THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

#520: Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Part 1)

I’m thinking most would have preferred to hear ‘Do You Realize??’ as the offering from Wayne Coyne & co. in this rundown, and while there’s no denying that it is one of the most incredibly moving indie-rock songs ever written, I’ve always leaned towards the title track of the band’s tenth album, released in 2002.

#519 : Klark Kent – Don’t Care

Released by Stuart Copeland (drummer with The Police) under a pseudonym on Kryptone Records back in 1977.  As JTL once wrote on this blog, it’s a great little new wave tune with Copeland singing and playing all the instruments.

#518: Popup – Chinese Burn

Another great little new wave type of tune.  This time from 2006 by a Glasgow-based band who recorded this 45 for a Leeds based DIY-label. It was later included on the band’s debut album, ‘A Time & A Place’, released in 2008.

#517: Nada Surf – Popular

An incredibly catchy 1996 debut single from a band from New York. The choruses are sung, but each verse is sarcastically delivered in a spoken voice, with every word lifted from a 1964 etiquette book for girls that had been written by a B-list Hollywood actress.

#516: Shampoo – Trouble

Maybe if London teenagers Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew had paid attention to said 1964 book, then the duo might have avoided everything that happened to them on a night out.  A great little anthem from 1994 that reached #11 in the UK charts.

#515: The Tourists – I Only Want To Be With You

And once again we find the rundown returning to 1979, a year in which this London-based pop-rock band (with a Scottish-born lead singer) enjoyed three hit singles, of which, this radio-friendly take on a song that was originally a debut hit for Dusty Springfield back in 1964.  Fun fact : both The Tourists and Dusty’s versions peaked at #4 in the charts.

#514: Dusty Springfield – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself

One of the UK’s most successful pop exports of the 60s.  Elton John, when inducting her into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, which happened just two weeks after her death from cancer at the age of 60, said “I just think she was the greatest white singer there ever has been … every song she sang, she claimed as her own”.  She certainly does so on this 1964 hit, co-written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

#513: Jonathan Fire*Eater – The Search For Cherry Red

A New York-based band, but originally from Washington DC, who released two albums and a handful of singles between 1993 and 1998. My personal favourite is this, the lead track from the ‘Tremble Under Boom Lights EP’ (1996).   Have always felt this was a band just a few years ahead of its time and who quietly and subtly influenced many guitar bands who came along just a few years later.

#512: Poster Paints – Number 1

Poster Paints emerged in 2021 after two Glasgow musicians – Simon Liddell (ex- Frightened Rabbit) and Carla J Easton (ex-TeenCanteen) began to collaborate by e-mail during that awful period when we were in lockdown from the COVID virus.  This, their debut single, is fine blend of indie and dream pop.  There would later be an eponymous album, released in October 2022, after which they went off to do other things.

#511: U2 – The Fly

I first heard ‘The Fly’ on the radio.  I was quite stunned by it as it was, to coin the cliché, a million miles away from what I had been expecting. Bono has since said that the song was the sound of four men chopping down ‘The Joshua Tree’, such was the extent of the departure from the album which had won them millions of fans the world over.  Just a pity that they haven’t really come close to doing anything as interesting again over the past 35 years.

#510: The Siddeleys – What Went Wrong This Time?

“It feels like The Siddeleys were indiepop’s perpetual bridesmaids. The band was a fixture on that rampant UK scene of the late 80s, but never quite ascended to wider prominence. It’s an old story, of course, and one that’s in no way exclusive to this group. But it’s an odd thing when set against the quality of the lyrics and music, and the appetite of the scene.” 

As penned in ICA #265, a guest offering from strangeways in October 2020. This was the debut single.

#509: The Durutti Column – For Belgian Friends

It’s impossible to really define Vini Reilly, the now 73-year-old guitar virtuoso.  He’s been making music for the best part of 50 years, and not once has he leaned towards the commercial side of things.  Some night say he was indulged by Factory Records mogul Tony Wilson, as most other labels would have dropped him for poor sales.  I like some stuff….but all too often it goes right over my head.  But I easily found a place for this one in the rundown.  It was released on the compilation album, ‘A Factory Quartet’, back in 1980.

#508: Mogwai – Ritchie Sacramento

A Glasgow band whose output at times delights me, while all too often confuses and bemuses me.  My preference really is for the songs with lyrics rather than the noisy and occasionally difficult post-rock instrumental efforts. This one is from the 2021 album ‘As The Love Continues’.

#507: Kristin Hersh – Your Ghost

1994 debut solo single from the Throwing Muses main protagonist.  Kristin called in a favour from her dear friend Michael Stipe. It’s a song that caught a lot of people by surprise – aficionados of Throwing Muses were astonished at the stripped-back beauty and simplicity of the track while R.E.M.‘s newest batch of fans were left scratching their heads and wondering why Stipe would feature so prominently on a recording by a musician more or less unknown in commercial or mainstream circles.

#506: Ice-T – Shut Up, Be Happy

The menacing and haunting opener for the LA rapper’s third solo album, ‘The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech… Just Watch What You Say!’, released in October 1989.  Jello Biafra supplies the vocal over a Black Sabbath sample.  Four decades on, and it doesn’t sound too far-fetched a tale given how America has been governed in recent times.

#505: At The Drive-In – One Armed Scissor

Almost as a rule, I don’t do noisy shouty-shouty bands/songs, but I’m prepared to make an exception for this 2000 debut offering by a bunch of hardcore punks out of El Paso, Texas.  Not sure if I could last more than a couple of songs in the live setting, mind you.

#504: Blink 182 – I Miss You

Mrs Villain (aka Rachel) is a huge fan of this pop-punk lot.  I have next to no time for their juvenile, annoying and very often misogynist antics – Rachel thinks it’s all very tongue-in-cheek and that I shouldn’t take things so seriously.  Out of the blue, they released a single in early 2004 that sounded like The Cure when Robert Smith has decided to compose another of his superb songs about his relationship with his wife.  ‘I Miss You’ is more than worthy of a place in this rundown.

#503: She’S HiT – Shimmer Shimmer

Two magical minutes from a band, who in 2010, blew me away when I saw them as a support act in a tiny basement venue in Glasgow. Over the course of a set that lasted maybe 35-40 mins, they delivered tunes that at times had me thinking of the Jesus and Mary Chain, The Birthday Party/Bad Seeds, The Cramps, My Bloody Valentine, The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, The Raveonettes and The Pixies. So much to take in!!!

#502: Such Small Hands – Do I Belong Here?

Such Small Hands is the solo project from Melanie Howard, who, between 2018 and 2023 was the bass player and occasional vocalist with The Wedding Present. The sole album thus far, ‘Carousel’, was released in 2020.  It’s a dark offering in that the lyrics dwell on many personal issues Melanie has faced in her life, but the music, which is almost exclusively acoustic with an occasional touch of electronica, is rather lovely.

#501: St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart

The debut single from back in 1991 features Moira Lambert on vocals as it pre-dates Sarah Cracknell joining the band. It was also from when they were known as St Etienne with the fuller name of Saint Etienne being adopted from the second single onwards.  I’ve loved plenty of their songs over the years, but I still reckon this is their finest offering.

#500: Momus – A Complete History of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17-24)

Nick Currie is regarded by many as a genius.  He records as Momus, named after the Greek god of mockery, and he records hyper-literate, quirky songs that often blend accessible dance-pop with heavy non-radio friendly themes such as paedophilia, necrophilia and adultery. My introduction came via this track being included on a Creation Records sampler album, ‘Doing It For The Kids’, released in 1988.  I’ve picked up a few of his singles and albums since, as well as giving a listen to 12 tracks selected by Khayem for a guest ICA, #323 in December 2022.  The verdict?  Some I’ve enjoyed, others not quite so much.

#499: Lush – Ladykillers

It’s a cracking pop song. Great riff, melody and lyric. You can’t really ask for anything more.  But then again, the fact it does take a pot-shot at 90s lad culture, toxic masculinity and pretentious men just makes it all that bit more special.

#498: iLiKETRAiNS – The Beeching Report

iLiKETRAiNS were brought to my attention by Comrade Colin. Wiki describes them as “an English alternative/post-rock band who play brooding songs featuring sparse piano and guitar, baritone vocals, uplifting choral passages and reverberant orchestral crescendos. They draw their inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view.”

The thing is, I’m not sure what came first, the band’s name or the fact they wrote a song called ‘The Beeching Report’, named after a 1963 publication that was acted upon the UK government, leading to the decimation of large parts of the railway network.  But I reckon you could take from this particular song any modern-day metaphor you like, even to the extent of a loving relationship that has fallen apart. No wonder that back in January 2016, I described it as being the darkest offering on my i-pod.  But where, on the rundown, can we go from here??????

#497: Haircut 100 – Love Plus One

I don’t see any point in staying gloomy for too long. Dismiss this 1982 hit (#3 in March 1982) as lightweight pop all you want, but it’s not too far removed from the sort of sound that the record bosses were trying to get out of Orange Juice and many other Scottish pop bands of the day. It may be disposable and have no depth, but I’ll willingly hold my hand up and say I love it. And I’ll bet almost all of you prefer it to iLiKETRAiNS…..

#496: The Boo Radleys – Wish I Was Skinny

There can’t be many better examples than The Boo Radleys of a band being wrongly pigeonholed on account of their only single to reach the Top 10. ‘Wake Up Boo!’ was very unrepresentative of the often complex indie music they made throughout the 90s. This one in the rundown is a personal favourite notwithstanding the strange and noisy outro.

#495: Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up Look Sharp

‘The Big Beat’ was a song written and recorded by Billy Squier back in 1980.  Although a flop, it soon became one of the most sampled bits of music in modern-day hip-hop, with something in the region of 300 recordings now having leaned on it.  Dizzee Rascal’s second hit single, lifted from his 2003 debut album ‘Boy In Da Corner’, is one of them and possibly, certainly here in the UK, the best-known use of Billy Squier’s talents.

#494: Bar Italia – Punkt

Two-and-a-half minutes of mid-tempo, brooding post-punk from 2023 which helps to highlight how influential Wire have been on bands that have come along more than 40 years after they first came to the fore.

#493: Hamish Hawk – Calls To Tiree

It took me a while to appreciate Hamish Hawk, having first seen and heard him play a solo set in support of an acoustic show by Arab Strap in October 2021 and been less than impressed. His shows with a full band, as well as the three most recent studio albums he’s released between 2021 and 2014, have won me over.  This is one from ‘Heavy Elevator’ (2011).

#492: The Lightning Seeds – Pure

After the best part of a decade of being in the shadows, either as a producer using the nom de plume of Kingbird or as guitarist under his own name, Ian Broudie gained a higher profile after ‘Pure’ crashed into the UK Top 20 in the summer of 1989. I recall being blown away with the realisation that Kingbird actually had a voice to perfectly match the music he had been so involved with previously. Kind of like Dave Grohl years later coming out from behind the Nirvana drum kit and leading the Foo Fighters to rock stardom….totally unexpected but so natural.

#491: The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning

Coming from London, The Ruts were contemporaries (of a sort) to other punk/new wave bands from the capital such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash, but they always seemed to be in their shadows. Babylon’s Burning was their first release for a major label. It’s a genuine classic of the era, eventually reaching #7 in the singles chart.

#490: Strawberry Switchblade – Trees and Flowers

Strawberry Switchblade are often held up as one-hit wonders, thanks to their second single, ‘Since Yesterday’, hitting #5 a few months after its release in late 1984.  It’s a  great wee bit of pop music, but it doesn’t hold a candle to their debut.  Voted in at #47 in the 1983 John Peel Festive Fifty, this one features a lyric penned by Jill Bryson who genuinely suffered dreadfully from agoraphobia with long spells in her life where she couldn’t leave the house.

#489: Warren McIntyre & James Kirk – Miss Green Tea

Glas-Goes-Pop is an annual two-day festival of indie-pop magic that takes place indoors in early August at the Glasgow University Union.  2025 saw the release of the first ever single on the Glas-Goes-Pop label, involving a collaboration between two veterans of the local scene, albeit from different generations.  This is one side of that single and features James’s distinctive and charming vocals, as first enjoyed more than four decades ago when Orange Juice began making music.

