Outside his native France the view of Serge Gainsbourg was once of a one-hit wonder lothario.
This has been slowly replaced by an awareness of how talented and innovative a songwriter he
was. Gainsbourg was an eclectic protean figure a Dadaist poète maudit Pop-Artist libertine
and anti-hero. An icon and iconoclast. His masterpiece is arguably Histoire de Melody Nelson
an album suite combining many of his signature themes sex taboo provocation humour
exoticism and ultimately tragedy. Composed and arranged with the great Jean-Claude Vannier its
score of lush cinematic strings and proto-hip hop beats combined with Serge's spoken-word
poetry has become remarkably influential across a vast musical spectrum inspiring soundtracks
indie groups and electronic artists. In recent years the album's reputation has grown from
cult status to that of a modern classic with the likes of Beck Portishead Mike Patton Air
and Pulp paying tribute. How did the son of Jewish Russian immigrants hounded during the Nazi
Occupation rise to such notoriety and acclaim being celebrated by President François
Mitterand as our Baudelaire our Apollinaire? How did the early chanson singer evolve into a
musical visionary incorporating samples breakbeats and dub into his music decades ahead of
the curve? And what are the roots and legacy of a concept album about a Rolls Royce a
red-haired Lolita muse otherworldly mansions plane crashes and Cargo Cults?
