ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #096

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

# 096: Stockholm Monsters – ‘National Pastime’ (Factory Records ’84)

Hello friends,

another one on Factory Records today, always a sign of greatness of course. Like many Factory artists, Stockholm Monsters were clearly overshadowed by Joy Division/New Order, but to a degree this is understandable obviously. Factory’s legendary poor marketing didn’t help either, I suppose.

But they also gained a little bit from Factory: Peter Hook became their producer (under his ‘Be Music’ – moniker) and apparently also Rob Gretton liked them a great deal, so he became a bit of a mentor after having seen the band supporting The Rezillos.

Factory’s ‘house producer’ Martin Hannett produced their first single throughout 1981, ‘Fairy Tales’. After this release, The Monsters became Factory regulars, touring with New Order. The second single came shortly after this but the music papers had divided opinions about the band: some said they were great, others judged them as being a total bore. In 1983 the third single was released, but still Factory thought they weren’t ready for an album – consequently this, ‘Alma Mater’ did not come out before 1984.

And – finally – it was those punchy new album songs that really impressed. Indeed ‘Terror’, ‘Life’s Two Faces’ and ‘Where I Belong’ might all have made strong singles, yet Factory released just one – and then left it off the album: today’s choice, the energetic, effervescent ‘All At Once’, released in June 1984 as Fac 107, and – quite typically – I did not choose it, but the tune it is backed by, this little gem

 

mp3: Stockholm Monsters – National Pastime

Now, as great as ‘All At Once’ might be, ‘National Pastime’ is even better, at least if you ask me. It has a certain spirit, hard to describe, which always fully gets me when listening to it. Obviously neither ‘National Pastime’ nor, for that matter, ‘All At Once’ are the songs one remembers when it comes to Stockholm Monsters, this would be ‘Partyline’, their final single from 1987. But whatever song may be your favourite by them, as someone wrote at the time about the Monsters: „the indulgences that the sales of ‘Blue Monday’ allowed Factory to make in tolerating their less successful acts are looking to have been worthwhile“.

Wise words, indeed!

So enjoy,

 

Dirk