#488: The Psychedelic Furs – Sister Europe (album version)

This dates back to February 1980.  It was the second 45 to be released by The Psychedelic Furs, and it came out just a few weeks in advance of the eponymous debut album.  As it turned out, the album version was about a minute-and-a-half longer.  It was a very strange choice as a 45, and I can’t imagine there was much airplay outside any nighttime shows.  ‘Pretty In Pink’ it most certainly isn’t. The album version is offered up as it’s less crackly than the 45.

#487: Paul Weller – Wild Wood

This blog has had more than its fill of posts on The Jam and The Style Council, but next to nothing from when Paul Weller embarked on a solo career. I’ve never got into  it as I’ve found the tunes rather dull and dreary. Lots of folk tells me that ‘Stanley Road’ is one of the best LPs of the 90s. I’ve tried listening to it a few times and it just bores me.  I don’t mind ‘Wild Wood’ but that’s really down to it being a more acoustic, pastoral sounding tune rather than those which were re-hashing his love for the 60s.

#486: Zoey Van Goey – Foxtrot Vandals

A Glasgow-based band whose three members came originally from Canada, Ireland and England respectively. They got off to the most wonderful of starts in 2007 with their debut single, ‘Foxtrot Vandals’, released on the locally-based Say Dirty Records, being produced by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian. They soon signed to Chemikal Underground with the label releasing two albums – ‘The Cage Was Unlocked All Along’ (2009) and ‘Propeller Versus Wings’ (2011). Despite a lot of love for them in and around their adopted city, they never managed to make a wider breakthrough.

#485: Swervedriver – Son Of Mustang Ford (demo version)

These rockers from Oxford formed in 1989 and remain on the go today. ‘Son Of Mustang Ford’ was the lead track on their debut EP, released in July 1990.  I’m more fond of the demo version, which came with a free tape, given away with the April 1992 edition of Select, a monthly music magazine whose prime focus was indie music.  Grunge meets Teenage Fanclub??

#484: The Porch Song Anthology – Hang Me Good

Based in Glasgow, this four-piece were a half-Irish, half-Scottish band whose influences embrace pop, folk and rock. This is the opening song on their 2006 album, The Spell Of The Trembling Earth, and has been described elsewhere as “a big, doomy lament about what is quite clearly a bonkers girl who has done her man seriously wrong – it’s as good a song about deception, infidelity and capital punishment as you’ll ever hear in your lifetime.”  I think, in places, there’s a touch of R.E.M.’s Country Feedback.

#483: Mambo Taxi – Do You Always Dress Like That In Front Of Other People’s Boyfriends

Mambo Taxi weren’t with us for very long, and most commentators of the day described their sound as a mix of garage, punk and pop.  There were three singles in 1993 and an album in 1994.  I bought this, their third single, as I thought the title alone would make it worth having a listen.  I wasn’t disappointed.

#482: Idles – Danny Nedelko

It took me a few years to become acquainted with IDLES, and when I did, I found myself thinking of John Lydon, who once, very memorably screamed that ‘anger is an energy’, in which case then I’d wager that  Joe Talbot, lead vocalist and main songwriter with IDLES, is capable of single-handedly powering up a small town.

#481: Devine and Statton – Bizarre Love Triangle

In 1990, Alison Statton, the singer with Young Marble Giants (minimalist post-punk band from Cardiff) teamed up with the guitarist Ian Devine, from Ludus (art-rock band from Manchester). Their material was released on the Belgian-based Les Disques Du Crépuscule, and this beautifully understated cover version ‎of the New Order song was one half of their debut Double-A side single back in 1989.

 

JC

#560: Black Grape – In The Name of The Father

Black Grape, initially, may not have been with us all that long, but it was great fun across 95/96. Just about all of their singles are belters with some of the best lyrics Shaun Ryder has ever written.

#559 : Hadda Be – Another Life

The title track from an album released on Last Night From Glasgow back in 2021.  It’s a record that’s a very tasty slice of indie-pop, filled with shimmering guitars, punchy choruses, wonderful melodies and songs that, for the most part, come and go around the three-minute mark.

#558: The Horrors – Who Can Say

OK. So they don’t do anything us now 50/60-somethings haven’t heard before, but it has to be said that these Southend boys (a seaside town in the south-east of England) do it rather well.  This one is from their second studio album, ‘Primary Colours’, released in 2009.

#557: Scout Niblett – Kidnapped By Neptune

I’ve previously used this rindown to mention my first gig in Toronto – St Vincent at The Horseshoe tavern – when I lived across there in the summer of 2007.  Scout Niblett was the opening act on the night, fresh on the heels on recording her third album with Steve Albini as the engineer.  I bought the CD from the merch stall before I headed home.  Played it again recently for the first time in ages – it remains a very decent listen.

#556: Lykke Li – Youth Knows No Pain

As with Scout Niblett, here’s another female singer/songwriter who hasn’t been the subject of a specific blog post, albeit songs have featured on some of the monthly ‘mix tapes’.  Martin, aka the blog’s Swedish Correspondent, provides us with an annual rundown of all that’s been great in music in his native land over the previous 12 months, and it’s an email I always look forward to receiving. Not sure, however, if he’s ever given a mantion to Lykke Li.  This one’s from the ‘Wounded Rhymes’ album, released in 2011.

#555: Cousteau – The Last Good Day Of The Year

Around the turn of the century, Cousteau briefly enjoyed a fair bit of media exposure with many comparing their sound to the likes of Scott Walker and Burt Bacharach. Such comparisons were the results of the songwriting and arrangement talents of multi-instrumentalist Davey Ray Moor and vocalist Liam McKahey whose delivery and style were indeed a real throwback to the easy listening era some 40 years previously. This is, IMHO, the most enduring track from the eponymous debut album, released in 1999.

#554: Dexys Midnight Runners – There There My Dear

If anyone is still reading this self-indulgent way of how TVV’s 20th anniversary is being marked, then I imagine most of you will have just experienced a sudden intake of breath with the realisation that Kevin Rowland hasn’t made the cut for the Top 120.  Please don’t think bad of me.

#553: The Hidden Cameras – Ban Marriage

I can’t emphasise enough just how much music I belatedly discovered after hearing it (and occasionally dancing to it) at the Little League Nights, at which John Hunt, of Butcher Boy, was the brains behind the playlist of an evening.  November 2021 was, I reckon, my first exposure to this 2003 single by this Toronto-based indie-band. I bought a second-hand copy of the single via Discogs a few days later.

#552: The Man From Delmonte – My Love Is Like A Gift You Can’t Return

I can’t emphasise enough just how much music I belatedly discovered after hearing it thanks to the C90 homemade compilation tapes lovingly curated by my former work-colleague (and still very good friend) Jacques the Kipper – most of which were designed to help keep my sanity as I undertook the daily Glasgow-Edinburgh commute between April 1990 and November 1994.  This fine tune is the work of a Manchester band, and dates from 1989.

#551: Bob Marley & The Wailers – Could You Be Loved

I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from me again apologising for the lack of reggae in the collection here in Villain Towers and why the genre has featured so infrequently on the blog.

#550: The Flowers – Ballad of Miss Demeanour

The Flowers formed in 1978, and being one of the first punk bands in Scotland, would go on to have a huge influence on what and who followed them, particularly in Edinburgh.  This was their second and final single for the Pop Aural label.

#549: Neutral Milk Hotel – The King Of Carrot Flowers (Part 1)

Ten years after its release, I bought ‘In The Aeroplane Over The Sea’ by Neutral Milk Hotel after hearing it played in a record store in Toronto. The CD remained on heavy rotation for the remainder of my stay in the city and probably for the best part of six months after I came home, by which time I had fully immersed myself again in the local music scene, and in particular making up for lost time by going to see bands who were emerging or growing in popularity.  CDs that were more than a year old soon began to gather some dust on the shelf, and while I still enjoy giving it a listen every now and again, I don’t hold it in as high a regard as I did back in 2007.

#548: Poppy Factory – Little Princes

A trio from the Bradford/Leeds area who, based on a handful of live shows and a sharp demo tape, were signed in 1991 to a major label – Chrysalis Records – after a bit of an industry bidding war.   But within a few months it had all gone sour and after three initial singles/EPs had flopped, the plans to release an already recorded debut LP were shelved and the band was let go. This is one of the b-sides on their debut single

#547: Soul II Soul – Back To Life

The opening lines of this timeless classic might well have been muttered by the Poppy Factory boys after getting the boot from their label.  A deserved world-wide hit in 1989.

#546: Roddy Frame – Western Skies

After six albums as Aztec Camera between 1983 and 1995, Roddy Frame began releasing music under his own name beginning with ‘The North Star’ in 1998.  Since then, we’ve had ‘Surf’ (2002), ‘Western Skies’ (2006) and ‘Seven Dials’ (2014).  They all contain songs of distinction and quality but none quite enough to be on a parallel with many of Roddy’s earlier compositions, one of which, (spoiler alert), will be included within the Top 120 of this rundown

#545: Dum Dum Girls – Heartbeat (Take It Away)

I made passing reference earlier to Martin, the blog’s Swedish Correspondent.  Just about everything I have on the hard drive by the Dum Dum Girls, an indie-rock band out of Los Angeles who were active between 2008 and 2016, comes courtesy of Martin’s stupendous ICA, #287, back in June 2021, and here’s what he had to say about this particular track : “Guitars and a bit of attitude. All you need.”

#544: Glasvegas – Geraldine

For a while, the UK and slightly further afield went mad for a band whose lead vocalist sang in a Glasgow accent and whose lyrics were very much from the heart, often in a gut-wrenching way.  Meanwhile, his bandmates made loud music that was often dependent on feedback and a modern-day wall of sound.  I can’t think of any other song which pays tribute to the job done by social workers…certainly none that ever hit the Top 20 as this did in 2008.

#543: Catatonia – I Am The Mob

A surprise Top 40 hit back in October 1997 given that radio play was near non-existent thanks to lyrics about kneecapping, oral sex, murder and extortion, all on the back of a stupendous opening line which pays the ultimate tribute to The Godfather.

#542: The Birthday Party – Release The Bats

Written and recorded as a bit of a self piss-take and the lazy way the band was being portrayed in the music press at the time, hamming up the whole goth thing which was gaining a head of steam back in 1981.  I think it’s fair to say Nick Cave has come a long way since.

#541: MGMT – Time To Pretend

I’m incredibly lucky that SWC has provided so much material for the blog over the years.  I’d certainly have included this track in the rundown, but I’d never have been able to describe it in the way that he did when he came up with ICA #138 in September 2017:-

“Lets make some music, make some money, find some models for wives…” this track couldn’t be any easier on the ear if it tried. Shamelessly poking fun at rock star dreams and ‘living fast and dying young’. Brilliantly drenched in synths and catchy riffs, MGMT announced their arrival to the world with not just a terrific single but with one of the best tracks in the last ten years.

#540: The Perfect English Weather – The Waves Upon The Shingle

The Popguns will feature in the rundown a bit later on.  Meanwhile, here’s a song from an offshoot, consisting of Simon and Wendy Pickles.  This gorgeous ballad is from their second album, ‘Do You Wanna Feel The Rain?’, released in 2018.

#539: Sleaford Mods – West End Girls

Sleaford Mods have, to a large extent, passed me and the blog by.  But I do like this from 2023, in which they covered the Pet Shop Boys classic, with all the proceeds going to the homeless charity, Shelter.

#538: The Orchids – It’s Only Obvious

I missed out on the whole Sarah Records thing  – you can put it down to bad timing with me having a lot going on in life from 1988 – 1990 that saw me lose track of what was happening in indie-music.  I therefore missed out on Glasgow-band The Orchids, which is something I regret.  This is the opening track from their 1989 mini-album ‘Lyceum’.

#537: The Pop Group – She Is Beyond Good and Evil

This Bristol-based post-punk group were much feted in the UK music papers when they burst onto the scene in the late 70s, and have remained revered ever since as evidenced by this 2015 quote in The Guardian: “they – ahead of Gang of Four, PiL, A Certain Ratio and the rest – steered punk towards a radical, politicised mash-up of dub, funk, free jazz and the avant-garde.”

