1. An American indie roc… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least three artists with this name
1. An American indie rock band
2. A Japanese visual kei band (Ｇｏｓｓｉｐ)
3. Another Japanese Visual-kei band, typeset as Gossip-ゴシップ-
An American indie rock trio from Portland, OR, originally formed in Arkansas and formally known as The Gossip. The genre-bending DIY post-punk rock trio bring a new level of lyrical power and musical sophistication to their ever-evolving, always-electrifying sound and sensibility on Music For Men, the indie group's first major label studio album.
According to Gossip guitarist and music creator Brace Paine, the idea of calling the band's new album Music For Men comes straight from Beth Ditto, the Gossip's iconoclastic lead singer and charismatic front-person. "It's like a feminist joke," Brace offers by way of wry explanation.
And while the Gossip incorporate a deft sense of cultural irony into Music For Men, there's nothing confusing about the post-punk trio's musical approach: direct and visceral, pulsing with a raw and unapologetic animal energy, drummer Hannah Blilie's propulsive rhythms interlocking with Brace's heart-pounding riffs and Beth's aggressive and cathartic vocals.
One of the year's most highly-anticipated event releases, Music For Men, the Gossip's new musical manifesto, marks the group's first full-length studio collection since their signature anthem-of-empowerment, "Standing In The Way of Control," broke-out big in 2006. Music For Men is the first new music from the group since the release of its major label debut, Live In Liverpool.
On-board to make sure the Gossip got the studio sound they were looking for was producer Rick Rubin, who the helped the band find its own distinct groove in every track. "He is a true mystic," Brace observes "All we talked about was John Cage. He's only cares about music, speakers and sound systems. He's really amazing to work with. I'd say 'make the bass sound like PiL' and he'd know what I was talking about, he got all the references. He would let me do whatever I wanted to do. Such awesome energy."
Brace admits that the band's experience cutting Music For Men at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu marked "the first time we ever had access to a studio like that. I can see if you let a musician loose in this big studio to just ride all this stuff, I can see why somebody would just come up with this huge thing. Having restraint was so important. I hate the over-production sound."
"We wrote a lot of this album in the studio," Brace continues, again referring to Shangri-La. "The Band built it in 1976 and Bob Dylan's old tour bus was in the back. It was empty so I turned it into my own little studio with my computer with GarageBand and my guitars and stuff. I loaded up all my gear into Bob Dylan's 70s tour bus and that's where I wrote. Beth would come in and I would play her demos. All the vocal lines are hers, the lyrics are hers. I do the sounds and she sings over it. She'd come in the Bob Dylan bus and we did a lot of demoing on our own during the day because it was more comfortable. She'd come in and sing into GarageBand. I'd write some things to her vocals. 'Dimestore Diamond' was actually her humming the song and I started playing bass to it."
While "Dimestore Diamond" lays the escapades of a punk-rock Second Hand Rose across a deep funk bassline and crackling rhythmic static, "Men In Love" fires up the ultimate dance-floor groove, as sweaty as it is transcendent. "Heavy Cross," the album's first single, finds Beth first cooing, then belting a confrontational challenge to the status quo of a cruel world.
Other new songs on Gossip's "Music For Men" include "8th Wonder," "Love Long Distance," "Pop Goes The World," "Vertical Rhythm," "For Keeps," "2012," "Love and Let Love," "Four Letter Word," and "Spare Me From The Mold."
"She's got a serious set of lungs. She's a great singer. I'm always blown away by what she does," say Brace admiringly of his bandmate. "Everything she did was on the first or second take."
When it came to the overall sound and vibe of Music For Men, "We kept it really simple. There's usually not more than two things going on at once on the record. It just started out with bass lines and then I'd put a guitar over it or synth. I thought a lot about how it's gonna sound live. We're a live band so much. We have a fourth member, a bassist, on-stage. I play keyboards at the same time as guitar."
The journey from "Standing in the Way of Control" to Music For Men has been a wild ride for the Gossip. “We have been out on the road a lot,” says Hannah. “The shows are great, every tour gets bigger, and the shows are more and more fun. We're really good friends and we’re having a great time.”
Brace and Beth have been friends since Brace was 15 and each of them was formulating a cosmopolitan world-view encompassing far more than their lives in small farming towns on the outskirts of Searcy, Arkansas. A punk mixtape made its way from Brace to Beth (via a mutual friend, Kathy Mendonca, who'd later become the first drummer for the Gossip) and the seeds of a long-standing friendship and musical union were planted.
"I ended up hanging out with her quite a lot," Brace, a budding local indie music entrepreneur. "I put out a tape of her band Little Miss Muffet." It wasn't long before Beth, Brace and Kathy moved to Olympia, Washington where "We lived in a punk house together and started the band in the basement."
