Perfect Song: "House of Jealous Lovers" by The Rapture With Jason Stewart

Bandsplain

Host Yasi Salek and guest Jason Stewart explore the history of The Rapture's iconic track 'House of Jealous Lovers.' They trace the evolutio

Key takeaways

• The Rapture's 'House of Jealous Lovers' served as a foundational track for the electroclash movement by blending punk energy with danceable beats.
• James Murphy played a critical role in the development of The Rapture, acting as a producer who aimed to make rock tracks that could compete with techno on club sound systems.

Main topics

• The Rapture and Electroclash
• DFA Records history

Notable quotes

We were trying to get free cigarettes by giving our driver's and license to somebody.

Conclusion

A nostalgic retrospective that highlights how specific cultural moment

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:05) What's with this band anyway? I don't get it, can you please explain? Wait, like, bandsplain? Speaker 2 (0:45) Hello and welcome to Bandsplain. I am your host, Yossi Salek. This is usually a show where I invite an expert guest on to help me explain a cult band or iconic artist. Today's episode is a little different. Today's episode is about one perfect song, The Rapture's House of Jealous Lovers. My guest today, you guys, my longtime pal, co-host of the How Long Gone podcast, and famous disc jockey under the name Them Jeans, Mr. Jason Stewart. Welcome to the program, Jason. Speaker 1 (1:16) Thank you for having me, Yas. How are you? I've been Speaker 2 (1:18) trying to make this happen for years. Speaker 1 (1:21) Didn't really try that hard. I think this is the first time you've asked me. That's not Speaker 2 (1:24) true. That's not true. Let's clear the air and the record. I asked you and you were kind of like, I don't really listen to guitar rock music, I believe was kind Speaker 1 (1:33) of what you said. Which Speaker 2 (1:34) was fair. You were kind of like, I don't know what I would do that would make sense. Speaker 1 (1:38) Well, I still feel a little bit of that because I feel like this show is for a real music knowers, journalists, encyclopedic people. And I, as a DJ, I know a little bit about a lot of music. Yeah. And less of it was like honed in on one certain thing. Right. But I also know that, you know, it's Speaker 2 (1:58) a Speaker 1 (1:58) three-hour podcast and we're here to be entertained. So that's okay. If you are in the rapture, I'm sorry. Speaker 2 (2:03) I think you're the perfect guest for this podcast and I'm going to tell you why. Number one. Speaker 2 (2:10) House of Jealous Lovers by the Raptors is a great, as you might know, we're in the midst of Vansplain's Indie Sleaze arc, if you will. Balls deep. Speaker 1 (2:20) Balls deep. Coming hot off the Ya Ya Ya's episode. Hot Speaker 2 (2:23) off the Ya Ya Ya's episode, straight into House of Jealous Lovers. That wasn't the exact scheduling, but we had a little snafu. Don't worry about it. But I was like, oh, this is a great opportunity because... There is this whole other sect of Indiesleys that we're not going to get too much into in our arc, but that is sort of the Electronica, Electro Clash version that the DFA records, sort of the space LCD occupies. And the Raptors House of Jealous Lovers was kind of like the first thing, right? Would you agree? I Speaker 1 (2:52) think so, yeah. Speaker 2 (2:53) And as you have a storied history as a disc jockey that we talked about, and that you and I actually have a shared past. Coming up in the... Non-sexual. Non-sexual. In the trenches of Star Shoes to Cinespace to Beauty Bar. Yeah. The route. Speaker 1 (3:15) You were there. I was there. You Speaker 2 (3:17) were definitely there. You were a purveyor. You were involved heavily. You were a creator. What was it? Okay, let's paint the picture. This episode is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing. If you saw the band when they played at the bar or stopped mid-festival to look at the stars, then you're ready to embrace the haze with Hazy Little Thing. Citrusy smooth and easy to drink, it pairs with nights that don't need a script. Brewed with the purest ingredients