This was their debut single, released in March 1979.

#536: Morcheeba – Tape Loop

This English trip-hop/electronica group formed in 1995 and are still on the go today.  They have never, for some reason, ever featured on The (New) Vinyl Villain, but I know that this 1996 single, and its predecessor, ‘Trigger Hippie’, were both highlighted on the old blog.

#535: Quad 90 – Anodyne

One of the previously unfeatured bands who were part of my ‘best of 2025’ round-up.  The duo of Amelia Lironi and Naomi Mackay met while attending a Glasgow college which offers courses in music production and performance.  A debut single was released in 2023 before the eponymous debut, courtesy of Last Night In Glasgow, appeared last September.

#534: Senseless Things – Too Much Kissing

London-based indie band of the late 80s/early 90s much loved by our much missed late friend Tim Badger. This 1989 single allegedly reached #167 in the UK singles charts (I had no idea that the thing had ever gone beyond a Top 100), but it was voted in at #42 in the Peel Festive 50 of that year.

#533: Snoop Dogg – What’s My Name

Los Angeles-based rapper who has been making music and mischief since 1993.  I have no idea if he was loved or loathed by our much missed late friend Tim Badger.  This, his debut single, reached #20.

#532: Sub Sub (feat. Melanie Williams) – Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)

There’s a certain timeless element to great pop songs, especially the type that make you want to get up off your chair and dance. Sub Sub were an English dance act trio consisting of Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Andy and Jez Williams and this banger was a chart hit in 1993.

#531: Doves – Pounding

Doves are an English indie rock band formed in 1998 by singer and bassist Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers, guitarist Jez and drummer Andy Williams.  But then again, you all knew that didn’t you??  There have been six albums, all going at least Top 20, while nine singles have gone at least Top 40, including this, a #21 hit back in 2002.

#530: Faith No More – Everything’s Ruined

Up at #552 in this rundown, I made reference to Jacques the Kipper and his mixtape cassettes.  Just to prove he isn’t a one-dimensional indie-kid, here’s one he included back in 1993.  I later found out this was the only track by Faith No More that JtK actually knew, having picked up on it from its inclusion on a free CD given away with a magazine.

#529: The Darling Buds – If I Said

This Welsh-band are from Caerleon, a village just outside Newport, famous for its Roman fortifications and amphitheatre, (thanks to The Robster for that great nugget of info!), Their self-released debut was a double-A sided single in February 1987 with one side was taken up by ‘If I Said’, which seemed to mesh so many different influences from the past into something quite new.  It wasn’t long before the major labels were sniffing around, and the band would enjoy some minor chart success in 1988/89.

#528: Eyes of Others – Once, Twice, Thrice

John Bryden is an Edinburgh-based electronic musician who records under the name of Eyes of Others.  He was brought to my attention by Adam, my Manchester-based blogging buddy, after he had seen him play live in 2023. This earworm of a tune opens up the eponymous debut album, again from 2023.

#527: The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset

There are very few offerings in this rundown which predate the late-to-mid 70s.  A beautiful and timeless love song, despite being very much a product of the 60s in sound and texture. It’s an evoking number, quite possibly the unofficial anthem of the city of London, although there have been so many changes to the skyline over the decades that it must be nigh on impossible to recreate the scenes imagined by Ray Davies.

#526: Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

And just like London buses, two songs which predate the late-to-mid 70s arrive in quick succession.   Hard to believe that while this went to #2 in the US charts back in 1971, it didn’t make a dent over here in the UK.

#525: Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume)

A song that has been written about on TVV by myself, Dirk and SWC, while Adam over at Bagging Area will also have waxed lyrically about this club classic from the summer of 1990. Paris Angels fused indie guitars with electronic dance music. They were heavily influenced by acid house and the nascent Madchester scene of the late 1980s.  This is another that came close to making the Top 120.

#524: Odyssey – Native New York

Time for another curveball.  A disco/soul offering from 1977 which reached #5 in the UK charts.  Dedicated to JTFL, a long-time resident of Santa Monica, but very much a native New Yorker.

#523: Chronic Citizens – U.S.A.

Chronic Citizens were a five-piece indie/punk/garage band out of New York City. There was one studio album, released in 1987, which, for the most part is a high-tempo effort, with nine songs coming in at just over 35 minutes. It would be stretching it a little to say that it should be an essential part of everyone’s record collection, but there are enough moments to make it an enjoyable listen, capable of being returned to every now and again.  JTFL was the band’s bassist.

#522: The Ponderosa Aces – Gotta Keep Truckin’

The first time I met JTFL was Sunday 23 April 2017.  It was in Manchester, and he was masquerading as Jonny Bottoms, the newest member of The Ponderosa Aces, a country outfit from Long Beach, California.  The band’s first album, ‘Honky Tonkin’ My Life Away’, had been recorded in 2016 before Jonny had joined, but he was on board for the follow-up, ‘No Particular Way’, released in 2018.  The Aces are still very much on the go today, albeit Jonny hung-up his Stetson not long after the release of the second LP.

#521: The Velvet Underground – Rock & Roll

Before Jonny was in either of Chronic Citizens or The Ponderosa Aces, he was a child prodigy who played, uncredited (due to NYC’s labour laws regarding underage children) in one of the most influential bands ever to come out of his home city.*

*This part of the rundown may not be entirely accurate.

 

JC

Welcome back to the continued and prolonged postings marking the upcoming 20th anniversary of the blog.

#600: Semisonic – Closing Time

I posted about this song in July 2015.  It attracted nine comments.  I don’t recognise just over half the names of the folk who contributed, which indicates just how the level of engagement with long-form music blogs has fallen off the proverbial cliff in recent times.  Incidentally, I’m still happy to describe this 1998 offering as one of the great alt-rock love songs, even if most of everything else by Semisonic that I’ve listened to has underwhelmed me.

#599 : PAWS – Catherine 1956

PAWS were one of many great new bands to emerge out of Scotland in the late 00s and into the next decade.  Their music was a bit louder and punkier than almost all their contemporaries. ‘Catherine 1956’ is the opening song on debut album ‘Cokefloat!’, released in 2012 and is an extraordinary tribute to the late mother of lead singer Philip Taylor after she had died of cancer at a young age and when he was just 18 years old himself.

#598: Kate Bush – Cloudbusting

I’ve been more of an admirer of her music than an ardent lover.  Thankfully, The Robster did his bit for the blog back in January 2026 with ICA #403 that was full of ‘deep cuts’ – ie no singles.  ‘Cloudbusting’ is therefore today making its long-overdue debut appearance on TVV.

#597: Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

My university years (1981-1985) exposed me to a lot of musicians from previous years that I had not been aware of.  Gil Scott-Heron was one such performer.  It was also timely that in 1985, a rekindling of interest in his work led to his record label issuing a new ‘Best Of’ collection promoted by a 10″ EP of some of his best protest songs from the 70s.  It’s an EP I’ve held onto ever since.

#596: The Adventure Babies – Camper Van

The last band ever to be signed to Factory Records….with a sound that’s a very very long way from the Hacienda.  Fate hasn’t been kind to The Adventure Babies in that their songs have dated badly, but I’ll always have a soft spot for this, the lead track from their debut EP back in September 1991 as it was part of a number of homemade cassettes that got me through the daily commute between Glasgow and Edinburgh for more than four years in the early 90s.

#595: The Catenary Wires – Mirrorball

Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey will feature a few times in this rundown, and here they are as The Catenary Wires, whose music that perhaps can best be summed up as 80s indie-pop packed with lyrics based on a lifetime of experiences rather than from the perspective of naive but excited youth.

#594: Eels – Novocaine For The Soul

An extraordinary record. It has the most downbeat, almost helpless sounding of lyrics which mention, among other things, living with the undead and being told by your mum that your birth was a mistake, but it is set against the most catchy and sing-a-long of tunes.

#593: Flowered Up – Weekender

I missed out on the hedonism celebrated in this Top 20 hit from May 1992.  I was nearly 30 years of age, working hard to make ends while settling into a new relationship that I’m delighted to say remains intact to this very day.  I could only look on from afar and wish good things to those who were fully immersed in the lifestyle, all the while knowing there would come a point in time when those very revellers themselves would wake up of a morning with a realisation that they had passed their partying peak.

#592: The Beloved – Up Up and Away (Happy Sexy Mix)

Talking of revellers……here’s an album track from a remix album called ‘Blissed Out’ that was released in 1990.

#591: The Pogues – Fiesta

There are great tunes such as #592 in this rundown which make me smile. But I’d argue with that ‘Up Up and Away’, being a hymn to the age of  and this a pharmaceutically supported sort of happiness, can’t be classified as real euphoria.  For that, you need to seek out things such as this madcap music complete with comedy whistle. And apologies to Pogues fans as I know the band wrote and recorded many ‘better’ and more socially/politically aware songs that were probably more worthy of inclusion in this rundown…….

#590: The Men They Couldn’t Hang – Gold Rush

A fair few of the singers and bands I picked up on in the 80s came from their appearances on TV shows like ‘The Tube’ and ‘Whistle Test’.  The Men They Couldn’t Hang were one of them, and while I never became that big of a fan, this will always take me back to their solid, unpretentious appearance on Whistle Test back in 1985, The footage is easily found online.

#589: McAlmont & Butler – Yes

A song I never fully appreciated till quite a few years after its release thanks to it being played at high volume, over a sensational sound system, at one of the Little League nights in Glasgow. Joyous, glorious, anthemic and wonderful to dance to.

#588: St Vincent – Now Now

A few days after I arrived in Toronto where I was to spend almost six months working in the summer/autumn of 2027, I stumbled across a venue called The Horseshoe Tavern.  Not having anything else to do that night, I went inside and bought a ticket for the show, which is how I ended up being lucky enough to see St Vincent play a very small venue promoting her debut album. It was also my introduction to the fact that most gigs in Toronto often started long after shows in Glasgow ever ended. I’m sure this one didn’t finish till 1.30am.  Just as well, the city had a decent enough through-the-night public transport system to get me back home to my condo flat some 14 miles away!

#587: Ian Dury & The Blockheads – What A Waste

He could have been a lorry driver, poet, teacher, soldier, lawyer, doctor, writer, ticket collector, revolutionary, inmate or dreamer. But his career of choice was the fool in a six-piece band…and it most certainly was a welcome one as he and his mates brought untold pleasure to fans of new wave music in the late 70s.

#586: The Big Moon – Trouble

Another band introduced to the blog via a guest ICA, and once again, it was thanks to The Robster with #370 back in June 2024.  In his words…” Seriously good musicians fronted by a brilliant songwriter (Juliette Jackson) – what more could you ask for? The Big Moon are one of my ‘happy’ bands,. They just sound warm and comforting.”   JC adds – he’s bang on with those observations

#585: Drugstore – El President

Drugstore were around for much of the 90s, highly regarded and respected among their peers. They were the sort of band that more established acts loved to have as special guests while out on tour, which is why fans of the likes of Radiohead, Tindersticks, Jeff Buckley and The Jesus and Mary Chain would have had opportunities to catch them.  Thom Yorke provided a guest vocal for this, the only Drugstore single to reach the charts, being a #20 hit in May 1998.

#584: Handsome Boy Modeling School – The World’s Gone Mad

Another that has the presence of guest vocalists, but in this instance couldn’t help the song become a hit single. Handsome Boy Modeling School was a collaboration between hip hop producers Dan the Automator and Prince Paul.  Jamaican reggae superstar Barrington Levy, American rapper Del the Funky Homosapien and the then king of UK indie-pop, Alex Kopranos all sang on this one back in 2004. It didn’t crack the Top 75.

#583: Carmel – Bad Day

I think many of us who were aged 20/21 in the early-mid 80s went through a spell where music with a touch of jazz and soul crept into the collection.  Was it down to being subconsciously influenced by the direction Paul Weller was heading or was it the fact the NME, the music paper of choice, had a number of writers extolling the virtues of singers like Carmel McCourt?  Can’t answer those questions in any definitive way, but this one still gets my feet tapping and my fingers clicking.

