Meat Whiplash were from East Kilbride, a 1960’s new town built to deal with population and industrial displacement from nearby Glasgow. They only ever released one single, which came out in September 1985 on Creation Records. I’ve used the reverse of the picture sleeve, as it offers a rare image of the band.
mp3: Don’t Slip Up – Meat Whiplash
Track 13, Disc 2 of CD 86 AND Track 9, Disc Three of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
The band members have never made any secret of the fact that they were wholly inspired by the success of The Jesus and Mary Chain, who were also from East Kilbride. Alan McGee was well aware of the existence of Meat Whiplash, and he invited the band to support JAMC at a gig taking place in London in March 1985 at North London Polytechnic.
This was the gig that ended in a riot, with the trouble beginning when Meat Whiplash took to the stage. The band finished what was a chaotic set and in the dressing room afterwards, McGee promised he would record and release their debut single….and six months later he was as good as his word. It got to #3 on the Indie Chart. Three of the four members of Meat Whiplash would later be part of The Motorcycle Boy, an Edinburgh-based indie-band who released a number of wonderful singles between 1987 and 1990.
BMX Bandits formed in 1985 in the former mining town of Bellshill, some ten miles east of Glasgow. They are still very much on the go today, having been piloted throughout by Duglas T Stewart, whose face adorns the sleeve of this, the b-side of Sad?, their debut 1986 single for the Edinburgh-based independent label, 53rd & 3rd Records:-
mp3: E102 – BMX Bandits
Track 19, Disc 2 of CD 86 AND Track 7, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
There have been numerous members of the band over the years, including folk whose names are also associated with the likes of The Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines and The Pastels. There have been at least twenty-eight singles (some as joint efforts with other bands) and thirteen albums across at least sixteen labels, with others being responsible for reissues. The overall body of work is vast and has been an inspiration to many bands the world over.
Sean Dickson, later to find fame and fortune with The Soup Dragons and as HifiSean plays guitar and bass on this one.
Another one which sees me use the reverse of the debut single. Mighty Mighty hail from Birmingham, forming in 1983, beaking up in 1988 and getting back together in 2009. The debut was released on their own label, Girlie Records
mp3: Everybody Knows The Monkey – Mighty Mighty
Track 18, Disc 1 of CD 86
After a second single on Girlie Records, the band moved to a slightly bigger indie label in the Warwick-based Chapter 22 for whom they would release four singles and one album before calling it a day. They reformed in 2009 when they were asked to play at the Indietracks music festival in 2009 and the following year they played Popfest Berlin.
In 2012, the Berlin-based Firestation Records issued the ‘lost second album’, The Betamax Tapes, on vinyl and CD, 25 years after it had been recorded, while 2013 saw Cherry Red Records released a 2x CD compilation Pop Can – the Definitive Collection 1986-88 containing all their singles and B-sides, alongside several album tracks. July 2019 saw Mighty Mighty release their third album, Misheard Love Songs, again on Firestation.
Everybody Knows The Monkey is another personal favourite from the era.
The best part of 20 years this blog has been going, and it’s finally a debut for The Membranes, a band formed in Blackpool, a town probably best known for its tower and annual illuminations. The band has punk roots, which explains its formation in 1977, and while there were occasional changes in personnel, they stuck to it till 1990. A reformation came in 2009 and they still play and record today.
mp3: Everything’s Brilliant – The Membranes
Track 10, Disc Two of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
A song from 1986, released as a stand-alone single on In Tape Records. It was their sixth single and there had also been four albums by this point in their career. If wiki’s info is correct, they are now up to sixteen singles and twelve albums. Their frontman and bassist is John Robb, a well-known writer and media pundit here in the UK, whose work has been published in countless newspapers and magazines. He’s also the author of eleven books on various facets of modern music, and he sings and plays with the band Goldblade. It’s fair to say, as he approaches his 65th birthday this coming May, that he shows no signs of slowing down.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 