R.I.P. Benjamin Bossi

The former saxophonist for Romeo Void, dead from early-onset Alzheimer's. Details here.

I hate to hear this. Romeo Void are a band that I keep waiting to be rediscovered and celebrated by a younger generation of musicians, but so far they never really have been.

I rediscovered their Instincts album a couple of years ago. It's excellent, IMO. Hate that it took me so long to catch on.

I think the single "Never Say Never" ended up being less beneficial to the band than it seemed at the time ... and even less beneficial to their legacy in the long run. Sure, it got the band more attention than It's a Condition had, and enabled them to jump to a major label. But once they were there, they realized quickly that it brought less attention and more scrutiny.

It's a Condition had received a lot of critical acclaim and enabled them to tour beyond their fan base in the Bay Area. "Never Say Never," with its walloping dance beat and attention-getting chorus (not to mention the Ric Ocasek connection, which was a big deal at the time), enabled them to get a deal with Columbia. But according to Debora Iyall, as soon as the band got there, all anyone at the label had to say was, "Who's this fat chick?" They were still putting out great music -- Benefactor has plenty of good songs. But the label didn't do shit to promote it -- no radio interviews, no in-store appearances, no A&R personnel meeting them on tour. Instincts also delivers the goods. It may be David Kahne's single best production job, and the single "A Girl in Trouble" did get some radio play. But MTV -- so important to breaking new pop acts by then -- apparently had the same attitude as Columbia.

So where does that leave Romeo Void's legacy? Today, the band probably is most remembered for "Never Say Never." And let's be candid: that song ain't their finest hour. It's a one-chord jam, with a chorus that gets repetitious to the point of being annoying, especially in the full-length EP version. For a post-Eighties music fan who's cueing up an Eighties playlist, it's gotta be hard to listen to "Never Say Never" without wondering what the fuss was about. The rest of the group's catalog offers plenty of gems to be discovered, but IMO, that single is not the ideal gateway.