#582: Sade – Smooth Operator

I can’t deny that I really liked Sade, as her debut album sound tracked of a lot what was going on in my life in 85/86, having left uni and now working and living in Edinburgh, all too often on the lookout for Love und Romance.  If I had courage, I’d write a blog post about it…..

#581: Supergrass – Alright

The opening piano notes make this one instantly recognisable. It’s often the case that over-exposure to a tune can make any listener grow sick and tired of it. Alright was everywhere in the summer of ’95, being played on the radio for months on end, as well as having a brilliant, funny and memorable video that was on heavy rotation across different channels, but somehow it never quite reached the irritating stage.

#580: Underworld – Moaner

The same applies to Underworld’s best known-song, ‘Born Slippy (Nuxx)’. But, and this will come as no surprise to regular and long-time readers of the blog, the big hit has been nudged out of this rundown to be replaced by a flop single from August 1997.  I’ve written about ‘Moaner’ on countless occasions, but even I was surprised that the first time was as far back as February 2009.  It was a post called ‘In which your humble scribe tries to show that there’s more to him than jangly-guitars, indie-pop and great haircuts from days of old.’

#579: Y’All Is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

Again, regular and long-time readers will be aware that I’m a huge fan of the work of Adam Stafford, and he will appear a bit later on in the rundown.  In the meantime, here’s a throwback to the first time I ever heard him play, as frontman/main song-writer with this indie-rock band from Falkirk.  A cracking single from 2008.

#578: Dream Wife – Hey! Heartbreaker

SWC brought this lot to my attention.  “Dream Wife take all the best bits of timeless indie pop, throw in some attitude lifted almost directly from the days of L7 or Bikini Kill add a bit of colour and then sprinkle brilliance over the top of it. The end result is utterly brilliant.”  Sadly, there has been a bit of diminishing returns with each of their three albums, but this, from their eponymous debut back in 2018, still makes for a great listen.

#577: Rhoda Dakar – The Man Who Sold The World

In 2023, Rhoda Dakar released ‘Version Girl’, a covers album on which she only included songs that, as far as she was aware, had no previous definitive Reggae, Ska or Rocksteady versions.  Like many covers albums, some songs work better than others.

#576: Heaven 17 – Let Me Go

Heaven 17, more or less, dropped the politics and went for the pop on their sophomore album, ‘The Luxury Gap’, released in April 1983. The change of direction paid off as it yielded two Top 10 hit singles and another that went top 20. This beautifully crafted break-up song is one, however, which didn’t crack the Top 40.

#575: Longpigs – She Said

March 1995 was when Radiohead first took the album ‘The Bends’ into the charts.  Four months later,  Sheffield-based Longpigs debuted with a tune sounded like a  Radiohead off-cut.  The single flopped, but when re-released in June 1996, it took the band into the Top 20.

#574: Martha Wainwright – Bloody Mother Fucking Arsehole

Martha Wainwright’s father, the 70s folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, used to speak to her through his songs, so she decided to return the favour in 2005.  She had been particularly angered by ‘I’d Rather Be Lonely’ a song he’d written about a year in which he had spent helping to raise Martha when she was 14.

#573: Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock

Another of my guilty pleasures….well, the early stuff anyway from ‘Gish’ (1991) through to some of ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ (1995) when it all began to go a bit sideways.

#572: The Wake – On Our Honeymoon

The self-released 1981 debut single from a Glasgow-band who would later be able to make the unique boast of being the only act to record for both Factory and Sarah Records.

#571: Tricky – Hell Is Round The Corner

The rapper chose to leave Massive Attack after the first album as he felts his talents were being not being fully utilised.  I think it’s fair to say that the split benefitted both parties as not only did Massive Attack enjoy continued success, but Tricky went on to have six Top 40 albums between 1995 and 2001. This is the lead track from the ‘Hell EP’, a partial collaboration with American hip hop group Gravediggaz, which reached #12 in the singles chart in July 1995.

#570: Swell Maps – Dresden Style

A single from February 1979.  I’ll own up that, at the age of 15, I wasn’t all that aware of Swell Maps.  I possibly had the time heard this, their second single (but their first on Rough Trade) when it was released but at the time I would very much have dismissed it as tuneless rubbish.  Nowadays, without ever getting to ever fully fall for the ‘charms’ of the band, I’ll admit to quite enjoying this one, which I picked up via someone else’s blog (forgotten who) waaaaay back in time

#569: Prefab Sprout – Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)

In an era of a number of very clever wordsmiths fronting gentle-sounding guitar bands, Paddy McAloon took the crown as the cleverest of them.   This catchy sing-along number seems to make no sense whatsoever until someone whispers in your ear that the first letter of each of the words in the title spell Limoges, the city in France where Paddy’s girlfriend had moved to live, breaking his heart in the process.

#568: Modest Mouse – Float On

A band whose UK sales never matched the critical acclaim offered them.  Even the presence of  Johnny Marr, between 2006 and 2009, didn’t deliver any chart success. The best they ever achieved was this catchy, almost indie-rock by numbers (which I offer as a complement as it’s not an easy thing to do!!), that reached #46 in July 2004.

#567: Jetstream Pony – Sixes and Sevens

There haven’t been too many interviews carried on the blog over the past 20 years, but there was a genuine thrill back in March 2022 when the legendary Beth Arzy took the time to speak to The Three Masketeers (a name adopted by myself, flimflamfan and strangeways for a short three-part series).   Jetstream Pony have been responsible for a lot of very fine music over the past decade, including this single from 2023.

#566: Grinderman – Get It On

Grinderman came into being in 2006, consisting of Nick Cave and three of his Bad Seeds, Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martyn P. Casey. The first ever release was this snorting piece of low-fi garage rock that had many of us panting immediately for more. But then again, a few of the more recent Cave converts, perhaps brought to the party by the duet with Kylie and much of the melancholy stuff that he was recording around the turn of the century, were a tad bamboozled.

#565: Ash – Goldfinger

The fourth single to be lifted from their debut album.  OK, the opening few bars owe something to the grunge acts of the day but once the lyric kicks in and the song slows down there’s a real sense that the 18-year old Tim Wheeler was, again, proving to be highly capable of writing stuff well beyond his tender years.

#564: The Lilac Time – The Girl Who Waves At Trains

A perfectly polished piece of radio-friendly pop from 1989, a time when there was almost exclusively a focus on baggy/Madchester and thus the sounds being offered up by The Lilac Time were deemed by many to be old-fashioned toe-tapping stuff belonging to a different era.

#563: Memphis – You Supply The Roses

In 1985, James Kirk, part of the original Orange Juice line-up, rather surprisingly came out of what had been self-imposed retirement and, adopting the name Memphis, wrote and recorded what rather sadly turned out to be a one-off 45 for the Swamplands label that was being run by Alan Horne (ex Postcard).  One of the great lost 45s of the indie/twee-pop genre.

#562: A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick it?

Sampling.  It’s such a dangerous area to be involved in.  A Tribe Called Quest used ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ for this Top 20 hit from October 1990.  They didn’t ask for clearance in advance.  The inevitable outcome is that Lou Reed (via his rapacious lawyers) was able to claim 100% of the song’s royalties.

#561: Girls Aloud – Something Kinda Oooh

A lenghty extract from a blog post back in December 2006.

“Something I saw today got me thinking about music. And the shallowness of anyone who slags off any song as ‘shite’ just because they, as a person, don’t like it, the singer or the band.

“My organisation holds an annual Christmas party for around 200 young kids with physical handicaps or learning difficulties. A load of our staff get dressed up in costume as cartoon characters; we bring along all sorts of kid’s entertainers; and of course at the appropriate magical moment, Santa makes an appearance.

“But the mainstay of the three or so hours that the party goes on is the disco. And believe me, song after song after song after song would normally have had me screaming in agony and racing for the nearest exit. The thing that stopped me was the sheer joy on all of these kids’ faces. They were on the dance-floor having a real blast. Most of them needed help and support from the adults, whether it was the folk in fancy-dress or the teachers/parents/volunteers who are with these kids every day. Many of the kids were wheelchair-bound, but that didn’t stop them making their way onto the dance-floor.

“Now if the DJ had spun something that I was wanting, there is no question he would have cleared the room, far less the dance-floor. He knew his audience, and he gave them exactly what they wanted. And they loved him for it.

“Music is there to be enjoyed. If what you or I hear every day on the banal radio stations or on prime-time television annoys us, we can always find an alternative station, or turn on the PC and surf for a while.

“So let’s not just have a go at someone else because their taste is wholly different from ours.

“Here’s one that filled the dance-floor earlier today. I had to ask a work colleague who and what it was”

I like to think the lesson I learned that day has played a big part in the way TVV has developed over the past 20 years.

 

 

JC

Bless My Cotton Socks…

#680 : The Teardrop Explodes – Reward

Even I’m wondering how this never quite made it into the Top 120.  And just in case you’re asking, the answer is yes, Julian Cope will feature again later on in the rundown.

#679: The Valves – Ain’t No Surf in Portobello

I think it’s worth mentioning that this rundown isn’t necessarily my favourite 800 singers/bands, but is designed to give a flavour of what TVV has come to represent over the past 20 years as well as opening a window to the record/CD collection here in Villain Towers.  This new wave tune dates from December 1977.  For those of you wondering, Portobello is a district of Edinburgh, located on the Firth of Forth but boasting a fabulously expansive sandy beach.  It was, in its Victorian heyday, a town in its own right and a popular holiday destination.

#678: Tears For Fears – Mad World

A deceptively brilliant song.   A tune that demands you get up and dance, but with a lyric that is all about depression, isolation and helplessness. From ‘The Hurting’, the one decent album ever made by Tears For Fears back in 1983.

#677: Howard Devoto – Rainy Season

The post-Magazine career wasn’t really all that much to get excited about.  ‘Rainy Season’ was the first solo single, released in the summer of 1983.  In an era of the charts publishing a Top 100, this one stumbled in for one week at #97.

#676: Luxuria – She’s Your Lover Now

More Howie D. Included to meet the rule that every rundown needs at least one Bob Dylan cover.   This was the b-side to Luxuria’s debut single back in 1988.

#675: Bob Dylan – Like A Rolling Stone

It’s the real thing, baby.

#674: Rolling Stones – Paint It Black

Oh, I’m getting lazy, aren’t I?   Echo & The Bunnymen used to do a great version of this in their live shows.  But no….they’re not up next!

#673: Inspiral Carpets – This Is How It Feels

36 years (and counting) since this was composed and recorded. It’s a shameful indictment of successive governments, in both London and Edinburgh, that so little has changed in so many places that the issues raised in this pop hymn to isolation, depression and utter misery are just as abundant as they were after a decade of Thatcherism.

#672: Martha & The Muffins – Echo Beach

Another from the class of ’79.  A great example of new wave in its broadest definition. It’s not a rock song, it’s not a punk song and while it has a pop feel to it, it can’t be classified as pure pop.

#671: Sugababes – Overload

Another guilty secret comes tumbling out of the closet. I’ll go to the crematorium still arguing with dissenters that this is a magnificently crafted piece of pop music. It was released in September 2000 and reached #6 in the UK.

#670: The Colourfield – Sorry

Some of the best songs are tucked away on b-sides.  This was the flip side to the eponymous debut single back in January 1984.  Thankfully, the band had the good sense to later include it on their debut album which wasn’t released until April 1985.  A reminder, if it is indeed needed, that Terry Hall was a superb lyricist. This one is dedicated to my fellow members of the fanclub for bitterly honest and straight-from-the-heart break-up songs.

#669: Department S – Is Vic There?

Another example of a post-punk outfit enjoying some unexpected success.  ‘Is Vic There?’  has to be one of the most catchy singles of the new wave era.  A #22 hit in 1981.

#668: Malcolm McLaren & The World’s Famous Supreme Team – Buffalo Gals

Malcolm McLaren was always a bit of a musical magpie, but the input from Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley really made this piece of music work. OK, it has dated somewhat and sounds way more gimmicky than it did back in the day (1982), but there was no denying that it was different and did act as something of introduction to hip-hop for us millions of Brits living a long way away from its spiritual home.

