“Helen Fordsdale”, Mars

This way: Helen Fordsdale

“Helen Fordsdale”, Mars, 1978. Mars was a New York City rock band formed in 1975 when China Burg and artist Nancy Arlen brought Mark Cunningham and vocalist Sumner Crane together to talk about music. They were joined briefly by guitarist Rudolph Grey. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars. They played a mixture of angular compositions and freeform noise music jams, featuring surrealist lyrics and non-standard drumming. All the members were said to be completely untrained in music before forming the band. “You don’t have to go too far before you’re stuck inside a jar with no clothes”, the internet tells me these are the words to the first line. And of course it makes perfect sense. They put out several singles and EPs but the Album they recorded in the 70s never came out until much later. They are on the highly influential No New York album along with the Contortions, DNA and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. This song has always haunted me.  


[Spotify] Helen Fordsdale (live version)