WAS's Awesome New Wave Song Of The Week #6: Gleaming Spires - A Christian Girl's Problem

Much like our #4 Awesome Song artist Sigue Sigue Sputnik, this week’s band was another that popped up all over the pop culture landscape in the early 80s, but was largely even more unknown… 

Gleaming Spires had backing members of Sparks & Devo in their band and were produced by Steven Hague, who later went on to 80s fame producing New Order, OMD & Pet Shop Boys. The peak of the Spires' mainstream career likely was when they appeared on the “Last American Virgin” soundtrack in 1982 with “Are You Ready For the Sex Girls?” which was a minor hit that got major play on the standard-bearer of West Coast New Wave, L.A.’s KROQ-FM. “Sex Girls” was also featured in “Revenge of the Nerds”, along with the intentionally monotonous and ironic “All Night Party”. They also touched the art world, with a Kostabi-designed album cover, and the other, errr.. more interesting "art world" … providing much of  soundtrack to the legendary and ground-breaking porn flicks “Devil in Miss Jones, Parts 3 & 4”, which starred the ultimate new-wave-punk-porn-provocateur, Lois Ayers. 

1983’s “Walk on Well Lighted Streets” was the Spires best album and contained their catchiest song - one that likely would land them in big trouble today - “A Christian Girl’s Problem”.  Glorious synths underpin provocative lyrics as the band has way too much fun jogging in place in a ridiculous video where they are dressed as Roman Soldiers … yes the Gleaming Spires were not exactly subtle in anything they did.  But the song is an awesome one and seldom heard these days despite it being as infectious as herpes and catchy as Hell…. which is exactly where Miss Jones ended up... no doubt because she dared to groove to The Spires!

 

-WAS