#667: Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance

Seven years on, and hip-hop is nothing to be scared of. An absolute classic fully deserving of its Top 3 placing in the singles chart back in January 1989, with one of its samples being from ‘Buffalo Gals’.  Incidentally, I had no idea until doing a wee bit of research that an early version of ‘Buffalo Stance’ was recorded as a b-side in 1986 on a Stock Aitken and Waterman produced single.

Bonus track; Morgan & McVey (feat. Neneh Cherry) – Looking Good Diving With The Wild Bunch

#666: Beck – Devil’s Haircut

What else did you expect to be listed randomly at #666?

#665: David Essex – Rock On

Another that made an impact in my pre-teen years and has stuck with me ever since.  Was mentioned on the blog back in June 2020.

#664: Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Kill Your Television

The summer of 1990 saw the crusties and the grebos beginning to enjoy some commercial success, thanks in many ways to the old-fashioned method of the bands going out on the road, gigging constantly and growing a fanbase who loved the energy of the shows. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin were a great example of this….this was their second single, and while they would have bigger hits in later times, this has, arguably, proven to be their signature tune.

#663: Gary Clail On-U Sound System – Human Nature (12″ mix)

Brought to my attention back in 1991 courtesy of its inclusion on a homemade mixtape compiled by the legendary Jacques the Kipper.   I liked it so much, I went out and bought the parent album ‘The Emotional Hooligan’ on CD.  I’d be lying if I said I had played the album in its entirety since probably 1993, but this remains a killer tune.

#662: Tubeway Army – Are ‘Friends’ Electric

Inserted here to keep the Gary thing going a wee bit longer. Another from the Class of ’79, a year dominated largely by post-punk and fast guitars.  A record made by the then oldest-looking 21-year-old on the planet.

#661: The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross – I’m The Man Who Too On Love (And Won)

The Low Miffs. A Glasgow band who made the sort of intelligent, catchy but different guitar-pop that has always found such favour with your humble scribe. Oh and there’s the bonus that lead singer, Leo Condie, has a vocal delivery that can be eerily reminiscent of the late, great Billy Mackenzie. In 2009, the band teamed up with the legendary Malcolm Ross and released an album of eight perfectly constructed songs that should have sold by the barrowload.

#660: The Passions – I’m In Love With A German Film Star

The Passions released three albums and ten singles between 1979 and 1983.  I’m willing to bet that very few people can name any of their songs other than this ethereal offering which went to #25 in February 1981.   The thing is, I’d have sworn it was at least a Top Ten hit.

#659: dEUS – Hotellounge (Be The Death Of Me)

“With an erratic musical identity located somewhere between John Cale, Captain Beefheart and Sonic Youth and a 15-track debut album (1994) which veers effortlessly from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, they have a truly unique appeal.”  A review which sums up perfectly this Belgian band who are impossible to categorise.

#658: Hi-Fi Sean (feat. Crystal Waters) – Testify

Possibly the happiest sounding and most upbeat track in my entire music collection.  Hifi Sean is probably better known to most folk who visit this blog as Sean Dickson, frontman of The Soup Dragons, one of the finest bands to come out of Bellshill. And as much as I’ve loads of time for everything he did with that band back in the day, none of it really comes close to the magnificence of the tunes he put together for the album ‘Ft.’ which was released in 2016.

#657: Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?

A single that was #42 in my 45 45s@45 rundown back in 2008.  It was always going to make the cut for the TVV 800, but the fact it’s not made the Top 120 shows how much my musical tastes have diversified since the blog got up and running, as well, of course, the need and desire to take into account the new music I’ve come across over the past two decades.

#656: Lime Garden – Cross My Heart

One of my very newest discoveries.  They’ve been releasing music since 2020, but I only heard them earlier this year thanks to the release of their second album, ‘Maybe Not Tonight’ back in April.  I previously included this song as part of a monthly mix a wee while back. Oh, and I’m off to see Lime Garden later this year when they play a show in Glasgow.

#655: Muse – Sunburn

Please….don’t run away.  This isn’t the fully pomped-up and totally OTT Muse, but instead is from their 1999 debut album when they were a more than acceptable Radiohead tribute band.

#654: Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters – Don’t Ask My Name (Call Me Jack)

Some thirty years after the fact, Cherry Red Records made a great habit of releasing CD boxsets of indie music from the mid-80s through to the end of the decade, These boxsets introduced me to a good number of bands that I regretfully missed out on back in the day, although for the sake of balance, I have to say there are some real duff tunes also included. This lot have been described as a cross between The Jefferson Airplane, MC5 and The Velvet Underground which is touch of hyperbole but they are decent enough.

#653: Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town

I’ve never really been much of a rocker, per se.  But I’ll always have time for this earworm from 1976.  Teenage kicks indeed.

#652: Veronica Falls – Found Love In A Graveyard

Without reading other blogs, I’d more than likely never have heard anything by Veronica Falls, a London-based indie band who were around between 2009 and 2014.  This was their rather splendid debut single, one which, in my mind I’ll always associate with Halloween (the celebration that is, not the film!)

#651: The Pooh Sticks – On Tape

A brilliant record on so many different levels. It sounds as shambolic and cheaply recorded as most of the C86 tracks were, it pays homage to the humble cassette which, after all, was the medium under which C86 thrived and above all else it gently mocks the trainspotter obsessiveness of so many music fans (myself included!!) with lyrics such as “I’ve got Falling and Laughing – the original Postcard version” and “I sent for the Soup Dragons single, mail-order only; £1.30 to Martin Whitehead, but it never came!”

Oh and in Trudi Tangerine (tambourine/piano) they surely have the best-named indie pop star of all time.

#650: Weezer – Buddy Holly

Has the phrase ‘oo-ee-oo’ ever been deployed to better effect?  Weezer have been with us for a very long time now, forming back in 1992.  Having now visited Santa Monica, I can see why frontman Rivers Cuomo fits in so well with that environment.  This one reached #12 in May 1995.  You must know what’s coming next…

#649: Buddy Holly – Rave On

ICA #285 in May 2021 was a total cheat. It contained 14 songs with the running order being exactly the same as can be found on a budget-priced album ‘The Best of Buddy Holly’, released on Hallmark Records back in 1986.  It’s widely accepted that Buddy Holly was the artist who best established the ‘classic’ set-up of two guitars, bass, and drums. He was among the first to write and record his own material, albeit many of his best known songs were covers (such as the one featured in this rundown) or had been written by others for him. I sometimes wonder what direction pop music might have gone in if he hadn’t died in that plane crash at the age of 22

#648: Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria

From 1984. One for flailing around the disco floor with your raincoat flapping behind you like Batman’s cape as he chases the bad guys.

#647: EMF – Unbelievable

From 1990.  My dancing and clubbing days were over by this time otherwise I’d have flapped around shapelessly to this one.  Later on, I’d go back to dancing around a bit thanks to John Hunt’s unforgettable Little League nights across Glasgow.  But he never played this, so I haven’t made fool of myself in public to it.

#646: The Phantom Band – The Howling

Indie-rock from Scotland. Four albums, all released on Chemikal Underground.  Plenty of great gigs. An untimely end in October 2015 when all the band’s equipment, worth over £13,000, was stolen from their tour van after a gig in Lille, France.  A single from 2009 is the tune that’s made the cut for this rundown.

#645: Moby – Find My Baby

In 1999/2000, Moby and his bloody record ‘Play’ was everywhere you turned and it wasn’t difficult to feel bored about it all. In retrospect, it was simply overexposure at the time as it’s an album full of very listenable music, Just a pity that Moby himself appears to be a bit of a dickhead.

#644: The Triffids – Wide-Open Road

A band that hasn’t featured too often on the blog, but you will find a superb guest ICA (#155) penned by The Swede back in February 2018. He wrote at the time “The Triffids left a towering body of work and selecting just ten pieces from it for this compilation has been a painful task.”  Very interestingly, he didn’t include this, the one single lifted from their most acclaimed album, ‘Born Sandy Devotional’, released in 1986.

#643: Wannadies – You And Me Song

Good things come to those who wait. The Wannadies, from Sweden, released many a great single in the 90s and the early part of the 20th Century.  They are probably best remembered for ‘You And Me Song’ which was a bit of a flop when first released in 1994 but which soared to #18 some two years later after it featured on the soundtrack of the to the hit film ‘Romeo + Juliet’ – the updated one directed by Baz Luhrmann.

#642: 14 Iced Bears – Come Get Me

There’s a C86 series ongoing on TVV this year.   14 Iced Bears, from Brighton, have featured.  A band who were never really tied to any one label during their existence, and were also more than happy to be on shared releases with other bands, often on flexidiscs. As far as I can work out, there were ten singles and two albums. This was their sole release for the much-revered Sarah Records.

#641: Devo – Come Back Jonee

They would go on to enjoy 50 years in the music business, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that in the early days, rock magazine critics (in their native USA) and rock newspaper critics/columnists (here in the UK) were often scathing of Devo; that they were among the early pioneers of the use of videos, including during live shows, led to all sorts of accusations of being non-authentic.  Thankfully, they took the brickbats with grace and went on to make all sorts of great records.  This was their fourth single, released over here in 1978 on Virgin Records.

 

 

 

JC

Everything is wonderful, being here is heavenly????

#720 : Danny Wilson – Mary’s Prayer

When your debut single goes Top 3, as this did back in April 1988 (albeit at the third time of asking) you’ve got to believe the upper echelons of the sky will be your limit.  Sadly, for the Dundee-based trio, only one further Top 20 hit was achieved before the split in 1993.  Lead singer and chief songwriter Gary Clark has forged a decent career out of penning tunes for others.

#719: Cats On Fire – Draw In The Reins

I have tried soooooo hard over the years on TVV to drum up interest in this rather wonderful indie-band from Finland. There’s even been two separate ICAs – #314 in May 2022 and #374 in July 2024.  Most of my efforts have been met with great indifference.  Oh well…….

#718: Fountains of Wayne – Radiation Vibe

American indie-rock can be a bit hit’n’miss, but Marc Goldstein’s guest ICA (#393 in August 2025) highlighted just how Fountains of Wayne, from New York City, write songs which lean on many British traits, and in particular how they specialise in 3 or 4 minute vignettes about the real lives of recognizable types of people, with humour and catchy melodies.  I’ve long been very fond of this, their debut single from back in March 1997 which peaked at #32 in the UK charts.

#717: Grant Lee Buffalo – America Snoring

Grant Lee Buffalo come from the other side of the states, being a Los Angeles band.  Their sound leans more towards the Americana side of things, with 12-string acoustic guitars often to the fore, while the lyrics often look quite critically at life in their home country.  ‘America Snoring’ dates from 1993 and is something of a politically motivated protest song, with references also to the band’s dismay with the LA riots of 1992.

#716: Jilted John – Jilted John

Time for a handbrake turn.  Back in 1978, the then 18-year-old drama student Graham Fellows wrote and recorded a memorable tale of teen angst, rejection and confrontation. It became an instant classic….and went on to sell more than half a million copies.  The bona-fide punk bands who were trying so hard to get any sort of chart success must have looked on in frustration.

#715: Graham Fellows – Love At The Hacienda

In 1985, Graham Fellows recorded ‘Love At The Hacienda’, an LP of songs that were mostly about mid-20s angst, rejection and confrontation.   It should have become an instant classic, but despite great reviews, it sold poorly.  It was out of print for decades until Firestation Records over in Hamburg repressed it in 2020.  I made sure I grabbed myself a copy.

#714: Missy Elliot – Get Ur Freak On

This is probably Missy Elliot’s best-known tune, and to quote wiki “It is based on heavy bhangra elements, and  features a six-note base that is a Punjabi melody played on a tumbi, and rhythm and bassline played on tabla” It also has a memorable promo video. It reached #4 in April 2001 – I’m stunned that it was quarter-of-a-century ago.