for finest quality, there's a reason it's America's best-selling hazy IPA. Embrace the haze with Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing. Enjoy responsibly. Speaker 1 (3:59) What Speaker 2 (4:00) was that night called Speaker 1 (4:01) at Speaker 2 (4:02) Cinespace that you guys did? Speaker 1 (4:03) When it first started, it was called Cinespace Tuesdays. Speaker 2 (4:07) Yes, Cinespace Tuesdays. And when was that? Speaker 1 (4:09) Maybe like 2004-ish. Okay. I think 2003, 4, because it was a shaky beginning at first before it turned into the final iteration. Yeah. Before the Aoki. Speaker 2 (4:22) Yeah. Speaker 1 (4:22) Afication of it all. But it was like 2003 to 2004. Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:27) Because I can't for the life of me remember. I definitely like somehow have a memory of 2003, but I might be wrong. Maybe it was. Speaker 1 (4:32) When it first started, I mean, who knows? Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:35) Like Speaker 1 (4:35) I said, we didn't, when we were doing it, it was a little bar club night. So it wasn't like. My first, you know, we weren't journaling. You weren't Speaker 2 (4:43) live journaling. We were Speaker 1 (4:44) trying to get free cigarettes by giving our driver's license to somebody. My Speaker 2 (4:48) God. Some of you will never know how many times you would hand over your personal details via your driver's license to some representative in a bar or club just so they would give you free Lucky Strikes or whatever. I feel like it was always Lucky Strikes. Speaker 1 (5:04) I would get a lot. It was Lucky Strikes and then Camel Turkish Golds. Turkish Golds. And then the Speaker 2 (5:11) Camel Crush. Speaker 1 (5:12) Because we were so... R.I.P., man. We were lousy with camels. I had cases of them in my house. So you'd be like, yeah, let me get some Camel Crush and let me get the Wintergreen Blast. You don't even smoke it, but it was just funny, you know? Speaker 2 (5:25) I did. I used to... I used to fucking. You Speaker 1 (5:27) crushed. I mean, we all crushed. Yeah. When you're doing just like beer and shots, right? That's Turkish time. Totally. But then when you're doing powder drugs. When Speaker 2 (5:37) you're involved Speaker 1 (5:37) in Speaker 2 (5:37) some other activities that we don't talk about here. We crush. And Speaker 3 (5:41) then Speaker 2 (5:41) like Speaker 1 (5:42) you judge somebody how early into the sig do you crush. Right. Do you do one last, one crush at the end for dessert or do you get. greedy and crushed too soon i Speaker 2 (5:51) think i was like a crush from jump person so at that Speaker 1 (5:53) point why not just smoke menthols you know but that's a whole other podcast yeah Speaker 2 (5:57) yeah um so you were from you are from orange county you Speaker 1 (6:01) made Speaker 2 (6:02) it up to the big city and you were like we me and my homies we're gonna start a club night and was there like a theme was or like a musical Tenor that you were like, oh we're playing this kind of music It Speaker 1 (6:19) was less musical theme based and more like who can we get to DJ right and when it very very first started So I started working there. I'll do it quick, but there was no take your time Burning Man was going on and since the CineSpace the club it was going it was like a place You can go see a movie have dinner. Yeah, and then there'd be some night clubs afterwards like DJ and would play there They'd be sort of like entourage style clubby club going on there They'd have like an Asian night. They would have like, you Speaker 2 (6:47) know. Speaker 1 (6:47) It's the thing that people used Speaker 2 (6:48) to do is an Asian night. We don't do that anymore. Speaker 1 (6:50) It was a simpler time. Speaker 2 (6:52) But Speaker 1 (6:52) they're like, you know, there's a girl named Rachel who I became friends with. They had other nights where I would go and like get free drinks from 10 to 11 kind of thing as a broke person in L.A. And then they're like, hey, our guy who's in the reception office, he's going to go to Burning Man. can you cover for a week, like answer phones, receive mail, whatever. And