Monster Magnet devotes covers album to ‘strange bits of musical obscurity’

by JAY LUSTIG
Monster Magnet Better Dystopia

GONZALES PHOTO/PER-OTTO OPPI/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet.

Monster Magnet will release its first covers album, A Better Dystopia, on May 21. But this won’t be any ordinary covers album. It will be composed of “strange bits of musical obscurity,” in the words of the Jersey-based group’s frontman, Dave Wyndorf.

You can listen to two examples below: “Learning to Die,” originally from Dust’s 1972 album Hard Attack; and “Mr. Destroyer,” originally from Poobah’s 1972 album Let Me In.

The album was conceived and recorded during the pandemic, and it shows.

“I didn’t feel much like writing,” said Wyndorf in a press release, “but working on anything was better than watching the news as hospitals filled up, people died, and American politics went bat-shit crazy. The world roared ‘Dystopia! Apocalypse! Revolution!’ I’d heard those words before, and they brought to mind my childhood in the late 60’s/early 70’s … and the music … and short playlist of songs (just one of many) that I’d been carrying around with me on my whatever device to listen to before shows. Of course, these tunes have also been in my head for more or less my whole life.

The cover of Monster Magnet’s album, “A Better Dystopia.”

“These were not the popular hits of the time. This was like a playlist from the 4th dimension … strange bits of musical obscurity, mostly dredged up from that inglorious and freaky ‘twilight zone’ time that preceded Arena Rock, Heavy Metal, Reggae and Disco. A no-man’s land of hard rock that still had remnants of psychedelia and garage punk but had abandoned any notion of ‘flower power’ or frat house fun.”

Here is the album’s track listing, with the original bands in parentheses:

“The Diamond Mine” (Dave Diamond)
“Born to Go” (Hawkwind)
“Epitaph for a Head” (JD Blackfoot)
“Solid Gold Hell” (The Scientists)
“Be Forewarned” (The Macabre)
“Mr. Destroyer” (Poobah)
“When the Wolf Sits” (Jerusalem)
“Death” (Pretty Things)
“Situation” (Josephus)
“It’s Trash” (The Cave Men)
“Motorcycle” (Table Scraps)
“Learning to Die” (Dust)
“Welcome to the Void” (Morgen)

The album can be pre-ordered at napalmrecordsamerica.com/monstermagnet.

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