual representation

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of the song. We have to talk about the music

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video. Oh, the video is a whole other level of

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weird. It was directed by Harrison himself and

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produced by Bell One Productions in New York.

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And given the literal nature of the lyrics, the

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expectation in the late 80s would be a very straightforward

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visual. Right, just show a car. Classic cars,

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desert highways. Perhaps some literal interpretation

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of the boy and the girl driving around. But no,

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instead, Harrison takes a hard left turn into

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deliberate surrealism. The imagery they actually

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went with features Literal babies. Yes, literal

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infants. Placed inside a dark, gritty biker bar,

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riding around on brightly colored plastic big

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wheels. I mean, just picture that. It is so bizarre

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and is a calculated use of cognitive dissonance.

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It really throws you off. In the late 80s, the

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music video landscape was often saturated with

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highly literal interpretations of lyrics. The

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literal visual translations of whatever the singer

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was saying. MTV was full of that stuff. Harrison

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deliberately broke that mold. Placing innocent

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infants on children's toys in direct opposition

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to a rough adult biker establishment creates

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a jarring visual contrast. It almost forces the

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viewer to pay closer attention. Eddie Cochran

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inspired funk riff. You're listening to lyrics

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about revving up a car and your brain is just

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trying to reconcile all of that with the sight

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of a toddler navigating a tricycle past leather

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clad bikers. And that right there is the mechanism

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of a memorable aha moment. When art presents

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you with something that absurd, it sticks with

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you. Because you can't quite figure it out. The

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viewer remembers the song because the brain is

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actively trying to solve the visual puzzle. It

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elevates the track from just another catchy funk

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rock tune to a memorable cultural artifact. And

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looking at the chart data provided in the encyclopedia

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entry, that artifact absolutely resonated on

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a global scale. It wasn't just a niche hit. Not

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at all. It was released in the United States

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as the lead single in January of 1988, and it

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climbed to number seven on the Billboard album

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rock tracks chart, spending 16 weeks in the top

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50. A solid run. But the international distribution

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is where the story gets really interesting. It

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didn't just succeed in the U .S. It became a

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massive, unexpected anthem across the southern

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hemisphere. The way different cultures latch

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on to specific genre blends is always a fascinating

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map to trace. It truly is. In Australia, it hit

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number three on the Australian Music Report in

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May of 1988. Number three is huge. Right. And

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in New Zealand, it peaked at number six on the

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RANZ singles chart, holding strong for 15 weeks.

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It even crossed over to South Africa, hitting

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number four. on the Springbok radio chart. Which

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is incredible reach. It's wild to think about

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a track born in a Milwaukee bomb shelter dominating

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the airwaves in Oceania and Africa. It is. But

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the European charts present a distinctly different

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narrative. It's an anomaly worth examining. Right.

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The source material notes that in the UK, it

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peaked at number 90. In West Germany, it peaked

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at number 45. A pretty sharp drop compared to

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Australia. On paper, those seem like minor blips

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compared to its success elsewhere. But there

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is a crucial caveat attached to those numbers.

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Revy It Up remains Jerry Harrison's only charting

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solo single in both the UK and West Germany.

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Which speaks volumes about the track's unique

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penetration. How so? Well, the UK market in the

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late 80s, for instance, was heavily dominated

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by synth -pop acid house and very polished dance

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music. A gritty, rockabilly -infused funk rock

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track was a distinct outlier. It didn't fit the

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mold at all. Not even a little. Yet the groove

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was undeniable enough that it managed to break

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into the charts however briefly in markets where

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his solo work hadn't traditionally gained a foothold.

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I want to pivot to how fans in those markets

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and globally really actually consume the song

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in 1988, because we have to discuss the physical

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release formats. Oh, absolutely. The single didn't

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just exist as a uniform radio edit. The release

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history between January and September of 88 includes

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standard seven inch vinyls, larger 12 inch vinyls

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and CD singles, particularly the maxi CD format

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in Europe. Exploring those formats gives us a

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window into a completely different era of music

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consumption. It was a tactile experience. Exactly.

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Today, a single is largely a standalone digital

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file. In 1988, a physical single was a tangible

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artifact that served as a gateway to an entire

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ecosystem of alternate audio. And the track listings

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for the B -sides and alternate mixes listed in

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the source are just phenomenal. They get really

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creative. Listeners flipping over their vinyl

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would find a track called Bobby, specifically

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the Aboriginal mix, which is nearly seven minutes

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long. Seven minutes on a B -side. Then you have

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the alternate cuts of the main single, the To

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Heller and Back mix, and an incredibly specific

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title, Bad Bruce's Wisconsin Dub. Titles like

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that perfectly encapsulate late 80s remix culture.

