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Moments in Cult: Nelson’s After the Rain

Poodle-pop duo Nelson was an extreme anomaly in the history of hair metal. nothing about them scanned as “metal.” They dressed like a pair of androgynous sex yetis, and their amps looked as if they were fashioned from pool noodles and unicorn tears. I’m pretty sure their sole connection to the world of Headbangers Ball was “having funny-shaped guitars.”

Imagine the director sitting in a meeting of music-industry bigwigs and pitching the treatment for Nelson’s 1990 hit “After the Rain”.

Nelson kidnaps an impressionable young slip of a lad and transports him to an astral plane where he has a magical connection with a Native American who hands the twins a magic feather. Afterwards, the only way the sensitive young pup can find salvation and tranquillity is by watching two afghan hounds play tandem guitar on a stage made of rock, while the drummer from Vinnie Vincent Invasion wears sequined bondage trousers.

In the finished version of the video, a boy from an abusive home seeks comfort in Nelson cassettes, and the band whisks him away to their secret world like an episode of Jamie’s Magic Torch. Bleached-blonde pretty boys sing to a woman about rebounding after being dumped — that’s what we’re supposed to believe is speaking to this directionless, dirt-poor 18-year-old with an unsupportive father.

Bonus points to the director for having the restraint not to show any actual rain in this video.

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Stephen Pryde-Jarman is a Cult TV and Film journalist, award winning short story writer, playwright and screenwriter. A natural hoarder, second hand shopping fulfils his basic human need for hunter-gathering; but rummaging through a charity shop’s bric-a-brac shelf also brought him the inspiration for his novel Rubble Girl having seen a picture of a Blitz survivor sat amongst the rubble of her house with a cup and saucer. Rubble Girl has been described as " thought-provoking" and "fast paced ... with plenty of twists and turns." Amazon.

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