#713: Pretenders – Kid

This will always be my favourite 45 of all those that Chrissie & co ever put down on vinyl. It spent seven weeks on the chart in July and August 1979, but never got higher than #33. Should have got to #1. It’s a far better song than ‘Brass In Pocket’

#712: Bluetones – Slight Return

When I was scrolling through the songs on the laptop looking to select the final 800, there were a few instances of me thinking ‘Oh, I forgot about that one – haven’t heard it in ages’.  ‘Slight Return’ suffers from me having it as a CD single as I rarely play them in contrast to those i have on vinyl.   Britpop did deliver more than it’s share of monstrosities, but this isn’t one of them.  Reached #2 in January 1996.

#711: The Spook School – I Only Dance When I Want To

From Edinburgh, The Spook School were a band much championed by good friend Aldo. He must have seen them dozens of times when they were around between 2012 and 2019.  They have been perfectly described as playing a brand of indie pop that combines the hookiness of C-86 bands like Shop Assistants with the punky energy of  Buzzcocks, then adding lyrics that deal passionately with sexuality and gender. This one can be found on their third and final LP ‘Could It Be Different?’ (2018).

#710: The Ukranians – Batyar

They grew from being a side project of The Wedding Present to form their own clear and distinct identity primarily under the stewardship of Peter Solowka and Len Wiggins.  In 1993, the band went into the studio to record an EP of Smiths covers as imagined in the style of Ukrainian folk music.  The results were marvellous.

#709: Young Marble Giants – Eating Noddemix

Minimalist but very effective post-punk music from Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.  For a band whose entire output was one album and two EPs between February 1980 and March 1981, they have influenced many who have followed over the decades.  I finally got to see them in 2014 when they reformed for a bro+ief time and played a handful of gigs, including one in Glasgow.

#708: S’Express – Theme From S’Express

At the other end of the scale, a tune that has everything on it, including the kitchen sink.  A #1 hit in May 1988, made up entirely of samples.  Fourteen of them all told.

#707: Nas – N.Y. State of Mind

This one has just the five samples, but it also has an astonishing lyric highlighting and celebrating parts of New York City the tourists never see or experience.  It is one of many very fine tracks on Nas’s debut album Illmatic, released in 1994 but bizarrely was never officially released as a single

#7o6: Daft Punk – Da Funk

Kind of staying in NYC given that the unforgettable promo video, directed by the genius we know as Spike Jonze, was set in the city and also kind of reflects on the side that the tourists never see or experience.  Daft Punk would later record bigger-selling singles, but I don’t think they ever bettered this from 1995.

#705: The Beta Band – She’s The One

It was so difficult to settle on just one song from The Beta Band.  In the end, SWC, in effect, chose this one, From his ICA, #60, in February 2016:-

“She’s the One is the sweetest, most smile inducing and best song the Beta Band ever made. After all this is a simple song, that chant…which gains more power with each repetition, that takes your focus so much that the climax almost burst out of nowhere. A brilliant way to spend eight and a half minutes.”

#704: Miaow – When It All Come Down

From February 1987.  It’s on Factory Records with the catalogue number FAC 179.  Pure indie-pop with a tip of the hat to 60s girl/harmony groups.  An absolute joy of a 45.

#703: Elastica – Waking Up

If it wasn’t for the fact that so many of their best songs, including this single from February 1995, were total rip-offs, then Elastica would have certainly made the Top 120.

#702: The Stranglers – No More Heroes

If it wasn’t for the fact that a different band took this 1977 hit and then turned the tune into something even more special (and danceable!), then The Stranglers would certainly have made the Top 120.

The truth is that both missed out by narrow margins.

#701: The Suede Crocodiles – Stop The Rain

Glasgow in 1983 was a great place and time to be a music fan.  The city was awash with young musicians making fabulous jangly-guitar based music, much of which has been greatly celebrated on TVV over the decades and much of which will appear in this rundown, including a few in the Top 120.  This was named as ‘Single of The Week’ in both the NME and Melody Maker.  But it didn’t get much airplay outside of Glasgow and failed to chart.

#700: Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus

There’s not been too much on Depeche Mode on TVV over the past 20 years, and that’s down to me not really liking that much of their output.  But it would be churlish to leave them out of this rundown, and so I’ve gone for the one I probably know best of all, and that’s largely down to Johnny Cash covering it many years later.

#699: Album Club – Make No Bets

Album Club are a loose collective of creative people assembled from other bands, along with novelists, actors, journalists and various artsy Glasgow types. Thus far, there’s been one eponymous album, released on Last Night From Glasgow back in 2022, full of low-key narratives that knit together in a rather lovely way.

#698: Dee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart

A song title that could, as a phrase, be applied to the Album Club record.  This is another that might seem out of kilter with your typical TVV offerings, but is an undoubted pop/dance classic. I’d have placed good money on it having been a #1 hit back in the day, but it was denied the top spot in September 1990 by a truly awful offering from The Steve Miller Band.

#697: Vulture Party – New Humans

I think it would be fair to say TVV has tried to shine a light on singers and bands from Scotland, especially those whose records maybe don’t sell too much beyond their immediate environs. Vulture Party, from Falkirk,  have made two very interesting albums of ‘disquieting alt-pop for the socially conscious’. This was the song with which they introduced themselves to the world back in 2020.

#696: The Thrills – One Horse Town

If you’re feeling a bit low, then perhaps a chirpy upbeat pop song is what’s needed to put a smile on your face.  This one always works for me. A #18 hit in March 2003.

#695: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Spellbound (12″)

So many Banshee songs to consider.  In the end, I went for one of those on which John McGeoch weaved his magic. This distinctive and unworldly sounding single should have been much more successful than a #22 hit in June 1981.

#694: Goldfrapp – Strict Machine

Just the one major specific appearance for Goldfrapp on the blog over the past 20 years, courtesy of Swedish Herring Accident’s guest ICA (#203 in January 2019).  The previously mentioned Alexis Petridis, writing in the Guardian in April 2003, described ‘Strict Machine’ as ‘not only fantastic, but quiveringly sexy to boot’  And he’s right.

#693: Monaco – What Do You Want From Me?

This is, by a long way, the finest solo outing from Peter Hook.  It was a real and pleasant surprise that he chose to make music sounding more like a New Order record than anything else he had ever done before via his other side-projects, and it went all the way to #11 back in February 1997.

#692: Jane Wiedlen – Rush Hour

Placed here deliberately as I reckon it would sit perfectly on a mix tape immediately after the above song by Monaco.  Can’t deny the production very much places it in the late 80s, but that is very much all part of its poptastic charm and magnificence.

#691: Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy

I’m still in mixtape mode.  Shut Up and Dance.

#690: Breakfast Muff – R U A Feminist

Breakfast Muff were a hugely entertaining pop-punk trio from Glasgow who left us with just one album, released in 2017.  It contained 13 bouncing and boisterous tracks across just 25 minutes. As the band said, this one’s about sexuality, feminism and feelings, delivered with an all-round giant dose of fun.

#689: Cameo – Word Up

This one is all about the testosterone. And codpieces.  Top of The Pops, September 1986.  The complaints came flying in afterwards.

#688: Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

With every passing day, my body more and more reminds me that I am not the indestructible force I once believed I was.  For example, I can no longer dance like the Cameo boys.

#687: It’s Immaterial – Driving Away From Home (Jim’s Tune)

It’s Immaterial joined the ranks of one-hit wonders in 1986, when this spent 8 weeks in the UK chart, attaining the dizzy heights of #18.  There was so much more to them than that, as evidenced by ICA #299, penned by Khayem back in October 2021.

#686: Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart made some of the best-selling pop music of the 80s, but that’s not to say it was always essential listening.  But before they hit payola, there were a couple of albums, the first of which sold dismally, while the second was eventually rescued by this, its fourth single, becoming an unexpected #2 hit in March 1982, kept off the top spot by one of Bonnie Tyler’s insufferable power ballads.

#685: Meat Whiplash – Don’t Slip Up

I think this might be the only entry in the 800 songs featuring the only single a band ever recorded before breaking up.  Meat Whiplash, from East Kilbride (a town with multiple entries in this rundown), were one of the first to sign to Creation Records.  Their sole single was released on September 1985 and spent five months in the UK indie singles chart.

#684: Richard Hawley – Something Is….

I really have tried. but Richard Hawley just doesn’t do it for me…..other than this one song from his 2001 album ‘Late Night Final’.  Brings back memories of the one time I saw him, as the support for Tindersticks, at a London gig back in October 2003. He opened his set with this which got me sitting up and paying attention, but he quickly lost me again.

#683: Aberfeldy – Love Is An Arrow

I don’t think too many folk will recall Aberfeldy, an indie-pop/folk combo from Edinburgh who were initially on Rough Trade Records back in the early 00s, before later signing to 17 Seconds Records, a label established by blogger and all-round good guy, Ed Jupp.  I don’t listen to them all that much these days, but I’ll always make time for this single, which actually reached #60 in February 2005.

#682: Railcard – Disco Loadout

Railcard formed in 2025 and could, with some justification, be described as an indie-pop supergroup. All four members have been in previous much-loved bands, particularly of the twee-pop genre.  Three of them are now 64 years of age!!!  Indeed, it was the realisation that they all qualified for the Senior Citizen’s Discount Card for train travel that led them to come up with the band name.

#681: T.Rex – Children Of The Revolution

Another band where I found it tough to home in on one particular song. In the end, I went for a heavier offering – a more rock than glam number.  I was nine years old when this was all over the radio stations in 1972.  I can still, just about, sing along to every word.

 

 

 

JC

Thanks so much for all your kind words and comments yesterday.  It came as a bit of a relief that folk were happy enough to plough through the lengthy post.  Just the 760 songs to come 🙂 🙂 🙂

#760 : The Assembly – Never Never

The synth-pop genius,  Vince Clarke, decided he wanted to collaborate with singers on a one-off basis under the moniker of The Assembly. First up was Feargal Sharkey, formerly of The Undertones, and this electro-ballad was a smash in the UK hitting #4 in late 1983 and showing a side to Sharkey that few imagined possible. It turned out there was no follow-up single from The Assembly, and after a one-off effort with Paul Quinn flopped, Clarke reconsidered his options and formed Erasure.

#759: Echobelly – Bellyache

The lead track on Echobelly’s debut EP, released in late 1993. And in my mind, it sounds as if a cracking Smiths tribute band (with added didgeridoo!!) was being fronted by the winner of a Debbie Harry soundalike contest.  Mesmerised me then and still does today.

#758: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax

We all know it and we all have an opinion on it.  It wouldn’t have made this rundown if I disliked it.

#757: Port Sulphur – Alex Discord

A collective co-ordinated by Douglas MacIntyre of Creeping Bent Records. There’s been three ‘proper’ studio albums and a compilation of songs previously released digitally. Far too many collaborators to mention, but ‘Alex Discord’ is an eight-minute epic on which the late punk-poet Jock Scot provides lead vocals on a tune combining ‘Faith Healer’ by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band with ‘Discord’ by The Fire Engines.

#756: Rilo Kiley – Portions For Foxes

2004 single from American indie rock band fronted by Jenny Lewis.  Originally together from 1998-2013 and reformed in 2025. It might be a tad indie rock by numbers, but I do like Jenny’s voice, which is why………

#755: Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rise Up With Fists!

2006 single lifted from the first ‘solo’ album which was recorded with the Americana/indie folk twin duo of Chandra and Leigh Watson.

#754: I Am Kloot – Over My Shoulder

Manchester-based band who released six albums between 2001 and 2013. This is from ‘Gods and Monsters’ (2005), bought purely on the basis of hearing ‘Over My Shoulder’ on the radio.  Album proved to be a bit of a disappointment.

#753: Life Model – Sit Still

The PR blurb says “A 5-piece dream pop band from Glasgow who mix classic indie and pop of the likes of The Sundays and Belle and Sebastian with the noisier leanings of bands like Sonic Youth.”.   It’s a fairly good description.  From their 2021 debut album ‘Lost on Weekdays, Lonely By Sundays.’

#752: Maxine Nightingale – Right Back Where We Started From

I’d have been just 12 years old when this went Top 10 in November 1975, but it’s one that has stuck with me ever since.  I didn’t buy it back then, and I’ve only a digital copy in the collection.  When I was responsible for selecting and playing pre-match tunes for Raith Rovers FC, I aired this a few times prior to important games as we chased promotion to a higher division.

