TVV IN 800 SONGS : CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BLOGGING (Part Twelve)

#360: B52’s – Rock Lobster

The B-52’s could so easily have just been a novelty act, long forgotten for all but their 1978 debut single, but such was their ability to write and record catchy, radio-friendly tunes in the years ahead that they have carved out a career that has now lasted 50 years. It’s such a great sounding record that I’ve included the much longer album version.

#359 : James Yorkston & The Athletes – St Patrick

Back in 2001, a relatively unknown Scottish musician sent his demo tape to John Martyn with a request that, if he liked it, he might offer him a chance to be on the bill as a support act at an upcoming gig in Edinburgh.  John Martyn was so impressed by the demo that he invited James Yorkston to be the sole support act across a 27-date tour of the UK and Ireland.

Laurence Bell of Domino Records was at the London gig and was so taken by the support act that he moved quickly to sign him to the label.  Within a year, the debut album, ‘Moving Up Country’, which was jointly produced by Yorkston and Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, was released to huge acclaim,  At the end of the year, it was named as Rough Trade Record Shops Album of 2002.

#358: Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster (Peel Session)

Dirk, back in May 2025, wrote a superb piece on Stiff Little Fingers in which he suggested the band never get mentioned as one of the Top 5 Punk Bands of 1978 for the reason that they came from a country which was in absolute disarrayment in the late 70’s for reasons too complicated to understand for anyone not being involved by living there.  He went on to add that for many people, it was easier to listen to stuff with throwaway lines rather than lyrics oozing with Northern Irish politics.

#357: Wilco – Outtasite (Outta Mind)

A band that I have never fully taken to, but I know are quite popular across much of the TVV readership. JTFL gave us a guest ICA – it was #238 in February 2020 – in which he said the band’s catalog has something for everyone: 4/4 rock, alt-country, ballads, experiments, love songs, party songs, anthems—with every sort of instrumentation along the way.

#356: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off

There’s got to be room in the rundown for some pop perfection, hasn’t there?

#355: Television – Marquee Moon

Once again, I call on the services of the writing skills of SWC.  I’ve unashamedly stolen this from No Badger Required:-

A ten-minute masterpiece of electric poetry full of guitars that seemingly burst out of nowhere and physically fight with Tom Verlaine’s sneering vocals for primacy. Verlaine’s voice by the way, is despite its seeming awkwardness absolute perfection given the chaos that is happening behind it.

#354: Brian – Understand

Brian is the recording name used by Dublin-born singer/songwriter Ken Sweeney, and his charming debut album ‘Understand’ was released on Setanta Records in 1992 to almost complete indifference. The writer/critic Pete Paphides is a man with quite impeccable taste and he’s long been a fan, so much so that he reissued it, on vinyl, for the first ever time, in 2025 via his Needle Mythology label.

#353: Air – Sexy Boy

TVV semi-regular, author and stand-up comedian Steve McLean described this better than I could ever dream of.

1998. Frenchpop vs Britpop. Sorry Britain, but I’ve always been a collaborator. Do you remember when this came out? All those guitars that were making your ears bleed suddenly gave way to this calm beauty. It must have been what it was like when electropop stole the thunder from New Wave in the early 1980s. I’d say it was Laurie Anderson meets Kraftwerk with ELO tunes but I’d sound like a tosser so I won’t (note to other tossers – being self aware allows you to continue to be a tosser without any life adjustments)

#352: David Westlake – The Word Around Town (BBC Session)

David Westlake was the frontman in indie band The Servants who were active between 1985 and 1991, and who themselves will feature in this rundown in due course. There was a solo album in 1987, released on Creation Records, that was later issued in 2023, by the now defunct Optic Records, a label that specialised in making long-lost or hard-to-find singles and albums more readily available and affordable. The reissue had the added bonus of a BBC session, recorded for the Janice Long Show, on which David’s backing band included three members of the Go-Betweens.

#351: Chin-Chin – Stop! Your Crying

Chin Chin were an all-female indie group who formed in 1982 in Biel, Switzerland. By a long and convoluted route, an eight-song compilation mini-album ended up being issued by Scottish indie-label 53rd & 3rd Records in 1987.  Long out of print with an asking price of silly money, Optic Records did us all a huge favour by issuing three of the songs on a 7″ single in 2021.