then after you came back from Burning Man, they're like, look, we like you here. And then they gave me a job being like the assistant events person. and then we would look at the calendar and like you said star shoes beauty bar they're all in the same corridor yeah and like one you'd like you go here on wednesdays you go here on thursdays and there wasn't really much on a tuesday at that time yeah so and then i would look on the calendar and there'd always be screenings and clubs and stuff but nothing on a tuesday so we said let's invite people to come and hang out and it was still a little early days so like 50 people would come at the most but like Ariel Pink and like half of Brian Jonestown Massacre would be the DJs. Yeah. Or and then like Interpol like one day like nobody came except Interpol. So it was just like seven people. Five of them were Interpol. And we were just like let's just keep it going. Let's just hang like this is just our house kind of thing. Was Speaker 2 (8:16) it you and already was it Frankie? No, it was just Speaker 1 (8:20) me and Rachel. And Rachel. Who Speaker 2 (8:21) were Speaker 1 (8:21) doing it. And then she left Cinespace and went to Beauty Bar. Right. And then she started doing a night there. And I stayed at Cinespace and stayed doing the Tuesdays. And then I reached out to Steve and Frankie and said, do you guys want to DJ? Oh, I have 300 bucks or something like that. And then from there, it just kind of took off. But it was the very first Speaker 2 (8:45) iteration. It was Speaker 1 (8:45) the coolest. It would be like, like I said, you know. just Interpol hanging out and like two models and I'd be like, this is so cool. We're losing money and this is not sustainable, but I'm feeling pretty cool. And I had no DJ aspirations, no club promoter aspirations. I was just like, let's fill the calendar and be funky. Speaker 2 (9:05) Totally. Let's have fun. Let's crush. Let's crush. I just want to crush. I Speaker 1 (9:10) just Speaker 2 (9:10) want to crush. I think it's just the passage of time and also youth, but like. In my memory, that was fucking Studio 54. Do you know what I mean? Like, I remember walking in there and being like, oh, my God. Like, in my mind, it was huge. It was not huge. It was small. But I remember being, like, people, dark, and, like, it was, like, I was so young, you know? You'd Speaker 1 (9:31) go up Speaker 2 (9:31) the Speaker 1 (9:32) stairs. Are we about the Speaker 2 (9:32) same age? Speaker 1 (9:33) You're a little bit older than Speaker 2 (9:34) me. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 (9:34) yeah. I'm maybe a couple years older than you. Yeah, so, Speaker 2 (9:36) like, yeah, I would go up the stairs. You were often at the door. Speaker 1 (9:39) When we first started. When you first Speaker 2 (9:41) started. Yeah, so I know. I feel like because remember I would always be like, oh, you were the door guy at Sense Space. You were like, it was my night or whatever. Most Speaker 1 (9:46) people think I was the security guard there and not. Speaker 2 (9:48) So it was very early because I was, I went to college in Santa Barbara. So I was like constantly coming back and forth. And also there was like a time like anyways, and then I was in San Francisco, but I was always in LA back and forth between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. And my best friend Rachel at the time, also named Rachel, we would. Put on our best fucking AMAP, babe. We would slap on those. Speaker 1 (10:09) AMAP meaning American Apparel. You Speaker 2 (10:11) know it. How Speaker 1 (10:12) many times during Indie Sleaze Month have we discussed AMAP? Hasn't Speaker 2 (10:16) come up as much as you think it would have, but I think it will start coming up a lot more. Speaker 1 (10:21) Sure. Speaker 2 (10:21) I remember the day that I got asked to model for them. Speaker 1 (10:25) That's huge. Huge. They're like, you got to show your pussy though. Speaker 2 (10:28) Like literally, basically they were like, it pays 50 bucks. And I was like, hmm. I don't really need my dad to like turn to the back of the TV guide and see me like spread eagle with like. TV