1997
1997, and i was stuck in a pretty boring warehouse job, my only distraction being Radio 1 playing, much to the annoyance of some colleagues who wanted commercial radio on because it "played nice music". R1 at the time had a very indie-biased playlist, playing new and interesting music, and dj's like Mark & Lard (who occupied the breakfast show for a time, to my delight but not that of many others), with their quirky humour kept me entertained. They would also influence me on my second broadcast month on the local RSL station W.H.A.M, although this didn't quite work out as i'd hoped. My weekly wages went on nights out in the local pubs and clubs, and my music obsession. I bought more singles and albums that year than any since i started my collection, and my tastes reflected the changing face of the charts: Britpop was on the wane, with most of its biggest bands either changing their style, splitting up, or going to ground. The bands who survive the fallout would be those who embraced the possibilities offered by experimenting with different sounds. Dance, electronica, trip-hop, drum and bass - all sat alongside indie and alternative in the charts and on the airwaves, and although a few traditional guitar bands - Cast, Gene - continued to have success, most took a more experimental, quirky and diverse path. Mansun and Radiohead let their prog and psychedelic influences come to the fore, Blur took direction from alt-rock and U.S indie bands like Pavement, Primal Scream dropped the poorly received Stones pastiche of their last album to come back with an album full of electronic, krautrock, ambient and dub sounds. And then there were bands like EELS, Super Furry Animals, Spiritualized: all following their own paths, with varying levels of success.
My favourite new band at the time was Mansun, who'd been around for a couple of years, each single they released doing better than the last one. They were a four piece indie band, but embellished their songs with electronics, dance-influenced beats, and all manner of quirky noises and sounds, taking songs like "Stripper Vicar" and "Wide Open Space" into the Top 20, big ambitious anthemic songs with offbeat lyrics. The band themselves changed their image on a seemingly weekly basis: boiler suits, punk fashions, army fatigues, new romantic influenced clothes all took their turn. The music seemed to have a similar diverse amount of influences: indie, Bowie, new romantic bands, post-punk acts like Magazine, psychedelia, prog rock, all of which made them stand out in a crowded indie scene. After i'd heard "Stripper Vicar" on R1, i set about finding anything they'd released and read every article and interview. In February their debut album, Attack Of The Grey Lantern, was released, going straight to No. 1. Partly a concept album, with certain characters appearing throughout the songs - Mavis, the Stripper Vicar, Albert Taxloss, and a superhero, The Grey Lantern, (supposedly frontman Paul Draper), who meets these immoral people and sorts them out or exposes them. Opening with the swooping and soaring strings of "The Chad Who Loved Me", the songs all segue into one another, giving the album a feel that is sprawling yet somehow contained in its own little world. Psychedelic guitars and subtle electronic beats add to the orchestral flights ushering in "Mansuns' Only Love Song", which i turn feeds into the baggy rhythms, and synth noodles of "Taxloss", before the sounds of breaking glass, church bells and air raid sirens announce the acoustic and chiming guitars of "You, Who Do You Hate", with its folky verses and loud, brash choruses. Their first Top 20 hit "Wide Open Space" follows, with its circular guitar melody, shimmering but subtle keyboard touches, and widescreen feel. The powerpop of "Stripper Vicar", the laidback "Disgusting", the indie disco "She Makes My Nose Bleed" tumble in one after the other, followed by "Naked Twister" with its melancholic rock, and a re-recorded "Egg Shaped Fred" from their first EP, knockabout indie with surreal lyrics about two-foot tall centipedes, blaggers and groupies (i think!), before the album closes with "Dark Mavis" which reveals the identity of the Stripper Vicar, all stately piano, stacked harmonies, and strings that, at the close of the song, repeat the motif from the opening track, bringing the whole thing full circle. I think it still stands out as a classic of the time. I was a huge fan, bought all the singles on different formats, stuck the posters up, and got to see them live at Rock City in their prime, around the time they released the Seven EP, and they didn't disappoint. Mansun were one of the last bands to take full advantage of the four-track EP (before chart rules excluded anything above 3 tracks), and rather than rip off their fans with just live songs or remixes, they had at least 3 new songs on every single, as well as acoustic and live versions of songs, and the occasional (decent) remix. And the b-sides were often just as good as the lead tracks.