#350: Hardway Brothers – Theme For Flightpath Estate

The Flightpath Estate is a Facebook group dedicated to the music, art and work of Andrew Weatherall. It began life in 2013 and has become a virtual home to his fans, friends and family. ‘Sounds From The Flightpath Estate’ have been two compilation albums celebrating people and places, along with the outlook, aesthetic and music Andrew Weatherall was known for, and the sense of community and love of music centred around The Golden Lion in Todmorden.

Our dear friend Adam, the talent and brains behind the Bagging Area blog, is very much involved with The Flightpath Estate.  It’s quite incredible what the collective has already achieved and I know, from chatting with Adam, that they have great plans for the future.

#349: Baby’s Got A Gun – Suicide Girl

A noisy bit of pop-punk from East Kilbride, the town which most famously has given us Roddy Frame and The Jesus & Mary Chain.  This dates from 1987 and the band’s drummer was Murray Dalglish, the original drummer in the JAMC and who played on their debut single, ‘Upside Down’.

#348: Futureheads – First Day

I’ve always thought the sound this lot made was a notch above your average indie-guitar band. They reminded me a lot of early XTC thanks to the catchiness of the songs, complete with sing-a-long choruses, while there was something quite beguiling about the fact that the vocals are delivered in a local accent. This, from back in 2003, was their first minor hit single, produced by the late Andy Gill of Gang of Four.

#347: Hairband – Bee

A five-piece all female band who were very much part of the DIY scene, releasing, back in 2018, a five-track EP via Monorail Music, a label established by the legendary record shop that’s been here in Glasgow since 2002.

#346: The Jags – Back Of My Hand

Can you guess the year that this went to #17 in the singles chart?   Pick any prize from the middle shelf if you happened to say 1979.  The Jags were very much a power-pop outfit rather new wave and this was their one and only brush with fame in terms of chart success.  I also wonder exactly when, given the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones, when it was no longer de rigeur to ask for and actually write someone’s phone number on the back of your hand….

#345: The Raveonettes – Attack Of The Ghost Riders

The Raveonettes blend of surf and garage proved to be reasonably popular, slightly above mere cult status but never gaining full commercial acceptance as evidenced by just two Top 40 singles and one Top 50 album.  The debut single is still very tasty.

#344: Rollins Band – Low Self Opinion

My, oh my, I’d forgotten just how shouty and angry this single from 1992 is in places. Henry Rollins is a god in the eyes of the hardcore punk cognoscenti and he is, to be fair, a very entertaining and engaging individual, known as much these days for spoken word material as he is for songs such as this single from 1992.

#343: Voodoo Queens – Kenuwee Head

Voodoo Queens came into being in 1992 when Anjali Bhatia decided to leave Mambo Taxi.  This new five-piece band had three members of Asian origin, all of them female, and the press had a bad habit of associating the band with music scenes such as riot grrrl or lumping them in with other Asian-fronted bands such as Cornershop. It seemed that the actual music rarely got much attention. This, their second single, is a fun-filled tribute to the actor Keanu Reaves.

#342: Quando Quango – Atom Rock

Again, without giving too much away, the Marr/Sumner duo of Electronic will appear at some point in the rundown.  But for now, here’s the 1984 single which proved to be the first time Johnny and Barney worked together. Quando Quango were a Manchester-based dance band signed to Factory Records, and ‘Atom Rock’, released in 1984, was their third single. Barney was one of the co-producers (alongside his then regular studio companion Donald Johnson), and Johnny added the guitar parts.

#341: ionnalee – Not Human

Martin has been this blog’s Swedish Correspondent since August 2015 when he submitted ICA #28 on New Order. Since 2017, he has kindly submitted an annual round-up of all that’s he enjoyed musically in his native land, and in doing so has brought to the attention of the TVV community, a substantial number of singers and bands that would otherwise have flown under the radar.  My personal favourite has been ionnalee, who first appeared in the 2018 round-up.

