www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/vapors.htm
clips of songs from both albums
www.mp3.com/the-vapors/artists/17293/songs.html
The Vapors
One of the most influential bands of my early musical development and a group whose career was over before it really got much traction. Sure many of you probably remember “Turning Japanese” and might never have listened to another track. If it meant that the Vapors would have missed out on instant flash in the pan fame but would have managed to stick together and produce a string of obscure but brilliant albums, I would have been fine if “TJ” had never be written. (Though I still like the song to this day). The composition and musicianship evident in the bulk of the Vapors published catalog indicates (to me at least) that this group could have evolved into something quite remarkable. Songs from New Clear Days and Magnets populate my mp3 rotation today.
I just wish there had been more.
From Trouserpress.com
"VAPORS (
New Clear Days (UA) 1980
Magnets (Liberty) 1981
One of the first in a breed of fresh-faced bands who fit neatly into the UK pop charts and accompanying teenybopper trappings while retaining vague new wave credibility, the Vapors started at the top and quickly sank from view. Their first single, "Turning Japanese," was a coy paean to masturbation and an enormous international hit; the inability to match it made both of the Vapors' subsequent albums big disappointments. They weren't that bad, though.
New Clear Days follows in the veddy British vein originated by Ray Davies and carried on by Paul Weller and Madness. Some of singer David Fenton's songs show a talented, mature tunesmith at work; unfortunately, they all suffer in light of the awesomely catchy jingle that dominates the record, overshadowing the subtler, more thoughtful material.
Magnets also lacks a peer for "Turning Japanese," although "Jimmie Jones" (about Jonestown) nearly meets the challenge. Unfortunately, Fenton's greater aspirations and budding political conscience are severely out of step with the band's unbreakably commercial image. Had they not been doomed by their own devices from day one, the Vapors might have proven well worth following.
[Ira Robbins]"
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