Americade

New York's Americade stood out as one of rock's most peculiar acts when the group surfaced in the early 1980s, clad in stars-and-stripes regalia while delivering patriotic lyrics atop a hard-rock sound reminiscent of Van Halen. The band originated in 1979 through flashy frontman P.J. de Marigny and his brother, guitarist Gerard, yet the project also embodied the ambitions of their immigrant father, who evidently overestimated the commercial potential of exploiting Americans' frequently excessive patriotic fervor. After incorporating bassist Nick Sadano and drummer Walt Woodward III—both previously of the long-running New York underground metal band Rachel, which had earlier launched Riot vocalist Rhett Forrester and numerous other musicians—the lineup solidified. By the 1982 release of their debut album American Metal, bassist Dave Spitz, brother of Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz, had entered the fold. The group's patriotic imagery veered into outright farce, drawing special scorn toward P.J. for costumes that prompted descriptions of him resembling "an American flag with skin," and both the band and record met with outright commercial rejection. Spitz soon departed for higher-profile opportunities, among them a short tenure with Black Sabbath, after which the Marigny brothers disappeared until a tepid return with the 1992 album Americade.com. That effort amounted to nothing beyond remixed 1989 demo recordings featuring subsequent bassist Greg Smith and marked Americade's apparent conclusion.