#751: The Slits – Typical Girls

I’d have been 16 years old when this came out in September 1979.  I didn’t take to it at all.  Only as I’ve grown older, and my musical tastes have developed/matured, have I been able to realise just how astonishing and ground-breaking it was. Nobody was making music like this back in the day and very few have done so since.

#750: Utah Saints – Something Good

In which a then largely unknown electronic duo take one of Kate Bush’s chamber-pop hit singles from 1985, and turn it into one of the biggest dance numbers of 1992.  Still sounds fresh and somewhat astonishing more than 30 years later.

#749: The View – Superstar Tradesman

The Dundee band’s second single, released in October 2006. It reached #15 in the charts which was actually a bit of a disappointment for all concerned as there was a confidence that it was at least destined for the Top 5.  It’s a song that was never going to change the face of pop music, but it was, and still is, great fun to listen to.

#748: Marc Riley & The Creepers – Jumper Clown

Mark Riley was sacked from The Fall in 1982 after a four-year stint. He was still just 21 years old and very ambitious, and so he started up his own band. The second ‘solo’ single grew out of what had been a previously untitled instrumental that had previously part of The Fall’s live sets.  Mark E Smith was thoroughly pissed off by it.

#747: Gloria Jones – Tainted Love

Did I know this Northern Soul number before Soft Cell covered it?  Absolutely not…..and the later discovery put a big smile on my face.

#746: Spandau Ballet – The Freeze

I did say there would be some guilty secrets among these 800 songs. I’ll stand by my long-held view that ‘Journeys To Glory’, the 1981 debut album by Spandau Ballet is one that would be held up as being a very influential synth-pop offering, if only they hadn’t made such shite MOR music later in their career.

#745: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Spread Your Love

One of my long-time favourite music critics is Alex Petrides who writes for The Guardian newspaper. He said this back in 2002 about the eponymous BRMC debut album

“… an indie album of the old school, moody and monotonous, black-clad and pointy-booted. It sounds like it lives in a dingy bedsit, really hates dance music and has trouble making conversation with girls.”

Take away the dance music reference and that was me in the mid-80s!

#744: Bananarama – Shy Boy

Some might think I’ve gone from the sublime to the ridiculous in this rundown.  Others might suggest I’ve gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. Either way, I’ll never deny my love for this hit single from 1982.

#743: Peaness – Kaizen

An all-female band from the north-west of England who I saw live when they played The Edge of The Sea festival in Brighton in 2023.  They had two albums under the belt by then (released in 2017 and 2022), but sadly, there’s been nothing since.

#742: The Corn Dollies – Shake

I’m 100% in agreement with the person who wrote, in the booklet which came with the Cherry Red Records C87 boxset that ‘Shake’ revealed a debt to Lloyd Cole & The Commotions.  It’s not just the tune….but the vocal delivery is almost as if lead singer Steve Musham was auditioning for a part on Stars In Their Eyes.

#741: Freeeze – I.O.U

Of course New Order will appear in the rundown, and they will be somewhere in the Top 120.  In the meantime, feel free to enjoy ‘I.O.U’, a #2 hit in the UK charts in June 1983, a couple of months before producer Arthur Baker took the tune and helped to deliver ‘Confusion’ directly onto the floors of NYC nightclubs.

#740: The Heart Throbs – I Wonder Why

An indie-band from the late 80s/early 90s who deserve to be looked on more fondly by history. Their story wasn’t helped by ever-changing line-ups in the rhythm section across all three of their albums.  But maybe regular TVV contributor strangeways nailed it when he suggested they were too accomplished for the indie crowd but too introvert for the rock fans.

#739: A House – Endless Art plus A House – More Endless Art

‘Endless Art’ is a song consisting of the names, birth and death dates of performing and visual artists. They’re all male.  ‘More Endless Art’  is a song consisting of the names, birth and death dates of performing and visual artists who are all female. A House are from Dublin and with the song being spoken rather than sung, that lovely lilt comes through clearly.  Edwyn Collins was in the producer’s chair.

#738: Johnny Marr – Easy Money

He’s not the greatest singer to ever grace the planet, but he’s written some of the best tunes ever to come out of a wireless set.  Yes, The Smiths will be in the Top 120.  No, the band’s lead singer will not be featuring in the rundown.  If you click here, you’ll find a blog post from 2018 which goes a long way to cementing Johnny Marr’s position as one of the really good guys.

#737: Nadine Shah – Holiday Destination

I’ve loved the last three Nadine Shah albums – ‘Holiday Destination’ (2017), ‘Kitchen Sink’ (2020) and ‘Filthy Underneath’ (2024) but I’ve never properly featured her on TVV.  The main reason being that other bloggers out there, who are far better writers than I’ll ever be, cover things best.

#736: Pale Fountains – Thank You

Another of the ‘should have been massive’ band of the early 8os.  Signed to Virgin Records in 1982, both studio albums by this Liverpool band were critically acclaimed but criminally ignored by radio stations and the record buying public. The delightful ‘Thank You’ did reach the giddy heights of #48 in November 1982. Also responsible for the album ‘From Across The Kitchen Table’ which was later adopted by Drew for his blog.  I’m not alone in wishing Drew would come of out of his self-imposed retirement.

#735: RM Hubbert – Car Song

Robert McArthur Hubbert (born 12 May 1974 in Glasgow, Scotland), commonly known as Hubby, is primarily a Scottish guitarist and occasional singer. He’s been part of the DIY indie scene in his home city since as far back as 1991. He came to some prominence in 2013 when ‘Thirteen Lost and Found’ was named Scottish Album of the Year with the accompanying prize of £20,000.  ‘Car Song’ is taken from that album,  Aidan Moffat supplies the vocal.

#734: The Rakes – Work Work Work (Pub Club Sleep)

One of the many bands to emerge when guitar-music of an indie-bent became briefly fashionable again the early 00s. Debut album, ‘Capture/Release’ is a tremendous and fun listen.  The longest offering was this, its closing track at just over four minutes, an edited version of which went to #28 in the singles chart in August 2005.

#733: The Saints – This Perfect Day

July 1977 was when this lot from Australia hit #34 in the UK singles chart.  I first heard it many years later, and was bemused that I couldn’t recall it from ’77, before realising that its release coincided with me spending six weeks on holiday in Canada over that particular summer, and it had come and gone while I was out of the country. And with no follow-up hit forthcoming, they became a band who passed me by completely.

#732: The Luxembourg Signal – Cut The Bridle

A band who came to my attention via an appearance at the Glas-Goes-Pop festival in 2023, which led me to visit the merch stand and buy ‘The Long Now’, an album dating back to 2020. It’s a genuine indie-pop classic, with ten quality tunes packed into 35 minutes which fly by all too quickly. It’s one of those records that having got to the end of Side 2, it is irresistible not to flip it over and enjoy things all over again.

#731: Seona Dancing – More To Lose (extended version)

1982/83.  Two friends by the names of Ricky Gervais and Bill Macrae formed a synth-pop duo called Seona Dancing and sign to London Records. There were just a couple of flop singles, neither of which troubled the charts. But they must have got played on the radio, as I wouldn’t have bought their debut offering on 12″ vinyl without having heard it beforehand. A copy in the condition that mine is in (Near Mint) can fetch as much as £400 on the second-hand market.

#730: Townes Van Zandt – Kathleen

The first time I heard ‘Kathleen’ was courtesy of it being a single released by Tindersticks in 1994.  I would have sworn it was an original and not a cover, as it was atypical of the Tindersticks sound of that particular era. The original, which dates from 1969, is quite brilliant.  As is the cover.

Bonus Track : Tindersticks – Kathleen

#729: Urusei Yatsura – Hello Tiger

Glasgow’s very own Urusei Yatsura are another who really should have been far more famous than they turned out to be. They were largely an out-and-out pop band with a sound  influenced by so many others….Sonic Youth in terms of the guitars….a hint of Pavement in respect of weird lyrics…..glam-rock as evidenced by the Glitter Band style chants……the buzz and feedback of the Jesus & Mary Chain…..and the delights and harmonies of Teenage Fanclub.…and yet, they somehow always seemed to make distinctive records. ‘Hello Tiger’ was the one time they almost had a big hit.  #40 in February 1998.

#728: The Rockingbirds – Jonathan Jonathan

In which a mid-90s London-based band with a penchant for Americana, released a single that sang the praises of a Boston musician whose career was inspired by The Velvet Underground.  Don’t fear….Mr Richman will feature in the rundown later on.

#727: Smog – Dress Sexy At My Funeral

Smog is the name previously used by American musician Bill Callachan – he reverted to his own name in 2007. He’s prolific – there’s been 25 albums since 1990. The twelve Smog albums were the subject of a guest ICA (#192), penned by former blogger Richard in October 2018. ‘Dress Sexy At My Funeral’ is from ‘Dongs of Sevotion’, released in 2000.  The lyric is typical of the dry humour he employs across many of his songs.

#726: Dubstar – Not So Manic Now

Britpop was mostly bands with guitars. Dubstar were from the same mid 90s era but made more use of synths which in turn led to a more dreamy type of pop music. ‘Not So Manic Now’ remains my favourite of theirs, making it (just) into the Top 20 of the singles chart in January 1996

#725: A Flock of Seagulls – Modern Love Is Automatic

A UK band who made it big in the USA before achieving anything of note in their homeland.  While they remain one if the worst live bands I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing (Strathclyde Students Union, 1982), the studio take on things was slightly better as evidenced by this, the lead track from a 1981 EP.

#724: Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard

Los Angeles-based hip-hop act whose eponymous debut album spawned this, their only hit single in the UK. It reached #35 in October 1998

#723: Ladytron – Seventeen

UK electronic act who formed in 1999 and are still going strong today, with their eighth studio album, ‘Paradises’, being released earlier this year. I haven’t followed their career too much, but I’ve long had a liking for this 2002 single, with its creepy minimalist lyric, which peaked at #68.

#722: New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Man Without Qualities II (Peel Session)

Manchester band who were around between 1988 and 1995 and thus were contemporaries of quite a few who made it big.  It didn’t quite happen for the New FADs (as they were often referred to) despite having a substantial local following and a fine reputation as a live act.  This is a Peel version of one of their singles.

#721: Dub Sex – Swerve

Manchester band who were around between 1987 and 1989 and thus were contemporaries of quite a few who made it big. Dub Sex veered more towards raw and angry music, albeit with a pop bent, rather than wanting to be played at The Hacienda. ‘Swerve’ wouldn’t have been out of place on a Pixies record.

I hope you’re enjoying this glimpse into the record/CD collection held here at Villain Towers, and hopefully you’ll be happy to come back for #681-#720 of the rundown.

 

 

JC

The first ever posting on the Vinyl Villain blog was on 30 September 2006.  The original blog was hosted by Blogger/Google, but was taken down on 24 July 2013 for what was alleged to be continued violations of copyright policy.

The very next day, The (New) Vinyl Villain emerged blinking into the sunlight, hosted on WordPress, with a paid annual subscription taken out for the little bit extra protection.

The 20th Anniversary is fast approaching, and having given a lot of thought as to how to best mark it, I’m going to go all self-indulgent. On Mondays to Fridays, between now and 30 September  there will be a daily posting of songs that have a connection with TVV.  I’ve been ambitious as 800 songs have been picked out, with no repeat artists on offer, technically speaking.

For instance, it’ll be no surprise that Paul Quinn features more than once, but it will be in different guises.  Picking out another at random, Tracey Thorn’s voice will be heard a few times.

I want to stress that, for the most part it’s not a rundown.  The songs listed from #800 down to #121 have more or less been randomly allocated, although you’ll soon see the occasional patterns developing.  Those songs will form Parts 1 to 17 of the series with 40 songs offered up each day.

Parts 18 to 23 will feature the final 120 songs and these have been ranked in my order of preference.

