Music / Worst Case Scenario

"There is always something in the air..."

Worst Case Scenario is the 1994 debut album by Belgian rock band dEUS. The album is considered to be a landmark in the development of Belgian pop music. They were the first Belgian rock band to receive positive attention in the foreign press, airplay on MTV (they were nominated for Best Newcomer during the MTV Music Awards) and make a succesful international career out of it. ^note  While it's true that Telex and Front 242 had international success during the 1970s and 1980s they were pigeonholed as electronic music acts, much like the equally popular Lords of Acid. The only Belgian rock band before them to have success in Europe was TC Matic, but they weren't able to maintain their career because most record labels in Belgium didn't have the facilities to sustain such international success yet. In dEUS' case they had this luck.. Their success also paved the way for other Belgian alternative rock bands with success outside their native country, such as K's Choice ("Not An Addict"), Hooverphonic, Soulwax and Admiral Freebee. So, in a Hilarious in Hindsight way this album wasn't a "worst case scenario" at all...

In Belgium the album is considered to be a classic. "Suds & Soda" (the colossal Breakthrough Hit), "Via" and "Hotellounge" were released as singles and scored high in the charts.

In 2009 "Worst Case Scenario" was re-released in luxe edition, along with a making of documentary and some concert footage from 1994 and 1995.

Tracklist

1. "Intro" (0:24)
2. "Suds & Soda" (5:14)
3. "W.c.s (first draft)" (5:05)
4. "Jigsaw You" (2.26)
5. "Morticiachair" (4:23)
6. "Via" (4:12)
7. "Right As Rain" (4:27)
8. "Mute" (3:57)
9. "Let's Get Lost" (4:23)
10. "Hotellounge (Be The Death Of Me)" (6:23)
11. "Shake Your Hip" (0:41)
12. "Great American Nude" (5:39)
13. "Secret Hell" (4:29)
14. "Divebomb Djingle" (3:00)

Personnel

• Tom Barman: vocals, electric guitar, piano
• Stef Kamil Carlens: vocals, bass guitar,
• Klaas Janszoons: violin, vocals
• Jules De Borgher: drums, percussion, timpani, maracas, guitar, gasheating, metalophone
• Rudy Trouvé: electric guitar, percussion, effects, vocals, steel plate

Tropes & Soda

• Album Title Drop: "W.C.'s First Draft"
  It's the first draft of the worst case scenario!
• Alliterative Title: "Right As Rain", "Let's Get Lost", "Divebomb Djingle".
• Body Horror: "Shake Your Hip".
• Break-Up Song: "Jigsaw You", about how Barman tries to find out a way to weld a broken relationship.
• Broken Bird: "Hotellounge"
  And hoisted the flag
  but it keeps hanging down
  You know this place, this hotellounge
  It's my life, it's my choice
  And I'm in love
  with Rickie Lee Jones' voice"
  Cause it's so hard
  to keep the dream alive
• Broken Record:
  • The word "Friday" in "Suds & Soda" which is repeated ad finitum.
  • The line "It's the first draft of the worst case scenario" in "W.C.'s First Draft".
  • And the line "So, come on, baby baby, shake your hip, baby, come on" in "Shake Your Hip".
  • "Yes, that's the price you pay" in "Divebomb Djingle".
• Careful with That Axe: The background singers during "Divebomb Djingle" and "Great American Nude".
• Darker and Edgier: "Suds & Soda" surprised everybody that Belgian rock could be catchy, edgy, fresh and cool and win an audience abroad as well.
• Department of Redundancy Department: From "Mute":
  Together we saw they were building a... building
• Design Student's Orgasm: The album cover.
• Epic Rocking: "Suds & Soda".
• Hurricane of Puns: "Divebomb Djingle" is full of them.
• Lampshading: "Let's Get Lost" ends with the funny line:
  It's kinda early but the story's told
• Miniscule Rocking: The very short "Shake Your Hip".
• Pun: "Morticiachair"
  She's in this state and it's California.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The line "56 Falcon" in "Jigsaw You" is a reference to lead singer Tom Barman's then girlfriend's address in the Falconrui in Antwerp, Belgium. "Right As Rain" was written after Barman's father had died.
• Rhyming with Itself: From "Suds & Soda":
  It's suds and soda, a brain decoder
  And can I wait for my decoder
• Rule of Scary: "Secret Hell"
  You should be scaring me
  But don't I only... scare myself?
• Shout-Out:
  • The introduction is a French text about a rare bone disease and was taken from a medical book.
  • Beavis And Butthead once had the duo watch the music video of "Suds & Soda".
  • "W.C.S. (First Draft)" contains a sample from Frank Zappa's "Little Umbrellas" from his album Hot Rats. The song was recorded the day Zappa died (December 4, 1993) "with the highest respect to the master", according to Barman. The song also has a sample from Don Cherry's "Base Figurine for Ballatune". The line "do the low yo yo" refers to the song "Low Yo Yo Stuff" from Captain Beefheart's "Clear Spot".
  • "Via" has a refrain taken from R.E.M.'s song "Low" from their album Out of Time (1991)
  I skipped the part about love.
  • "Hotellounge (Be The Death Of Me)" has a subtitle referring to the song "Heroin (Be The Death Of Me)" from The Velvet Underground & Nico by Velvet Underground. Barman also namedrops Rickie Lee Jones at one point:
  And I'm in love with Rickie Lee Jones' voice.
  • "Let's Get Lost" refers to the 1988 documentary film about jazz musician Chet Baker.
  • "Great American Nude" was named after the pop art painting by Tom Wesselmann. It also namedrops Aleister Crowley and William Shakespeare:
  She had this thing about Aleister Crowley.
  • "Secret Hell" refers to the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice".
  • Both "Suds & Soda" ("Jimmy Dean is howling ween") and "Divebomb Djingle" refererence James Dean and Rebel Without a Cause:
  He said: 'Remember James Dean
  was looking pristine
  in comes the benzine
  out goes the rebel without a grant
  ... but with a fanzine
• The Show Must Go Wrong: During the recording of "Hotellounge" a sound recorder exploded. This was kept in the song.
• Single Stanza Song: "Shake Your Hip"
  So come on, baby, baby, shake your hip, baby baby, come on
  So come on, baby, baby, shake your hip, baby baby, come on
  So come on, baby, baby, shake your hip, baby baby, come on
• Spoken Word in Music: "Intro", which is a women reading a text in French, taken from a medical guide.
• Word Salad Lyrics: "Suds & Soda", "W.C.S. (First Draft)", "Morticiachair", "Shake Your Hip", "Divebomb Djingle".
  • Lampshaded in "Morticiachair"
  By the time of my second car crash I got totally wired
  Like in the days I cut myself up with a razor-blade
  Oh nostalgia, lost myself in so many ways
  I didn't know what to think of him
  Ah, maybe I think too much, I don't think so
  Fell madly in love with a couple of beautiful ears
  It's only a variation
  Had long and boring conversations about nothing
  Talked so much, I bored myself to death
  And the more I talk, the more I turn into a vegetable
  God, I'm such a fool

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