After arriving in New York City at the age of 16, she worked as a bar maid and go-go dancer at the Baby Doll Lounge on White street in Tribeca. Lydia met Alan Vega (who became her first friend in NYC) and Willy DeVille (who gave her the name 'Lunch' because she'd often been stealing lunch for The Dead Boys). Then she moved in for about a year with then-boyfriend James Chance (born James Siegfried) who had come to New York (from Milwaukee) in the last week of 1975. They lived at a funky two-room fifth-floor walk-up apartment on East 2nd street (between Avenue A and B) and at a tiny storefront on Twelfth street.
Lunch moved into a large communal household of artists and musicians in NYC, including Kitty Bruce, daughter of Lenny Bruce. After befriending the 'godfathers of punk' Suicide at Max's Kansas City, she founded the short-lived but influential No Wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks in 1976 with her artistic partner, James Chance. Both appeared on the seminal No Wave compilation No New York. Lunch later appeared on two songs on Chance's album Off White (credited to James White and the Blacks; Lunch used the pseudonym "Stella Rico") in 1978.
She appeared in two films directed by the husband and wife film-making team of Scott B and Beth B; In the short film Black Box (1978) she played an unnamed torturer, and in the feature length, neo-noir thriller Vortex (1982) she played a private detective named "Angel Powers". During this time, she also appeared in a number of films by Vivienne Dick, including She Had her Gun All Ready (1978) and Beauty Becomes The Beast (1979), co starring with Pat Place.
In the mid-'80s she formed her own recording and publishing company called "Widowspeak" on which she continued to release a slew of her own material, including songs and spoken word.
A self-avowed "confrontationalist", identified by the Boston Phoenix as "one of the 10 most influential performers of the '90s", Lunch's solo career featured collaborations with musicians such as J. G. Thirlwell, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Nick Cave, Billy Ver Plank, Steven Severin, Robert Quine, Sadie Mae, Rowland S. Howard, Michael Gira, The Birthday Party, EinstΓΌrzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, Die Haut and Black Sun Productions. She also acted in, wrote, and directed underground films, sometimes collaborating with underground filmmaker and musician Richard Kern (including several films, such as Fingered, in which she performed unsimulated sex acts), and more recently has recorded and performed as a spoken word artist, collaborating with such artists as Exene Cervenka, Henry Rollins, Don Bajema, Hubert Selby Jr., and Emilio Cubeiro, as well as authoring both traditional books and comix (with award-winning graphic novel artist Ted McKeever).
Simon Reynolds (author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984) wrote: "And although 'affection' is possibly an odd word to use in reference to a bunch of nihilists, I do feel fond of the No Wave people. ... there are great moments throughout Lydia Lunch's long discography." Selected quotations:
I'm nihilistic, antagonistic, violent, horrible - but not obliterated, yet.
I would be humiliated if I found out that anything I did actually became a commercial success.
Thereβre enough happy assholes out there, why should I be another one in the line...
It seems to me, that for over two thousand years now; mad-men, maniacs, and would be messiahs have been pilfering, have been pillaging, have been plundering, and have been raping the entire planet; and the way I see it, Mother Nature is getting pretty pissed off.
No pornography exploits women. It exploits men. Itβs the men that are made to look stupid, silly and ridiculous, chasing after the golden elixir. Women look beautiful, do what they wanna do and get paid for it.
The only way to define the art of Lydia Lunch is simply not to.
Stares to Nowhere
Lydia Lunch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The sidewalk's melting I begin to spin
You know where I'm going and
You know where I've been
My mind's exploding like it's never been
The sidewalk's melting I begin to spin
I can't look down, I might fall in
I'm standing still but still falling down
The plastic crumbles and the walls fall in
The sidewalk's melting I begin to spin
I'm looking up but I'm feeling down
I'm standing still but still falling down
On the stares that lead to nowhere
I'm staring to Nowhere
On the stares that lead to nowhere
On the stares that lead to nowhere
I'm staring to nowhere
Lydia Lunch's song "Stares to Nowhere" poetically describes a feeling of disorientation and helplessness. The repeated lines "The plastic crumbles and the walls fall in / The sidewalk's melting I begin to spin" create a sense of a world falling apart and the singer's inability to control it. The repetition of "I'm looking up but I'm feeling down / I'm standing still but still falling down" adds to this feeling of being trapped and unable to escape. The imagery of "the stares that lead to nowhere" conveys the idea of being stuck, with no way forward or back. Overall, the song creates a powerful atmosphere of despair and confusion, capturing an experience many people can relate to.
Line by Line Meaning
The plastic crumbles and the walls fall in
The environment around me is collapsing and breaking apart
The sidewalk's melting I begin to spin
The instability of my surroundings is causing me to feel disoriented and dizzy
You know where I'm going and
You are aware of my current situation and what I'm dealing with
You know where I've been
You understand my past experiences that have led me to this point
My mind's exploding like it's never been
My thoughts and emotions are overwhelming me in a way that feels new and intense
I can't look down, I might fall in
I'm afraid to confront the harsh realities of my situation because I fear it might consume me
I'm looking up but I'm feeling down
I'm trying to remain optimistic, but I'm struggling to overcome my negative emotions
I'm standing still but still falling down
I feel trapped and hopeless, despite not physically moving
On the stares that lead to nowhere
I'm fixated on a path that feels pointless and without direction
I'm staring to Nowhere
I'm lost in my thoughts and emotions, unsure of what to do next
On the stares that lead to nowhere
I'm stuck in a cycle of negativity and hopelessness, unable to break free
Contributed by Blake B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@LadyStarlight3303
Her voice is magic.
@TheNothingEverything
LYDIA TOOK THE WORDS OUT MY MOUTH AGAIN SHE IS MY GODDESS
@GoreGrindingTerror
Just searched through like 30 of her songs to find this song! Heard it on the radio ages ago and looked it up on youtube shortly after and forgot the name... awesome!!!
@cartoonlover4479
Another classic from Lydia Lunch
@rphuntarchive1
This album was a game changer
@user-tk4gr9zo7t
onikamon miywΓ’sin kakike ani πππatmospheric as always Lydia π€
@ok-ug7ul
i love this
@RaXtMaX
So atmospheric
@STdoubleDs
sick ass song!!!!! fucking love lydia
@smh228
who is this gorgeous voice. I havent ever heard her name