6 Songs From the Mind of The Wheel Volume 1

Hi Guys , Dave asked me to provide a list for you all. Even though he asked me months ago, all of you know I am very lazy. I'm really doing this for Dave, he puts a lot of time, thought, and work into making his list and I think we all appreciate his efforts greatly and makes us all appreciate the music we love whether we agree with his choices or not, they are all thought provoking, interesting, and very debatable. So as a "thank you" to Dave Woods, here's "Wheel's" list of Top 6. I hope you enjoy and hope I've lived up to the standard that Dave has set so high.


Top 6 songs from the "After Hours" club "Cignal" of the late 80's in Baltimore.


Cignal on East Lafayette Ave was an after hours club in Baltimore located north of Mt.Vernon and just north of 83 off of Charles St around the corner from the Depot & Club Charles. A grey painted brick warehouse with an entrance on the right. Upon entering you would walk a narrow pathway and enter the bar area to the left. For some reason I remember the color red in this room, the bar itself was simple and you could bring your vodka or whatever bottle you carried with you to the bar , they would hold it for you and mix orange juice or cranberry when you wanted. Then to the right of the bar the room opened to this great huge room with a sunken-in oval dance floor much like a built-in swimming pool. The dance floor was made of wood resembling a basketball court and had plenty of platforms and dancing area above the floor. Huge speakers on the floor and hung around the room the sound was super-loud and fantastic with an adequate light show pre-lazer light. I remember the wildest part was going from light to total darkness and it was pitch-black when the lights went out.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

This club was pre-Paradox , pre-Redwood Trust , pre-ecstasy , really pre-everything as far as "after hours" clubs go. I don't think anything ever came close because it was really drama free & fight free maybe because it was small compared to everything that came after, the music was different in the 90's with less goth & industrial and more synthpop, technopop, & electropop. I'm not saying there wasn't synth but it was less noticeable. Club opened about 10pm and closed about 6am with prime hours from 2am to 4am......

Here are my "Top 6" of club Cignal to give you an idea of what it was like , and please add your comments if I missed anything or remember anything differently. Everything and all info given was from my own memory, Oye and it's very fuzzy , lol ...........

Link to Spotify. If you do not have an account, create a free one after clicking the link below.

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (12" Mix)

Buy On Amazon 

Dominatrix was a synthpop band from NYC best remembered for their 1984 club hit "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight". Although short lived as a group, their lone hit single reaching #2 in the dance charts was highly influential in the freestyle genre. MTV refused to air the risque video, the band opened some tour dates for Grace Jones , and the song was featured in the 2010 film "The Radiant Child" .

The Bollock Brothers - Harley David (Son Of A Bitch)

Buy On Amazon

The Bollock Brothers are a British Punk act formed in 1979 and best known for their English language cover of Serge Gainsbourg's song Harley David (Son Of A Bitch) song was released January 1987.

Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People

Buy On Amazon

Francis John "Frank" Tovey , known also by his stage name Fad Gadget was a British avant-garde electrontic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both New Wave and early industrial music influencing the group Depeche Mode. Fad Gadget was characterized by use of synthesizers in conjunction with sounds of found objects , including drills, electric razors , and bottles. Single was released in 1983.

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Buy On Amazon

I still have the original 1979 release on blue vinyl. This song is pure "Goth" and was the band's first single. It is considered by most to be the first gothic rock record released. Recorded in 6 hours it is over 9 minutes in length. The song has been used in many films and was used as a music intro to the late 1990's SNL skit "Goth Talk" .

Love And Rockets - Ball Of Confusion

Buy On Amazon

Former members of Bauhaus best know for their hit "So Alive" released this motown classic in 1986 off their album Express. Love and Rockets were very much a brighter and pop-influenced sound than the former Bauhaus.

Siouxsie and The Banshees - Cities In Dust

Buy On Amazon

It was released as the first single from their 7th studio album Tinderbox in 1985. The 12" single was the first single-release in the U.S for the band. The song obliquely describes the city of Pompeii, destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 79AD. Song was used in the movie "Out of Bounds. I ask you , is their a hotter, sexier, song than "Cities In Dust" ?

The Bonus : Ministry - Stigmata. Ministry is totally industrial metal the song Stigmata is glorious. With the lyrics "chewing on glass, eating my fingers" , lol hilarious. Released as a single in 1988 the song was an underground hit for the band. Track was featured in the 1990 science fiction horror movie Hardware.