Dancing Hoods

Formed in the early '80s in and around Long Island, New York, the Dancing Hoods' fate was most likely sealed by various stressful internal forces. The most prominent being the loss of songwriter and co-lead singer Eric Williams in 1986. It was during the band's move out west to the city of Angels when things got bumpy. Williams didn't stay for the duration which saw the release of one more album, 1988's Hallelujah Anyway. Bob Bortnick took over as main frontman and prevailed with a solid effort (and a bigger push from their record label) but things weren't as musically serendipitous as the first LP. Alas, in 1985, 12 Jealous Roses was the proverbial tree falling in the forest. Kindered spirits like The Hoodoo Gurus, The Smithereens, R.E.M. and The Replacements were slowly gaining momentum, but overall, guitar-based pop struggled as it was being marginalized amongst the likes New Order and Depeche Mode. Being on a fledgling record label didn't help matters, either. Relativity Records was still getting its feet wet and wasn't at full power until 1987. The genius of 12 Jealous Roses falls basically on the strength of the songs, but is immortalized by the ephemeral rush of a band's first crack at the bigtime. They were also headstrong enough to produce themselves. Mind you, band members Bob Bortnick and Freddy Mark Linkous would go on to bigger claims of fame; Bortnick would end up as an A&R guy for Almo Records (he signed Garbage) and Linkous would be the brains and voice behind Sparklehorse. So, these guys were no dummies.