Jumpstart Malady, the most influential and important rock group of the late 21st century presents
Running From The Malady
The Ten Greatest Hits of Jumpstart Malady
Liner notes by Kevin Edo, lead guitarist and vocalist.
Track 1, “Running From The Fear”
I actually wrote “Fear” in Scranton, Pennsylvania after a gig. I had eaten some bad clams and had a terrible fever. It was originally titled, “Running From The Fever”, but after I added the guitar, it was clear I needed one less syllable. I was pretty stuck, and then I thought, “What if I just took out the ‘v’? Is that even a word?” Duh, of course it’s a word. It’s the word, “fear.” Anyway, a lot of people thought this song was about the social ills prevalent in the late 80′s, sort of anti-government thing. Nope. Sorry, dudes, Just about fever. Well, anyway, it connected with somebody because it was our first Billboard Number One hit! All from some stupid clams! Crazy. Thank you, Scranton!
Track 2, “Gradual Spiral”
This was a huge breakthrough for Malady because it really cemented us a force on the rock scene. After this single hit in ’83, our album immediately went platinum. And I can’t tell you how many letters I got after this. Stuff like, “Oh, my God, Kevin, when I hear this, I know what it is to really achieve my dreams!” People really reacted to the words, uplifting and what-not. I even heard that they read them out loud now at college graduations and crap. Awesome. Anyway, I copied the lyrics verbatim from a poster I read on the subway. Man. Great tune. And hey: great poster!
Track 3, “Devil, One Leno Lived!”
A great first single from the second album, and more than anything, the song that really won the critics to our side. I still have that People magazine with me on the cover and it says “Genius” all in capital letters and what-not. Almost looks like one of those fake ones you can buy at amusement parks. But it’s real, dude! Anyhow, apparently, the entire song forms an intricate palindrome, both the lyrics and the chord structure being perfectly symmetrical. Weird, because I was just coked out and randomly pressing keys on the typewriter. All I can say is: thank goodness for happy accidents!
Track 4, “Solace From the Sun”
This song is about taking comfort in the fact that we are all our own beings, and can create our own destiny, separate from the destiny that Fate puts before us. I mean, apparently that’s what it means. I just copied words at random from a dictionary.
Track 5, “Sandstorm”
This is actually the exact same song as “Running From The Fear” but with different lyrics. I’m always astonished no one ever called me on that. Astonished…and also totally psyched!
Track 6, “Get Out The House”
Wow. “House.” I don’t think there’s anyone in the entire world who doesn’t know the chorus to this f___in’ song. I mean, it was big on the radio, but then that Bud commerical? Jesus. We made so much money on this song. Jesus. I named my first kid House actually because his entire life will be funded solely on the royalties I receive from this song. Anyway I wrote it one night in New Orleans. I heard an old black dude singing on the corner, just him and a guitar, and I was like, “Sweet song!” So I just sat there and wrote down exactly what he was singing and playing. It was great, man, easiest song I ever wrote. Thinking about it now, I hope he didn’t mind. Probably not, he seemed like a totally chill guy. If you’re reading this, old black dude, “get out the house and have a Bud”! Ha ha. Bet he was psyched when he saw that commercial. Bet he was all like, “Hell yeah I’ll have a Bud!” He was a cool old dude, man. Heh. F___in’ “House”, man. So much money. Jesus.
Track 7, “Row Your Boat”
We were all sitting around drunk on Pabst at this dive in Pittsburgh, and I said, “What if we recorded ‘Row Your Boat’, and just acted like we wrote it?” “Same lyrics?” “Same lyrics.” “Same music.” “Yeah, same everything, and we just say we wrote it. Think people would buy it?” Apparently yes, so much so that we released The Cradled, an entire album of public domain songs that we claimed we wrote. And now people actually have to pay us to use songs like “Happy Birthday” and “Three Blind Mice.” Even elementary schools! (In fact, particularly elementary schools.)
Track 8, “Slow”
I remember just thinking, “If I just repeated the same word and chord over and over again for three minutes, would people realize it’s bullshit or like it?” Turns out they liked it! Because I guess it inspired the formation of an entire new genre of music! Which is cool, though I don’t get royalties for the genres I create. (Or do I? I should check on this perhaps.)
Track 9, “Colossal Stories of the Ascendent Plane”
You know I’m always credited with this one, but I really don’t remember writing it. Maybe Perry did. Well. He’s dead now. So it’s sort of moot.
Track 10, “You Love Me Too”
This one…is tough to talk about. I wrote it right after my sister passed away. It’s basically a love letter to her. I used a lot of gritty details from our life growing up. I was pretty proud of the chord structure, too, as it had a lot of stuff that was really a departure from the typical Jumpstart Malady progressions. I spent something like four months on it. I really poured myself into this song. We even mixed in a faint track of me crying recorded right when I got the phone call from the hospital. Every measure, every moment, was me, was Kevin Edo. In the first mix. The record company didn’t dig it though, so we turned in an old tape we had of “T.U.R.T.L.E. Power” from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack. That mix eventually went on to be declared the U.S. national anthem. Crazy, man. Crazy. Sometimes it makes me sad they rejected that first mix. But my agent’s all like, “Boo hoo, why don’t you wipe away your tears with all that money, Kev?” Yeah. So I do. It works really well, actually.