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And it's important to understand what a dub mix

00:12:18.610 --> 00:12:20.950
actually entails acoustically. Yeah, break that

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down for us. Originated from Jamaican reggae

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and dancehall dub mixing, it wasn't just about

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adding a new drum beat. It involved taking the

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original multi -track recordings and radically

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deconstructing them. So stripping away the main

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vocals to focus on the rhythm. Exactly. An engineer

00:12:36.210 --> 00:12:38.690
would isolate the bass groove, drop the guitars

00:12:38.690 --> 00:12:40.830
in and out sporadically, and ride the mixing

00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:43.370
faders live to apply massive amounts of analog

00:12:43.370 --> 00:12:46.220
delay and reverb. so it completely distorts the

00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:48.500
original track often just to a single snare hit

00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:51.759
or a vocal echo yeah it transforms a tight three

00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.840
and a half minute pop song into a sprawling atmospheric

00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.759
sonic landscape it totally changes the relationship

00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.059
between the listener and the music it makes it

00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:02.799
an exploration yeah you buy the seven inch record

00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:04.860
because you like the catchy driving hook you

00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:06.980
heard on the radio but when you take it home

00:13:06.980 --> 00:13:09.830
and flip it over You find yourself lost in a

00:13:09.830 --> 00:13:12.269
massive, echoing, six -and -a -half -minute Wisconsin

00:13:12.269 --> 00:13:15.370
dub version that you had no idea existed. It

00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:18.129
rewards curiosity. The artists and the producers

00:13:18.129 --> 00:13:20.529
were building an extended sonic world around

00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:23.129
the core track. It turns the consumer into an

00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:25.870
active participant who is physically uncovering

00:13:25.870 --> 00:13:28.470
new layers of the music. It's just a fascinating

00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.490
journey from top to bottom. A world -famous musician

00:13:31.490 --> 00:13:34.389
steps away from a massive band to simply go home

00:13:34.389 --> 00:13:36.730
and support his mother. A very humble start.

00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:39.870
He ends up renting a studio space housed inside

00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:43.629
a thick concrete Cold War bomb shelter. He invites

00:13:43.629 --> 00:13:46.490
funk legends into that claustrophobic space to

00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:49.429
jam, resulting in a kinetic Eddie Cochran style

00:13:49.429 --> 00:13:52.529
funk rock track. An impossible blend. He pairs

00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.450
that complex sound with the quintessential Americana

00:13:55.450 --> 00:13:58.389
imagery of driving a car, but then visually promotes

00:13:58.389 --> 00:14:00.990
it by filming babies on big wheels in a biker

00:14:00.990 --> 00:14:04.909
bar. And that highly specific, deeply weird concoction

00:14:04.909 --> 00:14:08.129
goes on to chart globally spawning seven minute

00:14:08.129 --> 00:14:11.299
dub mixes named after Wisconsin. The narrative

00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:13.980
serves as a potent reminder of how original ideas

00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:16.740
are actually formed. It really does. We often

00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:19.220
assume that world -class, globally resonant art

00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:22.399
requires frictionless environments. Multi -million

00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.940
dollar studios with perfect acoustics and predictable

00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:27.080
formulas. That's what the industry sells us anyway.

00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:29.320
But the reality is that constraints, limitations,

00:14:29.659 --> 00:14:32.080
and unusual environments often force the most

00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:34.899
innovative choices. Creativity doesn't require

00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:37.799
a glamorous setting. Sometimes it just requires

00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.360
returning to your roots finding an isolated,

00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.440
deeply unconventional space and engaging in a

00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:45.639
genuine musical conversation with the right collaborators.

00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.669
That is a brilliant point to end on. But there

00:14:48.669 --> 00:14:51.769
is one final detail buried in the release history

00:14:51.769 --> 00:14:53.529
of our source material that I think is worth

00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:55.690
mulling over before we wrap up. What's that?

00:14:55.950 --> 00:14:58.950
Among the standard vinyls and CDs released in

00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:02.169
88, there was one format listed specifically

00:15:02.169 --> 00:15:05.889
as a European CD video single. Oh, wow. The CD

00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:08.750
video. Yeah. This was a peculiar piece of transitional

00:15:08.750 --> 00:15:11.309
technology that contained three standard audio

00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:15.169
tracks and one three minute and 48 second video

00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:17.809
track. right on the disc. Barely a blip in media

00:15:17.809 --> 00:15:20.350
history. Exactly. It makes you consider the fragile

00:15:20.350 --> 00:15:22.970
nature of how we interact with art. We just spent

00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:26.129
time analyzing the deliberate surrealism of babies

00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:29.309
in a biker bar. Right. What happens to that specific

00:15:29.309 --> 00:15:32.690
intentional visual experience when the highly

00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:35.169
specialized physical format it was packaged for

00:15:35.169 --> 00:15:38.230
goes completely obsolete? It just vanishes. It

00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:40.769
really makes you wonder how much brilliant subversive

00:15:40.769 --> 00:15:43.190
art from the past is currently sitting in a box

00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:45.309
somewhere trapped inside a piece of of plastic

00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:48.529
that we no longer possess the machines to decode

00:15:48.529 --> 00:15:51.649
it's a haunting thought honestly so keep exploring

00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:54.529
those physical media crates keep digging into

00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:56.929
the b -sides and we will catch you on the next

00:15:56.929 --> 00:15:57.590
deep dive