“Brought up in my home town she started out as indie rocker Jonna Lee, transmorphed into electronic audiovisual artist iamamiwhoami and in 2018 she moved into electronic (dance) artist ionnalee, releasing the magnificent album Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten. Excellent live as well. She’s potentially the secret child of Kate Bush and Bernard Sumner.

#340: David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging

Gasp.  Shock-horror.  I am picturing in my head a few folk reading this and wondering if this rundown can be taken seriously given that Bowie is not in the ranked Top 120.  ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ was the first single of Bowie’s that I bought at the time of its release, and thus it’ll always be the one I’ll offer up as my favourite….which incidentally doesn’t mean I’m saying it’s his best.

#339: King Creosote – You’ve No Clue Do You?

Dedicated to those who are still digesting the appearance of The Thin White Duke at #340.  This one dates from 2007, courtesy of the singer/songwriter born as Kenny Anderson and who, as King Creosote has released over 40 albums in digital or physical form going back to 1998.

#338: Luke Haines – Discomania

And here, possibly to prove just how difficult it was to decide who’s make the ‘all important Top 120’, is an appearance from another of my heroes.   The Singular Adventures of Luke Haines was a 23-part weekly series that ran from September 2019 to March 2020.  It featured 45s by The Auteurs, Baader Meinhoff and those that were released under his own name.  This, however, wasn’t a single. It can be found on his debut solo album, ‘The Oliver Twist Manifesto’, released in 2001.

#337: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Young Adult Friction

Another to whom I owe my dear friend Aldo a huge debt for teaching me all I know about TPOBPAH (as nobody ever refers to them!).  I started TVV almost purely as a retro-blog, and I didn’t pay too much attention to what was going on in the late 00s other than music coming out of Scotland.  Call it not having enough spare time on my hands.  This wonderfully catchy, near-anthemic, gloriously happy four minutes of indie-pop got aired one night at Little League and I danced away to it, asking afterwards what the hell it had been.  Cheers, Aldo!

#336: U.S. Highball – Let’s Save Bobby Orlando’s House

This Glasgow duo of Calvin Halliday and James Hindle haven’t yet appeared on the blog, which is a severe oversight on my part. They were on the bill of the 2023 Glas-Goes-Pop festival, and entertained me so much that I went to the merch table and bought a copy of their then most recent album, ‘A Parkhead Cross of The Mind’.  Calvin and James are lifelong friends and have released five albums, all for Philadelphia-based Lame-O Records.  Despite the title, this one is a bit of an ode to Neil Young.  It’s also, as far as I know, the only song to reference the Shettleston district of Glasgow, the area of the city in the east end that was the location of my first ventures into pubs.

#335: The Beths – Uptown Girl

All I know comes courtesy of ICA #341, yet another wonderful guest posting from The Robster, this time in June 2023.  A New Zealand band who formed in 2014 after meeting at university and named themselves after singer/songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. This isn’t a cover of the Billy Joel song!

#334: Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Not names you see too often on TVV.  The songwriters/producers enjoyed more than 100 UK Top 40 hits, including thirteen #1 singles.  And to think it all started when they produced a song written and sung by Pete Burns, a contemporary of everyone who was anyone in the post-punk Liverpool scene based around Eric’s Club in the late 70s.  A majestic, magnificent and memorable single, but Wylie, Cope and McCulloch must have been looking on in bewilderment as it made its way to #1 in March 1985.

#333: Faithless – We Come 1

It’s fair to say that 99% of stuff that I’ve bought since my formative years can be described as guitar driven pop, however you define it. It’s very much my forte but every now and again something catches my ear and demands purchase, as this did back in 2001.

#332: Hole – Doll Parts

On 8 April 1994, Kurt Cobain shot himself. Four days later, the very unfortunately named ‘Live Through This’, the second album by Hole, was released with an eerie cover of a beauty queen, similar in looks to Courtney Love, with mascara running down her cheeks as the result of her crying. You couldn’t make it up……….

It was known that Cobain had worked with his wife on the LP and critics and fans alike poured over it to see if the record contained any clues to his suicide. None were forthcoming, but what they found however, was a record that sounded the way that the industry had hoped Nirvana would go on the back of ‘Nevermind’ when in fact they had gone much heavier on ‘In Utero’.

