The audacity of hype - when the music industry failed

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Haha, wow. I love Burial and everything but...tone it down Mary Anne. Please.

It's like that Pitckfork review of 'Kid A' isn't it? Someone going totally over the top about something that's genuinely really brilliant.

[Subtle Mocking]

Haha, wow. I love Burial and everything but...tone it down Mary Anne. Please.

It's like that Pitckfork review of 'Kid A' isn't it? Someone going totally over the top about something that's genuinely really brilliant.

Yep, it's every bit as bad as saying "this album is great and if you don't like it there's something wrong with you".

[imitationleather]

He said "I'm not waiting on some fucking moron and her family" I believe.  Fair enough, but...

Towers Of London are amazingly easily forgotten given how much hype there was about them.  If you were a particularly stupid adolescent who liked rock music and looked up to people who seemed tough, they had a certain appeal - at least, that's what my vague memory of various YouTube comments suggests.  I also remember hearing that the band built their notoriety on going around clubs in London starting fights with gig attendees who looked like they would be a push-over - a similar tactic tried and tested by a couple of utterly forgettable and awful post-Nirvana Seattle grunge bands, to equal lack of commercial effect[nb]I can't remember their names at the moment, sorry.[/nb]. 

ToL literally had no redeeming features about them whatsoever.  One of the few bands of whom I can honestly say: "I hope they suffered as much as possible as their career ebbed away".  Not only did they deserve to be dropped by their label, a brief spell in hospital wouldn't have been a bad idea either[nb]Possibly followed by death[nb]I'm only funning, readers.[/nb].[/nb].

Back when as a teenager I would go to gigs a few times a week mainly to get drunk, chat to mates and attempt to make contact with the opposite sex (no facebook or okcupid back then) and I ended up seeing ToL a few times in the process as they were on the London support band circuit. I remember once they were playing to a particularly sparse audience at the Rhythm Factory and I stood right in front of Donny making a wanker hand gesture in his face and booing after each song through-out the gig. This was before they got any press, or had even been signed or anything and I was pretty bemused when they ended up actually getting somewhere, even though their star was due to shine only very briefly.

Anyway, I think me letting Donny and the rest of the band let in no uncertain terms know exactly what I thought of them remains one of the only things I did during my teenage years that I'm actually proud of.

[DrGreggles]

EMF anyone?
Pretty much fizzled out quickly after their (admittedly great) first single - even though the debut album was pretty good too.

[DrGreggles]

Two of them used to be in The Blue Aeroplanes, a band equally as forgotten as Straw, but undeservedly so.

If I had to list my Top 20 albums, 'Swagger' by The Blue Aeroplanes would be in there.

[DrGreggles]

A reminder that The Monkees were a total one-off. As has been observed many times before, their music and TV show were far better than they needed to be[nb]Or were they? Neither would've prospered if they'd been shit.[/nb]. Or rather, they had at their disposal some of America's greatest songwriters, while being talented in and of themselves. The latter factor is one of the most interesting things about them, I think: when they hired Mike Nesmith, did they really know or care that he was one of the best pop songwriters of the era?

The Monkees' story is a fascinating one, peppered throughout with genuinely wonderful pop songs.
I'd love there to be a Monkees equivalent to the Beatles Anthology that appeared on ITV in the mid-1990s - it would certainly be more interesting.

[DrGreggles]

The Broken Family Band were from Cambridge, weren't they? I remember seeing them  playing many a year ago in top Cambridge pub The Boat Race

Is that the one that's now a Wetherspoons?

[momatt]

Or Babylon Zoo? I think Jizz Mann might have climbed into his own bum by now, trying to be a shit Bowie.

Spaceman was the first single I ever bought - on a cassette tape.  I still think it's pretty cool, but it's not like I listen to it every day[nb]every other day is enough[/nb].

My brother had the whole Babylon Zoo album.  In his defence I think he found it in a bin or something and only listened to it once for a laugh[nb]he didn't laugh[/nb].
There is a remix of one of Jizz's songs by Goldie which is pretty good.

Mr Mann's existence is justified by his brilliant collaboration with Chris Morris of course.

[SteveDave]

The Monkees' story is a fascinating one, peppered throughout with genuinely wonderful pop songs.
I'd love there to be a Monkees equivalent to the Beatles Anthology that appeared on ITV in the mid-1990s - it would certainly be more interesting.

There sort of is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKYGLieNhFo but it's only an hour & a bit long. Good though. Especially Peter Tork & his "I believe my parents when they tell me that I was born on the..." & the impression of Don Kirschner.

[boki]

EMF anyone?
Pretty much fizzled out quickly after their (admittedly great) first single - even though the debut album was pretty good too.

Don't really think they fit this thread, 'cos they were actually successful.  'I Believe' was also a big hit and 'Schubert Dip' sold a shitload.  The wheels didn't really come off until 'Cha Cha Cha' - the room seemed pretty full when I saw them at Hull Uni in 92 touring 'Stigma'[nb]Which is actually a rather good pop-rock album, it just wasn't dancey enough to appease their original crowd[/nb], although that may have been smart booking on their management's part as it was (IIRC) the first week of term.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

My brother had the whole Babylon Zoo album.  In his defence I think he found it in a bin or something and only listened to it once for a laugh[2].

Does he have anything by The Sandkings, a much more preferable early 90s indie sounding outfit with yer soon to be genius Jas Mann in it? They have two good songs I've heard- Show Her Up, and Hope Springs Eternal .

[Mildly Diverting]

I think 'Filmstar' by Suede owes a great debt to Spaceman.

[momatt]

Does he have anything by The Sandkings, a much more preferable early 90s indie sounding outfit with yer soon to be genius Jas Mann in it? They have two good songs I've heard- Show Her Up, and Hope Springs Eternal .

Ummm, I'll ask him[nb]I'll forget instantly[/nb].
The Sandkings opened[nb]their bums[/nb] for Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses in the early 1990s apparently.

Has Jas become a genius yet?  He must have, it's been ages.
According to Wiki, his full name is Jasbinder Singh Mann.  Which sounds way cooler to me.

[PaulTMA]

The 'so far away' bridge of Bowie's 'Little Wonder' owes everything to B. Zoo.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Is that the one that's now a Wetherspoons?

I know The Boat Race was turned in to a wine bar a few years after I moved away from Cambridge in 99, I haven't been back since so I've no idea if it's a weatherspoons now but that would be even more depressing if true. I had so many great nights in there and it's incredibly frustrating that they couldn't make it financially profitable, especially given that it's a small city without that many other venues and two universities.

I know I mentioned My Life Story a few pages back, to less than a stellar response(!), but someone other than me might plausibly be excited by the fact that they're doing a mini 20th anniversary tour later on in the year, details are here - http://mylifestory.uk.com/

[SteveDave]

I & I went to Cambridge a few weeks ago & took drinks in a pub by the river (after finding out that it's £16 EACH to have some posh sod make up lies about buildings on a raft along the Cam) where there was a big mural of Syd Barrett saying it's where he used to drink.

Now I can see why he took so much acid.

[gabrielconroy]

I & I went to Cambridge a few weeks ago & took drinks in a pub by the river (after finding out that it's £16 EACH to have some posh sod make up lies about buildings on a raft along the Cam) where there was a big mural of Syd Barrett saying it's where he used to drink.

Now I can see why he took so much acid.

Is that The Anchor? I know there's a plaque on the wall saying Pink Floyd used to go in there and, well, drink sometimes.

[SteveDave]

Can't recall. It was right on the river & some sort of chain pub.