Radiohead really came into their own this year with their album OK Computer, dropping all their remaining grunge and standard indie elements to create a masterpiece that summed up the mood of modern life approaching the 21st century. Spiritualized reclaimed the the word "epic" with their album Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, which took freeform jazz, drone music, gospel, experimental noise, and two-chord space rock into the Top 5 albums chart. Massive Attack added post-punk sounds to their dark mix of dub, hip hop, and electronica on their Mezzanine album, while another trip-hop influenced act, Sneaker Pimps, had a couple of cracking hit singles from their Becoming X record. Dance music was increasingly becoming part of my listening, with the likes of Underworld, Scooter, The Prodigy - whose No. 1 Fat Of The Land album the previous year had spawned two huge chart-topping singles, most notably "Firestarter"- soundtracking my nights out with mates. A real pick 'n' mix of a year musically speaking.
That last one is one of my favourite TOTP performances!
My favourite new band at the time was Mansun, who'd been around for a couple of years, each single they released doing better than the last one. They were a four piece indie band, but embellished their songs with electronics, dance-influenced beats, and all manner of quirky noises and sounds, taking songs like "Stripper Vicar" and "Wide Open Space" into the Top 20, big ambitious anthemic songs with offbeat lyrics. The band themselves changed their image on a seemingly weekly basis: boiler suits, punk fashions, army fatigues, new romantic influenced clothes all took their turn. The music seemed to have a similar diverse amount of influences: indie, Bowie, new romantic bands, post-punk acts like Magazine, psychedelia, prog rock, all of which made them stand out in a crowded indie scene. After i'd heard "Stripper Vicar" on R1, i set about finding anything they'd released and read every article and interview. In February their debut album, Attack Of The Grey Lantern, was released, going straight to No. 1. Partly a concept album, with certain characters appearing throughout the songs - Mavis, the Stripper Vicar, Albert Taxloss, and a superhero, The Grey Lantern, (supposedly frontman Paul Draper), who meets these immoral people and sorts them out or exposes them. Opening with the swooping and soaring strings of "The Chad Who Loved Me", the songs all segue into one another, giving the album a feel that is sprawling yet somehow contained in its own little world. Psychedelic guitars and subtle electronic beats add to the orchestral flights ushering in "Mansuns' Only Love Song", which i turn feeds into the baggy rhythms, and synth noodles of "Taxloss", before the sounds of breaking glass, church bells and air raid sirens announce the acoustic and chiming guitars of "You, Who Do You Hate", with its folky verses and loud, brash choruses. Their first Top 20 hit "Wide Open Space" follows, with its circular guitar melody, shimmering but subtle keyboard touches, and widescreen feel. The powerpop of "Stripper Vicar", the laidback "Disgusting", the indie disco "She Makes My Nose Bleed" tumble in one after the other, followed by "Naked Twister" with its melancholic rock, and a re-recorded "Egg Shaped Fred" from their first EP, knockabout indie with surreal lyrics about two-foot tall centipedes, blaggers and groupies (i think!), before the album closes with "Dark Mavis" which reveals the identity of the Stripper Vicar, all stately piano, stacked harmonies, and strings that, at the close of the song, repeat the motif from the opening track, bringing the whole thing full circle. I think it still stands out as a classic of the time. I was a huge fan, bought all the singles on different formats, stuck the posters up, and got to see them live at Rock City in their prime, around the time they released the Seven EP, and they didn't disappoint. Mansun were one of the last bands to take full advantage of the four-track EP (before chart rules excluded anything above 3 tracks), and rather than rip off their fans with just live songs or remixes, they had at least 3 new songs on every single, as well as acoustic and live versions of songs, and the occasional (decent) remix. And the b-sides were often just as good as the lead tracks.
Radiohead really came into their own this year with their album OK Computer, dropping all their remaining grunge and standard indie elements to create a masterpiece that summed up the mood of modern life approaching the 21st century. Spiritualized reclaimed the the word "epic" with their album Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, which took freeform jazz, drone music, gospel, experimental noise, and two-chord space rock into the Top 5 albums chart. Massive Attack added post-punk sounds to their dark mix of dub, hip hop, and electronica on their Mezzanine album, while another trip-hop influenced act, Sneaker Pimps, had a couple of cracking hit singles from their Becoming X record. Dance music was increasingly becoming part of my listening, with the likes of Underworld, Scooter, The Prodigy - whose No. 1 Fat Of The Land album the previous year had spawned two huge chart-topping singles, most notably "Firestarter"- soundtracking my nights out with mates. A real pick 'n' mix of a year musically speaking.
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