San Francisco based punk band Tess and the Details love to rock out. You can pogo to them if you wish, but if you have the talent and the venue has the space, you could also recreate one of the most iconic looks from the ’80s. With their version of “Maniac,” you too can be a welder by day, and dancer by night. Recorded some time ago, they have now significantly augmented it with a video.
It isn’t easy to imagine a greater artefact of the early ’80s than Flashdance, the movie. You can see hints of the future in the 1983 film. It is bombastic, simplistic and preposterous, in the Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer way, and director Adrian Lyne’s focus on the sweat on Jennifer Beals’ (and her dancing double’s) lithe body predicted his future work. Unfortunately, one mistake they all made was to deny us Gene Simmons’ take on being Beals’ romantic interest by casting someone else. What a performance that could have been.
Tess and the Details may not have been born in the ’80s, but they are nostalgic for the period, and its music and fashion. They present themselves in pristine Fred Perry fashionwear, the uniform of some punks since those days. They lampoon the dance leisurewear of the chosen period in their video, but do not sully the t-shirts of The Jam. Tess Stevens’ charisma and vocals lead, and clarifies with her performance that she is the titular maniac. Dustin Galecki relishes his opportunity to recreate the famous Sembello guitar solo. The boys in the band cannot replicate the dance moves from the movie, but they are intentionally humorous, rather than accidentally cringe, as the original. They do get recreate one of the sexiest, and silliest, bit of the movie by dousing Stevens with water.
