Article by Sam Brumbaugh

Momus takes himself seriously. So does Sting. They're both serious people. This is just about the only similarity of consequence. Momus can croon like ABC or Jandek. Sting croons like Sting. Momus' influences range from Popcorn to Kraftwork to Jean Michael Jarre. Sting's are Stings. Momus writes dirty little songs for young Japanese girls (try the lovely Kahimi Karie), and one of his records received a 0 out of 10 in Melody Maker for it's "moral perversity". Sting is a munificient internationalist.
Momus wears cool cat running shoes, oversizeblack glasses, and has a moody French friend in the corner. Sting might have one of that litter, but that's all.
Momus' lyrics often point in a sly direction that seems to antagonize the pleasantness of the tune. "What I try and do is make people feel an inappropriate emotion. That's more true to life. People often don't quite know how they should feel or in that split second when they are deciding how they should feel about something--like when your girlfriend might laugh at what you said or slap you, I guess the songs are trying to prolong that moment."
Sting must have made a lot of people want to slap him.
"Sting has his Brechtian side, he's into Kurt Wiel and all that. I guess he's got a schoolteacher's kind of left wing credentials. To his credit, he's written a few disturbing songs."
Sting rode a white horse through his wedding and through his last video.
"Sting would probably do it because it's a Jungian archetype. The white horse is one of the ten jungian archetypes. Sting is a Jungian. That is my main bone to pick with him. I am a Freudian."
Momus is a Freudian.
"Freud is pretty hard hitting. Saying that children seduce adults (editor's note here?--sb --just kidding just kidding), that society cannot deal with instinctual drives. Those things are pretty hard hitting and scary. Whereas Jung is saying that we must all get in touch with the collective unconscious, that if we allow people to its all quite easy, comfortable and soft. Something I've noticed that's very prevalant right now is this kind of soft-sell spirituality--we can all raise our consciensness, get a little bit into oriental philosphy....this great unifying rhetoric that were all it in together, one world and all that kind of thing..."
This pretty much sums up Sting's public purpose.
Sting is British.
Momus is secretly French.
"Serge Gainsbourgh, 20 miles across the channel, he means something totally different. "Lemon Incest" (a cheery song about incest he sings with his daughter) was really shocking in france but they could understand the way in which to be shocked. They have a shock style associated with that kind of provocation, and they think artists should do that. In England there really isn't a tradition to do that. Your a pervert if you sing that."
Momus vs Sting. Sting's most recent single is "I'm So Happy, I Can't Stop Crying". Momus' most recent record isPing Pong . Its out now on Le Grand Magistry. He's just re-mixed the Pizzicato 5 track "Happy End of the World", had a book of his lyrics published Lusts of a Moran (Black Spring) and his song "I am A Kitten" is covered on Songs for the Jetset (Jetset) by a 13 year old girl.

Next issue: Mike Alway vs. John Elway