Though not officially broken up, the band has not performed together in public since the early 1990s. In 2005, they were invited by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse to perform at All Tomorrow's Parties but respectfully declined the invitation.
The band met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band's basic lineup was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people they'd borrowed drums from. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan. Indeed, it was on a trip to Tokyo that the band members recorded Three Tea Breakfast, an EP that established the band's reputation.
Calvin Johnson was one of the founders of seminal indie rock label K Records. The label achieved modest success and continues to hold its independent integrity, claiming to have been "exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982."
Beat Happening (1985), their full length debut, was critically acclaimed, as was Jamboree (1988). By the release of Dreamy in 1991, Beat Happening was one of the most popular bands in the indie rock community, leading to their pivotal role in the International Pop Underground Festival, which brought anti-corporate rock its earliest mainstream acceptance. Their last full-length album was 1992's You Turn Me On, which represented the band breaking many of their established conventions from earlier albums, most notably on Godsend, which runs 9 minutes in length and features blatant use of multitrack recording. The album was described by allmusic.com as "A masterpiece." Though never announcing a break-up and claiming at one point to still practice once a month, the members of Beat Happening have moved on to various other projects. In 2000 they released the Angel Gone single, their first new release in eight years.
A Beat Happening box set, Crashing Through, which collects all of the band's officially released music except for two of their tracks from a live cassette split with The Vaselines, was released in 2002. The box set included a booklet containing a lengthy essay on the history and impact of the band by Lois Maffeo, as well as rare photos of members Calvin, Heather and Bret.
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in between
Beat Happening Lyrics
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Couldn't even speak a word
(???) got me by the tongue
It's nothing you havent heard
In between what's true and false
In between what's loud and soft
You didn't want to talk about it
you didn't want to trouble me
It's just old history
She's got too much imagination
She's a queen of variations
Tried so hard to make you forget
See yourself in the TV set
And i remember when my ??? left
It was year before my birth
And i can see them years from now
(?)They go flying above the earth
And let's not talk about makes us die
Let the jokes make the years go by
Cause it's a burden it's hard to bear
It's too easy to not even care
Baby looks so sweet
Pick me up right off my feet
And we'll go down to the world of dreams
It's so hard but that just how it's seems
There's a mask upon the wall
In between the window and the hall
In between nothing's ever (done?)
What's ahead and where you come from?
If you could would you fly away?
Or stick around for another day?
The Beat Happening song In Between is a reflection on the complexities of life and the difficulty in navigating between the extremes that define it. Throughout the song, there is a sense of uncertainty – the singer can't quite put into words what they are feeling or what they want. The first verse speaks to this in particular, as the singer tries to communicate something to someone else but is unable to do so. There is a sense of frustration and powerlessness implied here – a feeling that we have all experienced at some point in our lives.
The chorus focuses on the concept of "in between." This is where the song derives its title from, and it is a key theme that runs throughout the track. The singer is caught between different worlds, different ideas, different ways of being. There is a sense of ambiguity here that is both freeing and stifling – on the one hand, the singer is not bound by any strict set of rules or expectations, but on the other, they are unsure of where they stand in the grand scheme of things.
The second verse of the song touches on the idea of memory and our relationship to the past. The singer asks somebody about their history and is met with resistance. The other person doesn't want to talk about it, and the singer understands that there is a burden associated with that past that is hard to bear. The lines "let the jokes make the years go by" suggest a certain kind of fatalism, a sense that we are all just passing through this world and that nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things.
Line by Line Meaning
I heard you talk last night
I listened to your words yesterday night
Couldn't even speak a word
I was too shocked to even speak
(???) got me by the tongue
I was tongue-tied and speechless
It's nothing you haven't heard
It's all familiar to you
In between what's true and false
In the gray area between truth and lies
In between what's loud and soft
In the area between loudness and softness
I ask you about the past
I inquired about your history
You didn't want to talk about it
You avoided discussing it
you didn't want to trouble me
You didn't want to burden me
It's just old history
It's just ancient events
She's got too much imagination
She possesses excessive imagination
She's a queen of variations
She's an expert in alterations and modifications
Tried so hard to make you forget
I did everything to erase your memory
See yourself in the TV set
Visualize yourself on the screen
And i remember when my ??? left
I have memories of my ?? leaving
It was year before my birth
It occurred prior to my existence
And i can see them years from now
I can picture them in the future
(?)They go flying above the earth
They soar high in the skies
And let's not talk about makes us die
Let's avoid discussing the things that do us harm
Let the jokes make the years go by
Let humor be the tonic for passing time
Cause it's a burden it's hard to bear
Because it's a heavy weight that's difficult to manage
It's too easy to not even care
It's painless to just ignore it altogether
Baby looks so sweet
The infant is so innocent
Pick me up right off my feet
Lift me off the ground
And we'll go down to the world of dreams
We'll enter the imaginary land of dreams
It's so hard but that just how it's seems
It appears to be difficult but that's just the perception
There's a mask upon the wall
A mask hangs on the wall
In between the window and the hall
In the middle of the window and the hallway
In between nothing's ever (done?)
In the midst of things, nothing ever appears to be completed
What's ahead and where you come from?
What's in front of you and what's behind you?
If you could would you fly away?
If you were able, would you escape?
Or stick around for another day?
Or remain for one more day?
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ALEXANDER JOHNSON, DAVID BROGAN, KURT COLMAN, MATTHEW HENDRY, SAMUEL COOK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind