Guadalcanal Diary – Always Saturday

I found this band in 2019 when I was covering alternative bands from the 80s. So many great bands from that era that never made it to the mainstream. It is a shame that these bands didn’t have a larger audience. They had many songs that were better than what the mainstream was providing. Some of the alternative bands of 2024 sound like their 1980s predecessors.

These bands didn’t get the 1980s production memos. They sounded different from their mainstream counterparts and added a sixties jangle with a much smaller production. It’s not as easy to date them…the music was a little more timeless.

This band came from Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, but they were often billed as being from Athens, Georgia, and were lumped in with the other Athens acts like REM. They were a college Alternative Band.

I blogged about this band years back. Watusi Rodeo and Trail Of Tears off their debut album Walking In The Shadow of the Big Man. I would recommend that album to anyone for catchy songs and good lyrics. It is one of the best debut albums I’ve listened to.

Still in high school, singer/guitarists Murray Attaway and Jeff Walls became musical partners when they joined the punk band Strictly American. Electing to strike out on their own, they formed the Emergency Broadcast System (I love that name!). Walls was teaching Rhett Crowe bass at the time and she was asked to join the band. Crowe accepted the offer and quickly suggested a name change to Guadalcanal Diary (based on the 1940s movie).

The band formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1989. They reformed in 1997 but never recorded any new material. After going on hiatus in 2000, Guadalcanal Diary temporarily reunited for a second time in 2011 for Athfest, where they celebrated their 30th anniversary.

They released this song in 1989. It was on the album Flip Flop. The song was written by Murray Attaway & Jeff Walls. The song charted at #7 on the Billboard Alternative Chart in 1989. It stayed around for 10 weeks on the chart. It was their most successful and remembered song.

Though Guadalcanal Diary never achieved the same level of commercial success as some of their peers, they left a lasting impact on the alternative rock scene of the 1980s.

The Chicago Tribune on the album Flip Flop – Terrific mainstream rock, a shade quirkier than John Mellencamp or Tom Petty but no less deserving of Top 40 status.

The Los Angeles Times: “One of the most underrated, overlooked and inaccurately compared to R.E.M. bands around doesn’t offer much to change that on its fourth album.”

The Northwest Florida Daily News: Artsy rock ‘n’ roll that doesn’t stray too far from homespun melodies and twangy guitars.

Always Saturday

Waterfall pavement shimmering
Sunshine washes everything
A basket of light, I am trusting
To water the lawn is a wondrous thing

If I could have it this way I know I’d
I’d wanna live where it’s like today
I’d wanna live where it’s always this way
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday

A chorus of laughter fills the air
Everyone’s going everywhere
So many choices it’s not fair
I hop in the car and I just sit there

I don’t need, need to think about how much I
I wanna live where it’s all the same
I wanna live where it’s all just like today
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday
In the shops are shining things

I can I can see them glittering
I wish that I could buy them all
I wish I lived in a shopping mall

Shady back yard afternoon
Summer clothes and tennis shoes
When the light begins to fade
A porch swing creaks with lemonade

A shower of whispers glow and bloom
Late night movie fills the room
Streetlights twinkling like dew
I close my eyes, it ends too soon

All in dreams, I can dream now oh how I
I wanna live where it’s like today
I wanna live where it’s always this way
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Guadalcanal Diary – Always Saturday”

    1. Thanks Randy….when I posted them before I was posting college bands…this band got the most interest out of all of them…

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  2. That was the first time I heard of Guadalcanal Diary – not the easiest name to remember, unless perhaps you know the movie! That said, “Always Saturday” is a great-sounding song. And, yes, it definitely doesn’t have an ’80s production feel. I assume unfortunately that was part of the reason why it didn’t enjoy more visibility. I also completely agree it holds up way better than many other songs that came out during that decade.

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    1. This is a really good band…their first album, to me was their best. You know…I think of these bands a lot when I hear your Saturday selections…some share the same sound even now.

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      2. Yes…that debut album is the one. They made me realize…wow…these college bands were great at the time…not one song wonders but they put together some great albums.

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  4. Highly recommended. I have a couple of their CDs and remember them from the 80s, I was lucky to listen to a radio station that played them once in awhile & Much Music played a couple of their videos. I’ve had the good fortune to correspond with both Murray & Rhett, both good people content with the band’s career and very willing to talk .

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    1. Oh yes I remember you saying that! It’s been a while since I posted them. I’ve had this in my drafts for two years. I really was impressed by their debut album…

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    1. I thought you would remember these guys. I’ve been telling people….their debut album was fantastic.

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    1. These guys I didn’t catch either when they were active…I found them a few years ago and I wish I would have found them in the 80s.

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      2. I hear you…and I’m still listening to Tom Robinson from last week…that stretched out this week along with the Hacienda Brothers

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