Secret History of Rock. The Most Influential Bands You've Never Heard by Roni Sarig Page A

cha cha du loup , Mambo miam miam , Couleur café . While his music became much more beat-oriented (1964’s Gainsbourg percussions ), his world view remained dark ( End of the Rope ) and he again failed to connect with pop audiences.
    By the late ‘60s, the French public seemed ready for something a bit more risque, and Gainsbourg was happy to comply. Though an innocent 18-year-old singer named France Gall had scored a hit with Gainsbourg’s song Les sucettes (“The Lollipops”), it wasn’t until Gainsbourg recorded his own version that the tune’s dirty jokes became apparent. In no time, Gainsbourg went from cult favorite to bad boy of the French pop charts.
    By then, Gainsbourg’s music had shifted once again. Long enchanted by American popular culture, Gainsbourg now immersed himself in a mod-pop style, akin to Burt Bacharach and Lee Hazelwood / Nancy Sinatra songs, with colorful ditties such as the pop-art inspired Comic Strip (complete with sung sound effects – ”Sh-bam! Pow! Whizz!”) and the hipster society anthem, Qui est in Qui est out (“Who’s in Who’s out”). And having learned a valuable lesson from his success with Les Sucettes , Gainsbourg set about creating his most provocative – and by no coincidence, his most successful – work.
    Exploiting and exaggerating his outsiderness, Gainsbourg became Gainsbarre, a bad-ass rock star with an unkempt but fashionable junkie/lecher look, sneering derision at the world. He wrote songs about the fast life – Ford Mustang , Harley David Son of a Bitch , and gangster pop classic Bonnie and Clyde – and ducted with sexy younger women with whom he also had love affairs. Most notable was Brigit Bardot, who recorded two albums with Gainsbourg in 1967 and ‘68.
    Dean Wareham, Luna:
    Laetitia [Sadier of Stereolab] picked that song, [ Bonnie and Clyde , to record as a duet] and it came out great. I always thought French music was just bad, but he had incredible production and the music was very sexy and really out there. The closest thing we have to that is Lee Hazelwood, another one of my heroes.
    A second young starlet, English actress Jane Birkin, was Gainsbourg’s partner on his best-known songs. In 1969, their hit Soixante neuf année erotique played the current year for all its sexual potential and caused quite a stir in France. The follow-up, though, became an international incident. Je t’aime... Moi non plus (“I Love You... Neither Do I”), with its suggestive lyrics (“I go and I come, inside you”) and Birkin’s orgasmic moans, was banned throughout Europe at the urging of the Vatican. Nevertheless, the song was Gainsbourg’s biggest hit; it turned Gainsbourg into a superstar at home, and even made the U.S. charts.
    Steve Shelley, Sonic Youth:
    There was this real innocence for Sonic Youth, or for myself, in discovering him. I compare it to first hearing about rock ‘n’ roll... At this point, we’re so post-everything that I think we can really appreciate the way he put together all those cultures and sounds and words and feelings. It’s much the same way that we appreciate Beck right now. I’m not into him for the kitsch value. What interests me is that he made such amazing sounds, and that takes me back to dealing with things simply on an aural level, [from Interview magazine, April 1997]
    With stardom opening up endless possibilities, Gainsbourg busied himself in the ‘70s with all sorts of creative pursuits: He composed soundtracks, acted in cheesy Italian films, directed his own movie, and even wrote a novel. Though he recorded less, his music was still controversial. He attempted a concept album with 1971’s Histoire de m é lodie Nelson , a cult favorite, and took his jabs at government ( Rock around the Bunker ) and oil companies ( Torry Canyon ). He continued to exploit the latest sounds; in 1976 he traveled to Jamaica to record reggae with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and three years later he released Aux armes