To this very day, "No. 1 Fan" is one of my all-time favorite songs, and Majesty Crush is a band I still adore. Back then, I had been looking to the U.S. coasts (Seattle, Chapel Hill) and across the pond to the UK for new musical discoveries. Falling in love with a band in my own back yard? Somehow it never occurred to me to look here. The very notion of a shoegaze band coming out of Detroit made little sense — any other artist of shoegazing merit was on the other side of the ocean: My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Ride. But the short-lived Majesty Crush truly holds its own with that lot and deserves inclusion. The recorded output for the band is pretty minimal — one full-length album (Love 15), a couple EPs and a 7-inch. A compilation appropriately titled I Love You in Other Cities was released last year, a perfect introduction to a Detroit band for which I have "the kind of love that never strays." —Laura Witkowski

The Dramatics

They are neither unknown nor obscure, but the Dramatics have never been critically regarded or highly acclaimed enough for my liking. Always overshadowed by the deservedly iconic status of the Temptations, I have always thought that these balladeers represented an even sweeter, darker, post-rural urbanized soul music; an homage to Detroit proletarian love. I've written about them for years and lobbied for their inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; maybe one day they'll get there. —Marsha Cusic

> Email Metro Times music staff

comments powered by Disqus