T Party Express: The Hounds of Love

Fasten your seat belts as we begin our steep descent. It's going to be a bumpy weekend aboard the T Party Express.

The death of love is a common theme in popular music, but rarely has it been explored in the mainstream beyond the most bittersweet of cliches. Love hurts. Love is a battlefield. You give love a bad name.

The graveyard of broken hearts is not an amusement park dressed up for Halloween. It can be filled with secrets so haunting that they won't stay buried.

The Afghan Whigs were alternative rockers who resided in the shadowy underground at the intersection of soul and grunge. Greg Dulli's voice, more fierce than melodic, was like the tortured howl of a trapped animal.

One of the band's early videos, Conjure Me from their 1992 album Congregation, hints that the singer's most enduring relationship is with self-loathing.

i smell your blood, my love
but i can't taste it yet
i have your mind, my love
but i can't waste it yet
please understand my love
i find this sickening
my head is ice my love
my skin is thickening
but oh! my love
we could still be friends
and oh! my love
with me you must contend
i'm gonna turn on you before you turn on me
i'm gonna turn on you can you conjure me?
and walk the mile into this web of my conspiracy
i'm gonna turn on you before you turn on me
i'm in a hole
but i don't feel the safety net
i have your soul
but i am wasting it
but oh! my love
we could still be friends
and oh! my love
with me you must contend

Debonair, the Whigs' most successful single, includes this coda to co-dependence – an obsessive neediness that can masquerade as love.

And once again the monster speaks
Reveals his face and searches for release
A little boy is tied to you
Attracted only 'til it comes unglued

'Cause it don't bleed and it don't breathe
It's locked its jaws and now it's swallowing
It's in our heart
It's in our head
It's in our love
Baby it's in our bed

Tonight I go to hell
For what I've done to you
This ain't about regret
It's when I tell the truth

Previous stops:

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).