AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Wall Of Voodoo

Artist:Wall Of Voodoo
Song:Mexican Radio
Album:Lost Weekend: The Best Of Wall Of Voodoo: The I.R.S. Years




The 1983 New Wave classic Mexican Radio was the only chart single for Wall Of Voodoo. The band went through personnel changes soon after and were never the same. Wall Of Voodoo were from Los Angeles. Lead singer and harmonica player Stan Ridgway owned Acme Soundtracks, a film score business heavily influenced by Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western scores. His office was across the street from the punk music club The Masque. Ridgway started jamming with guitarist Marc Moreland of The Skulls and they turned it into a band. Other members were Moreland's brother Bruce Moreland on bass, Chas T.Gray on keyboards and Joe Nanini on drums. The band name came when Ridgway compared his music to Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound and a friend said it was more like a Wall Of Voodoo. A 1980 EP got them a deal with I.R.S. Records. Their debut album Dark Continent was released in 1981. Bruce Moreland left and for the 1982 album Call Of The West, Gray and I.R.S. house producer Richard Mazda played bass. MTV put the video for Mexican Radio in heavy rotation and that led to radio airplay. The single reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100. Today the song is considered a New Wave classic. Moreland wrote the chorus and Ridgway wrote the verses. Keyboard player Bill Noland joined. They went on tour. Ridgway says there was plenty of drug use and bad behavior and shady business practices by the band's management and label. Ridgway, Nanini and Noland all left after Wall Of Voodoo played the US Festival on May 28, 1983. Ridgway has recorded solo ever since. His 1986 single Camouflage was a hit in Europe. Wall Of Voodoo continued with the Moreland brothers, Gray, new lead singer Andy Prieboy and drummer Ned Leukhardt. They released two more albums and split up in 1988. This comp mostly covers the first two albums. Marc Moreland went on to form Pretty and Twisted with Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano. They split up after one album. Moreland recorded a solo album in 2002 and then died of renal failure on Mar. 13, 2002 at age 44. Joe Nanini died in 2000. Ridgway revived Wall Of Voodoo for one show in 2006. There were no original members though producer Richard Mazda played bass. Ridgway still performs live and he released his latest album in 2016. Here's the video for Mexican Radio by Wall Of Voodoo.