#331: The Motorcycle Boy – Big Rock Candy Mountain

The Shop Assistants had been one of the most highly regarded indie groups to emerge out of Scotland in the early-mid 80s. Much of the interest centred around vocalist Alex Taylor, and it was a bit of a shock when she quit the band in 1987.   Next up for Alex was The Motorcycle Boy in whom Rough Trade declared an immediate interest with this debut single issued to great acclaim, but not much in the way of sales.

#330: Queens of The Stone Age – The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

I think it’s fair to say that this one falls into the less heavy of the rock tunes written and recorded by QoTSA over the years, which is probably why this single from 2000 is my favourite of theirs.  They’re another band who have been part of the ICA series, on two occasions, and both as guest postings.  SWC came up with #40 in September 2015 while Hybrid Soc. Prof regaled us with #241 in February 2020.

#329: Strangelove – Sway

Strangelove were one of those bands that should have but never did. Formed in 1991 they centred around singer Patrick Duff. They released three albums before splitting in 1998. This was a rather lovely single lifted from the second album, ‘Love and Other Demons’.

#328: We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It – Rules and Regulations

A four-piece all-female outfit from Birmingham whose debut 1986 EP, from which this is lifted, was the work of a 16-year-old, two 17-year-olds and a 20-year-old. Then the major labels came calling, and by 1989, they were known simply as Fuzzbox with a whole new sexed-up look and a sound that was pure pop based on female harmonies. Three Top 20 singles and a Top 5 album ensued.

#327: Sneaker Pimps – Post Modern Sleaze

While I know what it looked like from seeing it on TV and in contemporary photographs, I never made it inside the Hacienda night club in Manchester. It’s always been a source of regret.  A remix version of this was the last song ever played at the Hacienda (not that anyone knew it at the time), on 28 June 1997.

#326: NWA – Fuck Tha Police

It may well have been written about the LAPD, but the song title may well have been muttered by the youth of Manchester and the wider north-west of England when their nightclub of choice was closed down.

#325: Jens Lekman – The Opposite of Hallelujah

I first fell for the idiosyncratic charms of this Swedish singer-songwriter back in 2007 when I heard his then new album, ‘Night Falls Over Kortedela’, played in a record shop in Toronto.  A few years later I discovered that he’s also a favourite of my mate Aldo, and ultimately we saw Jens play live a couple of times in 2017, one of which was in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, which we followed up the next day by going to Manchester and going on a pub crawl with Adam. Almost a year to the day after that adventure, I had the joy of receiving ICA #184 courtesy of Martin Elliott, the blog’s Swedish Correspondent.

#324: Grandmaster and Melle Mel – White Lines (Don’t Do It)

One of the great early hip-hop records dating back to 1983.  Although the sleeve to the single credits Grandmaster and Melle Mel, the duo were no longer working or touring together and were indeed in the midst of a legal battle with one another.  The song is the work of Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson, a female songwriter and producer who was very much at the forefront of the development of hip-hop, but whose name rarely features in any narrative.

#323: The Flatmates – I Could Be In Heaven

The Flatmates were, for the most part, literally a group of musicians who lived together under the one roof. There were just five singles to begin with between 1986 and 1989, with much more since they reformed in 2013.  The single was the debut and is a bona-fide indie-pop classic.

#322: bis – Kandy Pop

This Glasgow-based trio are famed for being, in March 1996, the first ‘unsigned’ band to appear on Top Of The Pops when they performed ‘Kandy Pop’, a track on their ‘Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP’. At the time of the TOTP appearance they were all teenagers.  But the truth was that while technically unsigned, Bis had the comfort of knowing their records would be released by Chemikal Underground.  It was also kept quiet that The Secret Vampire Soundtrack was in fact their third release, so its not as if they were complete novices.

#321: ABC – The Look Of Love

One of the great pop singles, not just of its time, but of all-time. It sounds just as big, powerful, catchy and radio-friendly nowadays as it did back in June 1982. Hip-hip hooray, yippee-aye, yippee-aye-a.

 

 

JC