guide. Speaker 3 (10:39) Because Speaker 2 (10:40) they have those ads in everything, you know. Yeah, Speaker 3 (10:42) I guess Speaker 2 (10:42) so. With like thigh high, you know, striped socks and like a unitard on or whatever. I was like, you can keep your $50. Speaker 1 (10:50) Preach. You made the right decision in the long run, but I didn't make a lot of right Speaker 2 (10:54) decisions, but that was one Yeah, can you just Speaker 1 (10:56) imagine having that in your back pocket? You're like, oh, yeah, that's me I Speaker 2 (11:00) mean Speaker 1 (11:02) now that you're you know, you probably have a healthy relationship with yourself and your family and yeah At the time I Speaker 2 (11:09) don't think it would have been the vibe. I Speaker 1 (11:10) wouldn't want my 21 year old daughter No Speaker 2 (11:13) doing Speaker 1 (11:13) American Apparel ad things. No, especially for 50 bucks for Speaker 2 (11:17) 50 bucks. That was the rate Speaker 1 (11:19) I bet it was. And they were just Speaker 2 (11:20) like, you should be honored. Speaker 1 (11:22) You should. Fair Speaker 2 (11:23) enough, you know. Speaker 1 (11:24) One of my favorite tidbits of information Speaker 2 (11:27) that I like to tell people every time that clip of Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros goes viral is that that girl, the shaved head girl, was an American Apparel model. Prior to that, she was full in our world. Speaker 1 (11:41) Yeah. Speaker 2 (11:42) Jade. And I remember her from that. Speaker 1 (11:44) Damn. It was a platform. It was a springboard to success. Totally. It's usually porn, but sometimes it's that song. Speaker 2 (11:53) It's that song. Anyways, I just wanted to establish your bona fides because I, you know, I do feel you were, I was trying to explain to someone, like, we had our version of what was happening in New York and it was very much kind of centered around CineSpace, Beauty Bar, Star Shoes. continental was that a place Speaker 1 (12:14) um yeah i think so but i guess with the it was a few years behind yeah but during that time in la there were some other things going on like Like Spaceland, Mondays. Of Speaker 2 (12:28) course, Speaker 1 (12:28) yeah, yeah. Which would sort of go into the like early electro clash kind of Fisher Spoonery kind of thing. I also Speaker 2 (12:35) remember like Autolux used to play at the Echo all the time. Yeah, Autolux. People don't talk a lot about Autolux, but that was kind of in that world, you know? Am I off on timing? That's about right. No, I think that sounds about right, Speaker 1 (12:45) yeah. So we were doing our own thing, but then, yeah, when this sound came out the early, 2002-ish, I guess. Yeah, yeah. like right after the strokes changed everything then everyone did a little bit of that and then you know then it went because i feel like the fisher spooner like early electro clash like peaches kind of thing yeah that was happening like right around 2000 2001 that's right where it was like the and then like djs who play like rock and roll nights are starting to play a little a few electronic songs here and there a little you know Lady Tron, adults, that kind of crossover thing. So then that was, to me, in my life, that was when the lines were first dance music meets rock music, you know, like guitars and beats. And how's Speaker 2 (13:34) it Speaker 1 (13:34) going to work? Speaker 2 (13:35) Was your guys' original night a rock-focused night? Speaker 1 (13:38) Kind of, yeah. Speaker 2 (13:39) Yeah. Speaker 1 (13:39) Yeah, it was just like indie rock and then the club bangers that would like cross over. Like Speaker 2 (13:46) Black Eyed Peas? Speaker 1 (13:47) A little bit, yeah. There would always be like 20 % of like bullshit kind of things like that. I remember, you know, like outcast, hey, y'all. Maybe Speaker 2 (13:57) like hot in here. Speaker 1 (13:58) Yeah, for sure. But also like don't stop believing journey kind of like, you know, it's 1.48 a.m. Everyone's blacked out and we're going to, you know, all the cheesy ballad anthems. You know what's nuts is Speaker 2 (14:12) I don't. I don't know if you know this about me, but I don't get out to many