Right from the beginning, the Gossip felt they were on to something special. "Beth was doing this bluesy thing," Brace remembers. "It was more lo-fi. We never did sound checks. Everything was super-loud and distorted. I didn't know how to play my guitar at all. Then we got this new drummer...."
Once drummer Hannah Blilie came on-board, the Gossip line-up was in-place, ready to shake some action and kick down some walls. The young indie trio broke-through with 2006's Standing In The Way Of Control, which reached #1 on the UK indie chart and #22 on the UK album chart while the title track became widely associated with the popular UK teen drama, "Skins."
The success of “Standing In The Way Of Control” and the Gossip’s incandescent performances rapidly established newcomer Beth Ditto as a cultural icon in the UK -- she was named the NME's Coolest Person In Rock (in one of her four cover appearances), took home the Glamour Awards' 2008 International Artist Of The Year, appeared on the cover of the premiere issue of Love magazine, and is a much-sought-after guest on UK television. Beth and the Gossip’s music were becoming recognized in the UK and Europe as a major force.
In a surreal world where he's talked to Karl Lagerfeld about the Velvet Underground during French Fashion Week, Brace claims that "Our lives have -- hilariously -- not changed at all really. We live in the same town. "
And though the daily lives of the band's members remain unaffected by the Gossip's growing notoriety, the heat of their music and the adrenaline-rush of their live shows are an ongoing source of excitement.
Since the group's formation, the Gossip has opened for and/or toured with a wide variety of musicians including Le Tigre, Chromatics, Tracy and the Plastics, Sonic Youth, Pre, YYY, Sleetmute Nightmute, Glass Candy, the White Stripes, CSS, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Erase Errata, Stereo Total, and the Kills among others.
The summer of 2007 found the Gossip on-board the True Colors Tour -- as part of an eclectic bill including Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, Erasure, Rufus Wainwright, the Dresden Dolls, the MisShapes, the Cliks and host Margaret Cho -- for a series of concerts benefitting the Human Rights Campaign.
That summer found the Gossip closing the Glastonbury Festival, with Beth Ditto paying homage to the late John Peel, the massively influential British DJ/journalist/television presenter, during the group's set exclaiming "JOHN PEEL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UNDERGROUND!!!" The Gossip was invited back to Glastonbury the following year.
2008 saw the release of Gossip - Live In Liverpool, a deluxe live CD/DVD documenting the group's incendiary show from July 9, 2007, focusing on the deep raw power, energy and intensity of the Gossip's live performances. In April 2008, in support of their live release, Gossip set off on a mini-tour of select US venues which included SRO shows in New York and a career-defining performance on the "Late Show with David Letterman."
"We are always on tour," says the band. As popular on the festival circuit as they are in the world's post-punk clublands, Gossip is lined up to play Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2009 as well as a series of UK summer festivals including Latitude, Leeds, and Reading.
When the band's off the road, Beth, Brace and Hannah get together to practice at least twice a week. There's a club in Portland called Dunes, where Brace sets up shows and DJs "a lot." The group plays host to local post-punk parties and including a mythic underground soiree (now in hiatus) called "Suicide Club" where Brace whispers, "we would play post-punk records and show Joy Division videos on the wall. Maybe 30 kids would come. It was a great club. There was no sign because it was illegal."
With "Music For Men," the Gossip bring together the vital elements of danger, thrills and passion to their sound and vision, partying like it's 2012!!!
On January 22, 2010, it was announced that Gossip will be performing at Lilith Fair 2010, which is back by popular demand. ABC is the official sponsor of this year's Lilith Fair. For more information on the tour schedule and artists visit the Lilith Fair official website.
Sites: gossipYouth.com
Men in Love
Gossip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ooooh I, I, I, I, shame, shame, shame
I haven't felt this way
Since I was seventeen
You know what I mean
Guilty of love in the first degree
Baby
Like there's nobody looking
Slide
Like you're coming my way
Shake
Like you know what you're doing
We're out all night
And sleep all day
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Hey
Shame, shame, shame
Ooooh I, I, I, I, shame, shame, shame
I can't remember having so much fun
When morning comes
Everybody's waking up with someone
On the run
Dance
Like there's nobody looking
Slide
Like you're coming my way
Shake
Like you know what you're doing
We're out all night
And sleep all day
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Hey
Since the beginning of time
Put your hand in mine
Come along and you'll find
It's the perfect crime
Ohh ohh ohh ohh
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
The song Men in Love by Gossip talks about two men falling in love with each other and enjoying their time together while being shameless about their feelings. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "men in love" to highlight the point that love can happen between anyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The lyrics "I haven't felt this way since I was seventeen" suggest that the infatuation between the two men is something that feels new and exciting, filling them with a sense of youthful energy.
