I was a bit of a loner as a kid. Awkward and shy, i was definitely not the athletic type. I had no interest in sport (i still don't), and i was marked out for a fair bit of bullying. I did have a couple of on/off friends, but most of the time i retreated into my bedroom, and into the family record collection - i had commandeered my Dads chunky headphones as well, so i was in my own little world - and lost myself in the music. I've always been able to appreciate music from bygone eras, something that - before the music industry realised the potential of nostalgia and started raiding the back catalogues of anyone who had ever recorded a note - was unheard of in the early 80's. And certainly unusual for someone in primary school.Of course, i listened to the Top 40 and watched Top of The Pops like any kid would, and liked what i heard. But then, as now, the notion that any music that wasn't current was somehow rubbish or irrelevant was alien to me. I loved the big, colourful glam rock sound with its thumping drums, loud but melodic guitars and terrace chants. Some of it harked back to the rock'n'roll era - simple but catchy songs, delivered with the stomp of a platform boot. There were a lot of Slade 7"s in the house - all the big hits. Some T.Rex, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, The Glitter Band. A couple of Bowies. And stuff like The Rubettes and Cockney Rebel, acts who were loosely associated with the scene. But the band that caught my young ears were Mud. Whenever there are any articles or documentaries about the Glam scene of the early 70's now, Les Gray and his cohorts are usually just a footnote, and you'd be lucky to hear anything other than their No.1 hit "Tiger Feet" or their Elvis-aping moody festive smash "Lonely This Christmas". But in their day they were a huge act, 14 top 20 hits - including 3 Number Ones - between 1973 and 1976. Part of the Chinnichap stable - writers and producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman - along with Suzi Quatro and Sweet, they'd been kicking around since the mid-60's but remained hitless until Chinnichap took them under their wing, and in 1973 they had their first 3 Top 20 hits: the pop glam of "Hypnosis" and "Crazy", and the more Rock'n'Roll influenced "Dynamite". Most of their hits on the RAK label were in the house, and i thought they were great. I learned to appreciate Slade, T.Rex, and Bowie as i got older. But Mud were probably my first favourite band. The idea of them being seen as naff never occurred to me. I've always held the belief that a good song is a good song, regardless of genre, age, or whether it's seen as the in thing to listen to. Rob Davis is a songwriter now, having written Number 1 hits such as Kylies' "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", Spiller "Groovejet", and Fragma "Tocas Miracle". Not bad for a bloke in flares and daft earrings.
I'm not a fan of following the herd. If an artist, film, tv series, etc is huge or the current trend then my contrary tendencies will rise to the surface. There have been many times when a mildly successful band suddenly become huge and i will lose interest, or when, wary of hype, i won't get into them until the fuss dies down. But at the same time i want the things i love to get recognition. As i said, contrary. I have always steered clear of mass appeal, lowest common denominator stuff. I wasn't interested in Manic Street Preachers when they first appeared - and i still think Generation Terrorists is packed with filler - only to take interest during their next two albums which were less successful. And then lose it during their This Is My Truth...... era. When i stood in a record shop trying to choose who to spend my hard earned on that week i would rarely pick the current favourites, usually plumping for record that would, if lucky, be a footnote in the history of music.
It's not often i love a new album enough to play it on repeat - not since my late twenties any rate - but that's what happened when i put my Eco-vinyl copy of IDLES Crawler on the turntable. After the deliberate self parody of last year's Ultra Mono Joe Talbot and co. have taken a bold step forward: Crawler largely dispenses with the political sloganeering and post-punk moshpit anthems and reaches within for inspiration. Talbots' well documented 14 year struggle with alcohol and drug abuse, and his long road to recovery are the dominant themes here, in all their ugly details, but with a life affirming sense of redemption. The music is largely quieter and more measured too. Opener "MTT 420 RR" is a slow burning electronic textured track which represents the crash that saw him at his lowest point, the spare and eerie atmosphere over which Talbot recites the details in gruesome honesty. "Car Crash" sounds exactly like just that: a minimalist dubby, g
For as long as there has been recorded music and a music industry there have been musical artists who, despite hype and promotion, have underperformed or sank without trace. Since i began reading the (now sadly defunct) music weeklies in the early nineties there was barely a week without a new band or solo artist being excitedly talked about as "the next big thing" . Before, during a and after Britpop this went into overdrive as record companies fought to sign the next Oasis/Blur/Pulp/Stone Roses etc, acts coming and going, sometimes without a sniff of chart success. On rare occasions bands would be declared "your new favourite band" before they'd even recorded a note! (Menswe@r spring immediately to mind.) Too often, a promising new act would be signed on the strength of a couple of raved about independent singles only for their new paymasters to demand changes to their musical style to make them more marketable to a mass audience: edges smoothed off, more expe
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