Dancing Cigarettes "Pop Doormat"

(This is the first post in what will become a recurring feature on overlooked bands and musical artists from Indiana.)

Bloomington, Indiana’s Dancing Cigarettes, along with The Gizmos, Zero Boys, Dow Jones and the Industrials and MX-80 Sound, established the Hoosier state as an egregiously overlooked breeding ground for punk, post-punk and new wave in the late 70s and early 80s. The group changed line-ups frequently, but typically consisted of singer/guitarist Michael Gitlin, bassist Emily Bonus, keyboardists and multi-instrumentalists Tim Noe and Jaclyn Oddi, drummer John Terrill, and saxophonist Don Trubey. More avant-pop than post-punk, their music was as eclectic as their members’ musical talents would lead one to believe, ranging from squonky Beefheart rock to bouncy Devo-esque new wave, as evidenced by the absolutely brilliant “Pop Doormat” (mp3) which opens with a deceptively anthemic synth line, then uses an ebullient bass and keyboard melody to underscore a disconsolate lyrical theme that wraps with the repeated question “what am I waiting for?”

Filed under: bloomingtopia  Dancing Cigarettes