parties anymore. Hey, Speaker 1 (14:16) same, girl. Speaker 2 (14:17) Occasionally when I will be at a party populated by young people, I'll see that their version of that Journey song is like Misery Business by Speaker 1 (14:28) Paramore. Speaker 2 (14:28) Oh, for sure. It's something so... Yeah, Speaker 1 (14:31) it's that. Even later Speaker 2 (14:32) than our time. My Chemical Romance, The Speaker 1 (14:34) Used, Panic at the Disco. Those are all of their. That's their Speaker 2 (14:38) like journey moment. Those are their Speaker 1 (14:39) ballad bangers. Wow, so Speaker 2 (14:41) amazing. Speaker 1 (14:42) I mean, and now all of that, all that sort of the end of Indie Sleaze, the LMFAOs and things like that, the Black Eyed Peas when they started. coming to Cinespace and being like, whatever. Speaker 2 (14:55) I don't think you guys understand that Will.i.am was out here in Speaker 1 (14:58) these streets. Pretty Speaker 2 (14:59) much you couldn't go anywhere and Will.i.am would not be there. Will.i.am were like Speaker 1 (15:02) decent friends at one time. Yeah, totally. We would be like, what up? And we would hang out and stuff. Do Speaker 2 (15:07) you remember when, oh my God, this, I feel like you were definitely there because you were friends with Steve. Was Steve involved? Do you remember when they opened the Korean Speaker 1 (15:15) restaurant? Speaker 2 (15:18) On like, I think it was on Highland. They opened like a Korean, like a fancy Korean barbecue restaurant. I remember that. And the opening night. And it was like, I feel like Gerard Butler was like bartending. It was like the most insane version of that era of like Us Weekly celebrities. And absolutely Apple Dapp and Will.i.am were up in the building. I remember, Speaker 1 (15:40) I think I DJed like. A Latin VMA awards after party there. And I remember seeing Speaker 2 (15:45) Alessandro Speaker 1 (15:47) Ambrosia. Speaker 2 (15:48) She's absolutely up in that bitch. And I was Speaker 1 (15:50) like, this is the first time I've seen a true baddie in person. I was like, I finally made it. I Speaker 2 (15:56) think Speaker 1 (15:56) her Speaker 2 (15:56) boyfriend did like Wild Fox. Speaker 1 (15:58) Wild Fox? This is such Speaker 2 (15:59) this time. Everything we're saying is such specifically rooted in this time. Speaker 1 (16:04) True that. And then, of course, there was. I think Forbidden City, which was maybe a Danny Masterson aligned sushi eatery slash ultra lounge. Speaker 2 (16:17) Yes, totally. Speaker 1 (16:18) There was also a place called Speaker 2 (16:19) Garden of Eden. Speaker 1 (16:23) I Speaker 2 (16:23) went to an Speaker 1 (16:24) herb Speaker 2 (16:24) party there and met the RZA. Speaker 2 (16:28) We had a time. Yeah. Speaker 1 (16:30) A time was had, honey. We Speaker 2 (16:31) can Speaker 1 (16:31) do a whole other side quest about like early 2000s ultra lounge culture. Yeah, Speaker 2 (16:37) totally. I would Speaker 1 (16:38) love a retrospective on that. Speaker 2 (16:40) Absolutely. Well, anyways. Okay. What I wanted to ask you about is like at first you guys were playing. So you're doing indie rock, like you said, and Interpol is coming around. The Strokes changed everything, so you were playing Strokes songs. And was the crowd kind of more or less rocker types? I Speaker 1 (16:59) think it was a little bit of everything. That was at the time when everyone listened to everything. Like when we were discussing on the last episode, like while all this was going on, like 50 Cent in the club was like just, you know, that was the songbook of the world. It was inescapable. Everyone loved it. So there was... all of that happening in the background like whenever i when i first started djing i would play on like one side vinyl and one side an ipod and it would be like so i'd have all my vinyl you know my dfa vinyl or whatever it is my cool songs and then whatever nelly or ludacris or whatever song that was popping at that time Play it on the iPad or iPod, I should say. And then Callie DeWitt would hand me a frosty Stella. Speaker 2 (17:50) It was all one thing. You brought up DJ AM or May He Rest In Peace, but there was also LAX