There will be loads of stuff you all know along with hopefully a few surprises as well as some that might best be described as skeletons in my closet.  Apologies in advance that each of the daily posts will be lengthy. I’ve a rough estimate of how many words are involved, and it adds up to a medium-sized book. Oh, and there will be spelling mistakes and grammar will be strangled.  I’m not a professional writer. 🙂 🙂 🙂

I hope there’s enough to get folk interested, and please, feel to comment as often or as little as you like.

Let’s get this party started……..

#800 : McFadden & Whitehead – Ain’t No Stopping Us Now

I’ve always said that 1979 was the best ever for music. It wasn’t all down to the brilliance of new wave/post punk, either. A little bit of disco with R&B roots, from Philadelphia seems an ideal way to kick things off.  A #5 hit just as I was celebrating my 16th birthday.

#799: Hipsway – The Honeythief

There’ll be loads of Scottish-based (and indeed Glasgow-based acts) in the rundown.  I reckon all the members of Hipsway, like my good self, were teenage mutant disco dancers back in the day, with it later spilling over to the music they would go on to make.   Peaked at #17 in March 1986.

#798: Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket

It took me until 31 May 2025 to make my performing debut on stage with a band. The Dial-Ups, a fabulous cover band from Santa Monica, had me join them for their very last song of the evening.  I played cowbell….and had the time of my life.

#797: Fizzbombs – Sign On The Line

Out of vanity, I once asked AI to describe The (New) Vinyl Villain.  One of the sentences it offered up was, “The blog is heavily intertwined with the UK music scene, specifically around Glasgow and Edinburgh”.  Fizzbombs were a short-lived four-piece from the capital city, and this came out in 1987 on the locally-based Nardonik Records.

#796: Detroit Cobras – My Baby Loves The Secret Agent

This blog wouldn’t be half the place it is without guest contributions, particularly to the Imaginary Compilation Albums series.  There have been over 400 ICAs since the first appeared in June 2014, and around 75% have come from elsewhere.  It’s an incredible stat….especially as one of my sentences in ICA #1 was “This series will likely be short-lived.”.

Dirk penned a fantastic ICA (#34) in September 2015 on the Detroit Cobras. This is a cover of a song written by the late Fred Sledge Smith, whose gravestone in Los Angeles says  “Never boring, always loved – he made America dance.”

#795: Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side

There’s quite a few ‘big hitters’ who didn’t make it into the Top 120 and will be subject to a random position in the rundown.  Please put your hands together for Mr Lewis Allan Reed (2 March 1942 – 27 October 2013).

#794: Pele – Raid The Palace

Nope.  It’s not the famous Brazilian footballer issuing a revolutionary call to arms.  This lot were an indie-band from Ellesmere Port, in north-west England, active in the early 90s.  This was their debut single from back in October 1991. I first heard this when my mate Jacques the Kipper included it on a homemade compilation tape.

#793: Foil – Reviver Gene

This lot’s lead singer, Hugh Duggie, is a lifelong friend of Jacques the Kipper, and there was an ICA (#89) in August 2016.  This, their 1996 debut single, was described as ‘The Scottish Huskers, playing Sugar-y speed guitar in the middle of a stampede of Buffalo Toms. Splendid!”  Which nicely leads into……..

#792: Sugar – Changes

Recently reformed after a period of 30 years, and by all accounts still as superbly entertaining as ever.  This was their debut single, released on Creation Records in August 1992.  It wasn’t a hit.

#791: Grrrl Gang – Honey

If it wasn’t for blogging, I’d never have come across this indie pop band from Indonesia.  This single dates from 2021, and, yes, it is very derivative of the indie-pop of the 80s, particularly of the sort which emerged from Glasgow and the surrounding towns, but so what?

#790: Divine – You Think You’re A Man

Included in the rundown no other reason other than the live performance I witnessed at Strathclyde University Students Union in 1985 being one of the most fun and enjoyable shows of them all.

#789: Spear of Destiny – Liberator

As with Divine, this brings back memories of a live show in the Students Union….but this one was all about my young brother, SC, at the age of 18, ripping off his shirt and leaping fearlessly into the mosh pit.

#788: Janet Kay – Silly Games

I’ve more than 50,000 tunes on the hard drive of my laptop, but not all that much in the way of reggae/lovers rock.  ‘Silly Games’ is from 1979, the more than any other that’ll feature in the rundown.   Janet Kay proved to be a ‘one-hit wonder’ in terms of the charts, but she has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in musical theatre.

#787: The Lucksmiths – T-Shirt Weather

I posted this one back on 13 March 2015, ending with the words “Does any reader who knows more about the band fancy contributing a posting? Perhaps as part of the Imaginary Albums series?”  Within days, Eric from Oakland obliged and his guest ICA, #10 in the series, appeared on 7 April 2015

#786: HighSchool – Sony Ericsson

One of the ‘newest’ bands among the 800. I picked up on them thanks to SWC posting links to tunes over at No Badger Required.  Went to see them play a small venue in Glasgow earlier this year, and they were outstanding.  I was by far and away the oldest person watching on (and dancing!!).

#785: The 101’ers – Keys To Your Heart

One of the ‘oldest’ bands among the 800. The 101’ers, formed in 1974, were regulars on the London pub scene. ‘Keys To Your Heart’ was their debut single, but by the time it was released, they had spilt as their lead singer and main songwriter had left to join another band. His name was Joe Strummer….and he’ll be back a couple more times in this rundown.

#784: Sleeper – Sale Of The Century

There will be a smattering of Britpop among the 800.  Sleeper had eight Top 40 hits between 1995 and 1997, with this peaking at the #10 spot.  They were the inspiration for the phrase “Sleeperbloke”, referring to the disparity between having a glamorous female singer and the other frequently ignored male members of the band.

Bonus Track : The Just Joans – Sleeperbloke

#783: Portishead – Glory Box

As I said, if a song didn’t crack the Top 120 of this rundown, it gets a random number.  This one came close, and I mean very close, to making the cut. A #13 hit in January 1995.

#782: The Woodentops – Plenty

The debut single from July 1984.  Another band who were the subject of a guest ICA. It was #70 in the series, penned by Strictly Rockers in April 2016.

#781: Soho – Hippychick

In which a Johnny Marr riff was used to great effect to create a dance track that went Top 10 in January 1991.

#780: Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes

This 2006 debut single, peaked at #4.  It was a time when everything touched by lead singer Jack White seemed to turn to gold, coming amidst more than a dozen Top 30 hits for The White Stripes.

#779: The Orb – Toxygene

Another song that peaked at #4,  in February 1997.  My dear friend ctel, who knows a lot about these things wrote these words on TVV back in November 2008. “The Orb virtually invented the electronic genre known as ambient house, resurrecting slower, more soulful rhythms and providing a soundtrack for early-morning ravers once the clubs had closed their doors.”

#778: Lene Lovich – Lucky Number

Yet another from 1979.  Some days this one irritates me, some days I find it quite charming.  You can probably guess what I was feeling the day I picked out the 800 songs.  Chosen specifically at 778 as these were the first three digits (after the area code) of the phone number in the house I grew up in.

#777: The Who – I Can’t Explain

There’s less than a handful of songs among the 800 which predate the 70s when I first developed an interest in music.  This was one I dedicated to my great friend Kenno when it was posted in February 2019.   Kenno, tragically, succumbed to cancer in March 2024, aged 59.  I miss him.

#776: Twa Toots – Please Don’t Play A Rainy Night In Georgia (Peel Session)

John Peel gets loads of mentions on TVV.  And rightly so.  Plenty of Peel Session songs have featured over the years, and this one dates from October 1983. While this song was never given a studio recording, it was released a few years later as part of the Strange Fruit series of Peel Sessions on vinyl.

#775: Barn Owl – When No One Is Around

One that I downloaded in the early 2010s.  It was by a band called On The Day We Met Gambas Pil Pil.  A few years later, I saw a band called Barn Owl as the support for a gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow, and they played ‘When No One Is Around’ note-for-note.  Turned out that there had been a band name-change. Still not sure if this Arcade Fire-style tune was ever given a physical release.

#774: BOB – What A Performance

A London-band championed by Peel back in the late 80s.  I first learned about them years later thanks to this song being included within a Cherry Red Records compilation box called C87.  It was their debut single, on Sombrero Records, and  I’ve since picked it up on 12″ vinyl.

#773: D.A.F. – Der Mussolini

D.A.F. is short for Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, a Dusseldorf-based band who were originally with us at the tail end of the 70s and into the early 80s. I danced to this one a fair bit back in the student days. Don’t worry folks, it’s not a track praising the merits of the old fascist – indeed it is merely encouraging Benny boy to shake his ass with his dancing partners Adolf and Jesus. If it wasn’t for the pounding electro-beat, it’d be as camp as can be.

#772: Captain America – Flame On

A rather wonderful piece of indie pop from 1990. Captain America was formed by vocalist and guitarist Eugene Kelly following the dissolution of his former band, The Vaselines. The name of the band had to change soon after following an injunction threat from Marvel Comics who claimed copyright. They changed it to Eugenius which just happened to be the frontman’s affectionate nickname.

#771: Death In Vegas – Dirge

Electronic dance group whose second album, ‘The Contino Sessions’, released in 1999, used a range of guest singers including Dot Allison from One Dove (and yes, Dot will be back later on in the series!). It never charted but is one of their best known tunes thanks to it being used in commercials and within film soundtracks over the decades.

#770: Act – Absolutely Immune

Late-80s synthpop duo consisting of Scots-born musician Thomas Leer and West German-born singer Claudia Brücken. Released four singles and one album in 87/88 on ZTT Records, none of which sold in any great numbers. This one is quite similar sounding to Propaganda, which was Brücken’s former band.

#769: Hindu Love Gods – Raspberry Beret

In essence, a side-project of R.E.M. with vocal duties handled by Warren Zevon, whose career stretched back to the late 60s and who, for over 30 years until his death from cancer in 2003 at the age of 56, was a huge influence on many big hitters and popular artists within the American music industry without himself ever enjoying much mainstream success. He was also an almost complete-unknown here in the UK.  And yes, it is a fabulous cover of the Prince song.

#768: Juliana Hatfield – Nirvana

Released on her debut solo album in 1992, by which time Juliana Hatfield, at the age of 25, was already a veteran of the music scene having been part of the Blake Babies and The Lemonheads.  A tribute to the grunge rockers who were, at the time, taking the world by storm.

#767: Kraftwerk – The Model

Another of those that, on another day, might have made the Top 120…….

#766: The Members – Sounds Of The Suburbs

Back to 1979 again.  If ever a song signified what that year was going to hold in store, this was it. A previously unknown band outside the London pub scene get picked up by the record industry and given the chance for a brief dalliance with fame. It was Virgin Records who took a chance on The Members, and it paid off with this fast, frantic tune and lyric about boredom which was an understandable hit with teenagers and adolescents.

#765: Pop Wallpaper – Strawberry Letter 23

Edinburgh-based pop band from the 80s who never gained much traction outside the central belt of Scotland.  This was their second and final single, a cover of a Shuggie Otis song, released in 1984 on the very short-lived Rosebud Records. I like it but it is very much of its time.

#764: Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen

Next year will mark the Golden Jubilee of this incendiary 45.  A scary thought in itself as to how time really does fly, especially the older we get.

#763: Timezone – World Destruction

Back-to-back Lydon. From 1984/85 when he collaborated with New York hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambatta. The production values have dated the tune somewhat, but worth remembering that it was one of the first to fuse hip-hop with electro and rock elements, and helped paved the way for acts like the Beastie Boys to find fame and fortune.

#762: Wojtek The Bear – Second Place on Purpose

One of the more recent bands to make it onto the list of 800 songs, this is from their 2023 album ‘Shaking Hands With The NME’, released by Last Night From Glasgow. This lot make the sort of intelligently enjoyable indie-pop that has never quite gone out of fashion, certainly in the environs of Villain Towers,

#761: Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

OK.  We are all most likely heartily sick of this one thanks to its over exposure on the radio and the fact everyone who goes to a karaoke night thinks they can nail it.  But there’s no denying it is a lovely and catchy tune is there?

Tomorrow will see the #721-#760 part of the rundown.

 

JC