Gary Willard And The Characters - Television World

A. Television World


B. That's The Way It Goes


GARY WILLARD & THE CHARACTERS (Bainbridge, OH)
Television World b/w That's The Way It Goes
Habits (NR13417), 1981

Outstanding new-wavy power pop from right outside of Cleveland. Gary Willard and the Characters have a sound very reminiscent of 20/20 with similar song structure, tasteful use of synth, strong back-up vocals, and hook-driven choruses. Yet another "Tube Generation" song (see last week's post from the Kursaals) backed with a tale of doomed romance. Having gone through several carnations of similar personnel along with name changes through the years, the band eventually built a steady following as the Nasty Habits, but opted to release the single under the name Gary Willard and the Characters. As most of their fan base knew them as Nasty Habits, they decided to change it back to the more familiar name shortly after the release of this single. This led to many copies having the name "Gary Willard and the Characters" crossed off the label with a NASTY HABITS stamp over it. Many of these didn't come with a sleeve, seemingly because it had the band's other name printed on it and to avoid further confusion.