[James J Patterson] The Pheromones’ “Yuppie Drone” & the serious business of satire (NightFlight)

The ‘Mones “Yuppie Drone” Dissected

Bryan Thomas‘s feature in NightFlight Magazine is a dissection of The Pheromones‘ 1982 smash hit “Yuppie Drone.” For the folks who don’t know, The ‘Mones were an art-folk duo comprised of Alvis and Jimmy Pheromone, that is, Alan Johnson and ASP’s own James J. Patterson.

The 'Mones by Elliot Landy 9 yuppie drone 9
The ‘Mones by Elliot Landy

Bryan goes into quite some detail on the lyrical content and force behind “Yuppie Drone” in an attempt to contextualize it in the climate of 1982 when it was released (and the subsequent album in 1986 of the same name), and, to therefore, contextualize that cog-in-the-system verve, which the song lampoons, for an audience in 2018. For, today, surely, we could all use “Yuppie Drone” as a reminder that that certain material obsession with wealth and status we thought we’d left somewhere back in the 1980s is still pervasive.

“I trusted George in ’72, hated Tricky Dicky with a passion/Championed the poor down-trodden masses, don’t call me middle-class/What’s mine is mine, I don’t like war, but the bread is good/Ronnie’s not so bad as Fritz or Carter’s hicks/Right is new, left is out, twist and shout.”

Read the full article Here

James’ first book, Bermuda Shorts, contains several essays on The Pheromones and their many adventures crisscrossing the USA in the 80s and 90s