The original
Art of Noise, but, being of a pre-
sampler era, the
noise was
made by hand. The Lizards were a "
band" from the late
1970s and into the
next decade. One of the more interesting offshoots of
punk, in which Head
Lizard, composer David Cunningham, instead of doing the
three-bar-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust trip of those who formed bands, applied
his proclivity towards
avant-garde musics (of the
Eno/
Cage axes; Cunningham's first such recordings pre-date the Lizards) toward the medium of the pop
vinyl artifact.
The Lizards was just Cunningham, plus original "vocalist" Deborah (a.k.a. Deborah Lizard; real name Deborah Evans). There was a swirling cast of guest musicians over the years, like avant-garde personages Steve Beresford and David Toop, plus cool people like Robert Fripp, Patti Paladin, and
scribe-turned-chantoozy Vivien Goldman. Their first 45 (1978) was a
nothing-like-the-original cover of "Summertime Blues", but
their biggest hit was their version, a year later, of Barrett Strong's "Money
(That's What I Want)", an early Motown hit from the pen of Berry Gordy.
Their albums were a combination of covers and of original material, and that
probably didn't sit well with those who just wanted to hear an entire LP of wacky
reworkings of rock and roll classics; the final LP, Top Ten, was a
too-late attempt at appeasement. Cunningham has also worked as a producer over
the years, including an album by punk-semilegend Wayne/Jayne County, and
several by composer Michael Nyman, a former Lizards collaborator; he also has
engineering credits for recordings by fellow-fringers This Heat, one of whose first
LPs was released on Cunningham's Piano Records.
Post-Lizards collaborations include works with such disparate individuals as
Johnny Thunders, Michael Giles and Jamie Muir of past King Crimsons, Henry
Cow's John Greaves, and Thurston Moore.