The archetypal New Wave grid pattern
The Home Counties Blondie-ersatz
New Wavey nervous excitation: Feargal's jerky body moves at the chorus enacts the jolting Event that the song is about - albeit opaquely (what is this song about?) while the rhythm guitar chordage chops against the flow
Did they bring in the horns after seeing Dexys? The brassy up-ness suits the chorus, and there's that odd, quite-clever bit when the horns slow everything down, before it all revs up again.
And then this - this song, this artist, really deserves a post to itself
It's Rik from the Young Ones - but she means it, maaaaan!
So unfathomably bad it must be shown thrice!
This was the bigger (s)hit though
Last dregs
Somewhere between the Antz and Classix Nouveau
One of the more mystifying cults of all the cults of that time.
I suppose "I Want To Be Free" is only a rewrite of this
Mind you, that might be my least favorite Sex Pistols song - out of the songs sung by Johnny Rotten, at least
But it's still about 1000% times realer than the hammy histrione
Some kinder comments I made about la Toyah Wackson in a post about shrieky females of the New Wave era:
And then the warrior-chieftainess of suburban postpunk - Toyah Wilcox, whose band - Toyah - were originally a sort of distaff Adam and the Antz (when the band had a 'Z' on the end) with indie-chart big seller Sheep Farming In Barnet -
Then she followed the trail blazed by Adam and the Ants (with a S on the end now -- less cultic and underground in vybe, more open for teenybop business) into pop and the UK hit parade
Revealingly, she was originally, and remained primarily an actress - Derek Jarman's Jubilee and The Tempest, films, big theatre roles in stage productions by cutting-edge street-raw playrights,
A sort of thesped up, lisping Siouxsie
Once the missing link between Boadicea and Kirk Brandon.... nowadays she's a charming, oh-so-English, matronly-but-sexy figure, married to Bob Fripp, and what a lovely couple they make
It will never stop being funny to me that Fripp married Wilcox. He was so desperately eager to join the New Wave when it happened: playing with Blondie and Bowie, making his own techno-rock solo albums, reimagining King Crimson as a funkless Talking Heads. And finally at least one part of the New Wave accepted him.
ReplyDeleteTheir lockdown-era videos posted on social media were highly entertaining and endearing: rock classics such as Smells Like Teen Spirit performed by her with great gusto and him deadpan.
On the opaque lyrics to ‘It’s Going to Happen’: it is supposedly, at least in part, about the IRA hunger strikes that were continuing at the time the song was released. One of the O’Neills is said to have worn a black armband on Top of the Pops in tribute to Bobby Sands, although it is hard to see in that clip you posted. Possibly it was in a different appearance.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics don’t support that interpretation particularly strongly. The verses seem to address, in turn, sexual harassment and assault, fake friends, and the finality of death. But the lines in the last verse about “stupid revenge is making you stay” could certainly be heard as applying to the British presence in Northern Ireland. And “it’s going to happen, until you change your mind” could be a commentary on the hunger strikes.
If it is intended as a political critique, of course, it’s a bit of a departure for the Undertones, who generally stuck to songs about relationships.
I can confirm that The Undertones were into Dexys, as their (very political, but sadly also very lame) spin-off band That Petrol Emotion had the Dexys horn section play on one of their albums.
ReplyDeleteThe last Undertones album had a very Dexys-like theme of Catholic guilt. Also their most overlooked great song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljzPqnhz1h4
Happy new year all!
ReplyDeleteYes their last album was very soul-y, wasn't it?
Indeed surprised that they had a song addressing the Troubles - did seem to stick within the teenage frame of experience (from girls to annoying over-achieving cousins), but then again being a teenager in Northern Ireland then is different from being a teenager elsewhere.
Loved their singles at the time but the only one I bought was "Julie Ocean".
Happy new year to you, too!
DeleteAre you planning a round-up of 2023 faves and unfaves? Or was the year too completely bereft of inspiration?
Happy New Year to everyone.
DeleteI think The Undertones were clearly listening to The Style Council at this time, as the bassline to "Love Before Romance" is very reminiscent of the (seminal) bassline to Long Hot Summer.
Shame the Council didn't go further in the Phat Bass direction.
I am going to do that thing I last year, Atemporal Faves, so everything I heard in the calendar year 2023 that I loved, including things from the preceding few years, very old things never heard or remembered / re-indulged. But an improved number of things from actual-2023 or thereabouts this year, I think.
DeleteFor New Wave, "I Wanna Be Free" sounds strangely hippie (especially in its supposed idealism and evident cynicism). The Strawberry Alarm Clock could've performed a variation on these lyrics in 1968.
ReplyDeleteTrue! More support for the argument that the punks, and post-punks, were just hippies with different haircuts.
DeleteI have a bit of a soft spot for Toyah, mostly because of It’s a Mystery. She makes a lot more sense if you think of her in a lineage that includes Lulu, the Spice Girls and Billie Piper, rather than Grace Slick, Siouxsie and PJ Harvey.
Poor Kimmy never looked 100% comfortable with anything to do with pop stardom. Her career was a sort of cottage industry for the Wilde/Smith family - Dad Marty and big brother Ricky writing the songs, her mum running the fan club - I wonder if that's why she always seemed to be holding back a little. How can you break loose with your parents and brother watching? She has always seemed more content in her other career as a gardener.
ReplyDeleteToyah, on the other hand, has never seemed the least bit self-conscious. Indeed, she always had the common belief of the very minor talent, that she was multi-talented. An appalling actress - I remember her appearing in the Michael Gambon version of Maigret as an absinthe-swilling prozzie, and she was embarrassingly awful. She looks great for her age, mind. Those cheerleader outfits might seem a bit misjudged, but she gets away with it.