Throwback Thursday Presents: House of Jealous Lovers - The Rapture


The Disco-Punk kid's wet dream in the early 00's...definitely an acquired taste. The song that put both The Rapture and DFA Records (pre-LCD Soundsystem) on the map, "House of Jealous Lovers" is some crazy nonsense that if you get, if you can comprehend what The Rapture is going for, then you'll love it. Otherwise, you're going to absolutely hate this song.

We start out with an elongated and bouncy bass, snare and hi-hat combination straight out of a NYC club but with an accompanying cowbell, because fuck polished Disco...right? Then in come the off-pitched guitars to create more chaos to the song along with the off-key repetition of the phrase "house of jealous lovers." It is really a wild song when you look at it through an objective lens. Let's not forget, this is not a straight up Disco track, it's an ironic as all hell combination of Disco and Punk (Disco-Punk), which is evidently the point.

No one makes a crazy song just because they think it would be banger or produced it without thought (see "Bad" for a good example). It's actually a pretty genius if you think about it, which is probably why it is an underground wonder. It is exposing the true difference between the two genres: Disco being a clean and polished production where as Punk is raw and unapologetic; showing the lunacy of the two in one setting. Disco music just repeats the same redundant and poppy beat; Punk music doesn't play the right notes and has repetitive, sometimes head-scratching lyrics, that sounds completely disorganized. Putting the two together, now that's some shit.

Lovers of music will appreciate this track for what it truly is, a commentary on two genres of music explicated in the paradox of an upbeat tempo, descending then immediate ascending chord progressions and off-key vocals. Without this appreciation you'll just be extremely confused...but maybe that's point? 

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