(Above: Promo photo for the Men, circa 1992)
One of the great advantages of working in radio without concern for ratings – because you don’t have any – is the ability to take certain liberties with the playlist. I think I can best sum up my stint as the morning host at Joliet’s WLLI-FM from 1991-92 as “unencumbered by ratings.”
It’s not for lack of trying. We were busting our butts in there every day. It’s just that in 1992, there was some damned good radio to be had in Chicago, especially in the morning. I had 3,000 watts to compete with the Jonathon Brandmeier Showgram at WLUP, which covered the same area. (Somewhere packed away I have tapes of the April Fool’s Stunt of 1992, when Johnny B and the late Doug Banks – another highly rated program – switched stations for the morning. To be fair, Doug sounded better playing Zeppelin on the Loop than Johnny did reading ads for Moo and Oink on WGCI.) This was the time when WLUP was doing groundbreaking comedy radio, stations had huge budgets for prizes, and none of that mattered because Bob Collins still ruled the morning roost at WGN. For WLLI to have made the ratings book at ALL would have been a major accomplishment, let alone in morning drive. Nevertheless, my show had a loyal following that I sought to entertain each day.
Sometimes that meant tweaking the playlist. We were a satellite station for about half the day. Our live morning, midday, and afternoon shows gave way to piped-in programming the rest of the day and almost all weekend. (Those that complain that ‘consolidation killed local radio’ are bereft of a knowledge of radio history.) To avoid too many repeats, we were expected to follow the playlist that the satellite would have been playing during our programs. I did so, except when I didn’t, which was most of the time.
Once such exception occurred when I heard “The Church of Logic, Sin, and Love” by a band called The Men. Perhaps the greatest in-joke in pop music was that The Men consisted of two men and two women. (Hey, I find it funny.) Technically a “no-hit wonder” in terms of the pop charts, they got a lot of rock radio airplay with this tale of a road trip that made #8 on the Mainstream Rock chart. I’ve always been a sucker for excellent lyrics – I’m a Dylan fan, after all – and the narrative style of this record jumped out to me the first time I heard it. Certain parts convey very strong images – “It’s the kind of place where space explorers could have landed around 1963 – when Kennedy was in Life Magazine and everything was aquamarine” may be one of my favorite pieces of writing ever to come out of the radio.
Not everyone liked it. I played the LP version several times on my show, and the screaming guitar solo may have been a bit much for breakfast. (At 22, it worked for me.) Our station manager at the time, Ed Morris, particularly hated the song. One morning after it aired he came to find me, demanding to know what was the song “about the church of booze and broads and butts or whatever.” I’m thinking that that would be a fantastic follow-up. (Calling members of the band: if you did this song, I think it would get airplay.) Needless to say, the ire of the boss coupled with a lack of any research to defend the choice to play it resulted in the CD going back to my house and not gracing the airwaves again. Too bad, since it’s a damned good record.
See for yourself – the thing is ahead sixty miles, do not miss. You can hear “The Church of Logic, Sin and Love” by clicking here.
45 Ruminations Per Megabyte 
Absolutely love this tune…and I feel like you and I are it’s biggest fans.
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I remember this song. I definitely liked it, but it’s no ‘Sister Havana’ or ‘Song of the Kite’ or even ‘Green Tinted Sixties Mind’.
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Count me a huge fan, since summer 1992, and currently developing my own religion around “The Thing”!
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I was always a big fan and used to play it daily on my own radio shows on the island of Diego Garcia. It’s hokey in spots, brilliant in others and has a powerful hook for a chorus… and it has completely disappeared. Can’t even get it on iTunes.
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Excellent song, great album. Got it on casette and mp3. Listen to it frequently. Wish they’d have had more success and stuck together for more releases!
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I also was 22 in ’92. I was working construction for my uncle in Cleveland that summer, and it got quite a bit of airplay on whatever the local station was. This was my fave song of that whole summer. As someone else said, the whole album was actually pretty great. I have it on CD, which of course never gets played anymore. Not on Spotify though. What the heck?!
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I’m a big fan of this song. We played it at KCLB in Palm Springs, CA.
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Perhaps my favorite song of all time, and that’s saying a lot. As a former DJ turned music journalist, I have never had a song hit me like this one. Brilliant lyrics. This is a freak show baby anyhow….
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Hey guys — I was wondering if anyone has the rest of the album to upload? I found this one in a “Forgotten 90s Alternative” compilation and I’m absoluty mad about the song. thanks!
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Send me your address, I have the cd
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“I just had to smoke a cigarette and wear a hat” is my favorite part
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For some reason the line “this is a freakshow baby anyhow” has always stuck with me. It iscapplicable in SO many different contexts.
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I remember being at Daytona raceway when a song was constantly played on the radio I was 21 years old and I absolutely love this song. I had forgot about it till recently. Thank you for uploading the song so we can hear it again. It was moving at a time and is moving to me now it is quirky at some points, but I think it has brilliant lyrics. That really stick.
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Perhaps bizarrely, this song got a lot of airplay on Radio Hauraki in New Zealand. For Americans, Hauraki was a 60s pirate radio station that by the time I was in high school when this song came out had “evolved” into classic rock. They still found time for this song – I love it, it looked back in time even then, but still makes me feel young now!
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MORE BIZZARRELY than that, this song became a staple for the first indie station (when indie REALLY meant indie) in deepest darkest Peru! There’s still a small but faithful cult legion of fans there which would be eager to see them live – in case the band wants some fresh cash.
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