The line "guilty of love in the first degree" depicts the intensity of their emotions and how they are unapologetic about their love for each other. The lyrics also emphasize the fun they have together, as they dance and stay out all night. The lines "I can't remember having so much fun when morning comes, everybody's waking up with someone on the run" suggest that their love may not be accepted by everyone, causing them to hide their feelings when they’re around others. The song ultimately reinforces the idea that the love between the two men is acceptable and nothing to be ashamed of.
Line by Line Meaning
Shame, shame, shame
Expressing a feeling of guilt or regret for an action or omission
Ooooh I, I, I, I, shame, shame, shame
Feeling deeply embarrassed or humiliated about something
I haven't felt this way
Expressing a sense of unfamiliarity with a particular emotion or feeling
Since I was seventeen
Referring to a previous experience or feeling from a specific age or time period
You know what I mean
Seeking confirmation that the listener understands the artist's perspective or experience
Guilty of love in the first degree
Acknowledging a strong romantic attraction or infatuation towards someone
Baby
A term of endearment towards a romantic partner or loved one
Dance
Encouraging the listener to have fun and let loose
Like there's nobody looking
Encouraging the listener to feel comfortable being themselves and not worry about others' opinions
Slide
Suggesting a smooth and effortless movement, possibly towards the artist
Like you're coming my way
Expressing a desire or anticipation for the listener to approach or move closer to the singer
Shake
Encouraging the listener to move and groove to the music
Like you know what you're doing
Implying confidence and skill in dancing or other activities
We're out all night
Suggesting a fun and exciting night out, likely with friends or romantic partners
And sleep all day
Implying a carefree and leisurely lifestyle, with no pressing responsibilities or schedules
Na, na, na, na
A repetitive vocal pattern used to enhance the song's rhythm or melody
Men in love
Referring to romantic attraction or affection between two male individuals
Men in love, with each other
Emphasizing the romantic connection and mutual feelings between two male individuals
Hey
A vocal exclamation used to grab the listener's attention or signal a transition in the song
Since the beginning of time
Indicating a timeless and universal aspect of the human experience
Put your hand in mine
Suggesting a gesture of mutual support or romantic connection between two individuals
Come along and you'll find
Encouraging the listener to experience something new or different and discover something meaningful
It's the perfect crime
Implying that their love is unconventional, yet pure and beautiful
Ohh ohh ohh ohh
A vocalization used to add emotion or emphasis to the song
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: HANNAH BLILIE, MARY BETH PATTERSON, NATHAN HOWDESHELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alí de Bonceledia
HERE: Lyrics
Shame, shame, shame
Ooooh I, I, I, I, shame, shame, shame
I haven't felt this way
Since I was seventeen
You know what I mean
Guilty of love in the first degree
Baby
Dance
Like there's nobody looking
Slide
Like you're coming my way
Shake
Like you know what you're doing
We're out all night
And sleep all day
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Hey
Shame, shame, shame
Ooooh I, I, I, I, shame, shame, shame
I can't remember having so much fun
When morning comes
Everybody's waking up with someone
On the run
Dance
Like there's nobody looking
Slide
Like you're coming my way
Shake
Like you know what you're doing
We're out all night
And sleep all day
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Hey
Since the beginning of time
Put your hand in mine
Come along and you'll find
It's the perfect crime
Ohh ohh ohh ohh
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love
Na, na, na, na
Men in love, with each other
Stella Starlight
This song suddenly stuck in my head this morning, even so I haven't heard it in almost 10 years. I love it ❤
Eleonora
End of song is real funnny and end of song is like cartoon. Especialy Thundermans!
Eleonora
I never dancing in the bus but I will try dancing in bus next time.
Luan Dantas
Ouvia o refrão dessa música nas propagandas da MTV, eu amei o som!
Geovani Perosa De Proenca
Me lembro de assistir esse clipe no MTV LAB NOW, há uns 10 anos atrás.
Saudades dessa época...
eekcarlos
This video and beth's music in general got me tru a stage of my life where my family had turned their backs on me and I hated myself so much for being gay.
Things have turned around now but this allowed me to pivot my self hatred into a healthy amount of delusional positivity.
Kryonus
No matter the differences, i'll be dancing to this one for years to come. So glad I discovered this band.
funky rabbit
heard this during a performance at a pride event near me a while back and i've been hooked on this song ever since!
beth is so damn gorgeous and so talented, i adore her 😍 she looks amazing in this video
Zachari Belaïdi
she is really talented, great voice !
Ray M.
Nossa , muito maneira essa musica da Gossip s2