Just

like 2 Live Crew before them, Imperial Drag has experienced problems in

Florida. Radio station WXTB in Tampa says they pulled the band's single "Boy or

A Girl" after complaints came in from listeners who were uncomfortable with the

song's lyrical content. "I didn't think it was such a button pusher," says

Imperial Drag singer/guitarist Eric Dover of the banned song he wrote about

talk show exploitation and sexual paranoia. "It's about coming to grips with

certain tendencies. I guess some people got upset because it addresses an

alternative side of someone's sexuality. But what I think is strange is the way

an alternative radio station folded under pressure. How alternative is

that?

Some might bypass any alternative tag for the band and simply stick

Imperial Drag in with the retro-lo-fi-polyester trend that's been around for

the past couple years. The band's Beatles-meet-T. Rex glam-pop sound obviously

draws plenty from the past. "We get a retro tag because our influences just

show up too damn well," says keyboardist Roger Manning, ex-Jellyfish founder

and recent Moog Cookbook chef. "I could write an AC/DC or Queen song in five

minutes. I guess that's a blessing and a curse. But for the fans of this music

the tag is not an issue. Besides, people are always digging up childhood

memorabilia. It's always fascinating that anything from the 70s gets a negative

tag, but ska and punk were around years ago too and today it's seen as

something new. But I guess people are going to like what they like for whatever

reasons.

"Retro isn't the appropriate term...

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