We Were Famous, You Don’t Remember: The Embarrassment

You also have to appreciate the big alligator shirt balls the band members had to dare to dress total preppie onstage. There is something undeniably antagonistic about nerding out on purpose at punk venues. This film makes a case that seeing eye spectacles is as punk as studded leather collars. It makes sense that the primary audience for The Embarrasment’s brand of weirdness was in the nearby college town, Lawrence, home of William S. Burroughs. That the tragically hip town of Lawrence depended on a Wichita band for its jollies is a minor revelation.

We Were Famous, You Don’t Remember: The Embarrassment is also an excellent portrait of the music communities that sprout up in the wilds. The audience gets a taste of being trapped in a town where your future awaits in an aircraft factory. To go out at night and hear punk or post-punk, you had to start a band yourself. Some of the most stunning sections are the oddball ways this group of young people fought back against the stale atmosphere of blandness.

“…a marvelous testament to the power of imagination to shape amazement from unending miles of boredom.”

This rock doc features one of the most rock and roll spectacles ever caught on film: a gorgeous house-wrecking party. Bassist Ron Klaus had his lease terminated as the landlord planned to level the house and build apartments. So many people showed up for a night of smashing everything with sledgehammers while the band played house-smashing music. It is one of those historic punk events that, thankfully, was videoed at the time to be included as a headdress to this movie. There is even a special section of the credits that lists all the lucky folks at the party. 

By the end, you are so drenched in the essence of The Embarrassment you are baffled as to why it took so long to hear about them. It is obvious the culprit for them not getting bigger was due to being stuck in Wichita. Being as far away from either coast as you could get, they were too far away from the jaws of the music industry to get consumed by a wider audience. Even super fan director Jonathan Demme couldn’t convince his recording industry contacts that this band was the new Beatles. We Were Famous, You Don’t Remember: The Embarrassment is a marvelous testament to the power of imagination to shape amazement from unending miles of boredom.