right around that time, too. And you would go and the streetwear part of... Speaker 3 (18:04) Indie Speaker 2 (18:04) Sleaze was very strong. It was very kind of interconnected. It was. I had my friend Crystal Moselle send me a message the other day after the IA's episode came out. She was like, me and you were in a different, we were in a different subsect. We were in streetwear Indie Sleaze. You were. And Speaker 1 (18:17) I was like, Speaker 2 (18:17) damn, dragged my ass straight to fucking hell. You kind of were too. A little bit. I was definitely. Speaker 1 (18:20) Look, if you're in your mid, early 20s and Supreme is like, here's free clothes, you feel bitter than gosh. I thought Speaker 2 (18:31) I was the coolest. I thought I was the coolest person on Speaker 1 (18:33) earth. Speaker 2 (18:34) The fact that I could walk straight to the front of the line in New York when Supreme had like a Speaker 1 (18:40) blazer Speaker 2 (18:41) drop and I could be like, hey, Pookie. And he'd be like, come on in, girl. And I would get my like $200, you Speaker 1 (18:48) know, Speaker 2 (18:48) whatever Supreme blazers. Yeah, man. Speaker 1 (18:51) It was a special time. And then you could do a lot of brand crossing and switch over. You would get the baddie with the supreme mixed with the indie sleaze ratty shit. That's Speaker 2 (19:01) exactly how I dress. I would beat up Converse with my Gnome Degar hoodie and my U-Code bangs. Speaker 1 (19:08) My Speaker 2 (19:09) gold bamboo earrings. You can tell me shit. Get the opening Speaker 1 (19:13) ceremony baby purple hoodie jumpsuit. Mixed with like the Supreme has like a golden dollar sign embroidered onto it. Speaker 2 (19:22) God. I know that it's kind of coming back around, but I have such a visceral reaction to it. I find it so ugly. Even though like I wore it, but I'm just like when I see it, a shiver goes down my spine. It's Speaker 1 (19:33) called shame. It's called shame. My haircuts. I was Speaker 2 (19:36) like, why did I cut my hair like that? It's Speaker 1 (19:38) good. It's good that we're feeling this. It means that we have sort of, we have blossomed into the person that we deserve to be. Speaker 2 (19:46) Dude, podcasters? Speaker 1 (19:48) Little did we know this was all anthropological research for our upcoming podcast careers. For our Speaker 2 (19:54) careers as podcasters. This episode of Vansplain is presented by Sierra Nevada. Life's about embracing the haze. What does that mean? Living in the moment. Seeing where the night takes you. Being up for the adventure. And there's no better way to embrace it than with Hazy Little Thing by Sierra Nevada. Hazy, citrusy, smooth. Juicy, but not sweet. Hoppy, but not bitter. America's best-selling hazy IPA for good reason. Hazy little thing. Speaker 1 (20:27) Enjoy responsibly. Speaker 2 (20:30) Okay, so do you kind of remember? I guess you were starting to talk about it with the Peaches and Lady Tron stuff. So was it always kind of there or do you remember there being a bit of like a shift towards what we now, I don't even know, did we call it Electro Clash then? I don't remember. But like what we now would term Electro Clash. Speaker 1 (20:51) I guess, I mean, it was like very gnarly at first and then it started getting into other smaller subsets that were like a little more kind of Detroit. Yeah. Like ghostly, compact-y kind of thing, like minimal bleepy, you know, like I said before, like adult or something like that, where it's a little more electronic based and a little less like... Speaker 2 (21:14) Disco punk or whatever, which is what? Disco punk, Speaker 1 (21:15) like live instrumentation being sampled and stuff like that. That was my first when I noticed things kind of switching over. And then in the mainstream, it was like the bravery was copying the killers and the killers were having a little... The Speaker 3 (21:31) way my Speaker 1 (21:31) best Speaker 2 (21:31) friend's roommate was the singer of the bravery when I lived in New York and I would just go over and there he was sitting on the couch. Can't remember his name. I'm sure he's a nice man. And I laugh about it all the time with my... He's