Category: Mighty Mighty

Mighty Mighty are another of the bands who previously featured courtesy of the Cherry Red C86 compilation a few years back.

As I said when I posted the single Everybody Knows The Monkey/You’re On My Mind, it was a source of huge enjoyment and I made a mental note to try and pick up any other stuff if the opportunity arose.

It’s only taken the best part of four years, but I’ve now a 12″ EP in the collection, dating from 1988 and what appears to be their farewell release before breaking up (certainly if the chronology over on Discogs is accurate). The lead track is an absolute gem:-

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Maisonette
mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Positively Sesame Street
mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Precious Moments
mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Loose End

Actually….all four cuts are hugely enjoyable in different ways, but it really is disappointing to realise, more than 30 years on,that something as jaunty and politically astute as Maisonette got absolutely nowhere other than #8 in the indie charts.

Turns out there was a promo made for Maisonette….and the band look nothing like I imagined!!!!

There’s actually a little snippet of music after the four tracks, less than 30 seconds in length, which doesn’t seem to have any links to the others….but those with a deeper knowledge of the band might be able to explain.

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Hidden Burst of Music

Cheers

JC

Mighty Mighty were one of the bands who featured on C86. Their contribution to the cassette was a song called Law which eventually saw an official release as a b-side in 1987.

After releasing two singles in 1986 on their own Girlie Records, the band moved to a slightly bigger indie label in Chapter 22 for whom they would release four singles and one album before calling it a day in early 1988.

They certainly didn’t lack a sense of humour with lead vocalist Hugh Harkin once saying during an interview that the difference between Mighty Mighty and The Smiths was that “they write two-minute pop songs and we write three-minute pop songs”.

The song that appears on CD 86 was their debut for Girlie Records and it reached the giddy heights of #34 in the Indie Chart:-

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Everybody Knows The Monkey

And here’s yer b-side:-

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – You’re On My Mind

While the a-side is very reminiscent of the sort of sound that would propel Inspiral Carpets to fame just a few years later the b-side is just about the nearest thing you can get to an Edwyn Collins/Orange Juice soundalike winner.  And I gave it an immediate thumbs-up on my first listen as I put this post together.

Mighty Mighty reformed briefly in 2009/10 to play at Indietracks in the UK and at Popfest in Berlin. In 2012, Cherry Red Records issued a compilation double CD that captured everything they had recorded, including material that had been intended for the sophomore album.

Enjoy.

This lot were from Birmingham in the West Midlands of England but were hugely influenced by Postcard Records and the Sound of Young Scotland.

Mighty Mighty consisted of Hugh Harkin (vocals), Mick Geoghegan (guitar), Peter Geoghegan (keys), Russell Burton (bass, vocals) and David Hennessey (drums). Their very fine debut single came out on their own Girlie label in March 1986:-

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Everybody Knows The Monkey

(and I’m sure the Inspiral Carpets had a listen and thought that would do nicely…..)

Before long, they were on the established indie oufit Chapter 22, for whom they recorded and released a handful of singles and a sole LP called Sharks which was issued in February 1988. Fame and fortune eluded the boys with Top 10 placings in the indie charts being the height of it. Less than nine months after their LP hit the shops the band had disbanded.

I’ve just the one bit of plastic in the collection, picked up second-hand (my copy of Everybody Knows The Monkey is from a later released compilation CD of C86 bands). This is a great 45 from late 1986:-

mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Throwaway
mp3 : Mighty Mighty – Ceiling To The Floor

Like so many other bands of the era, they have been tempted back to play their songs live, in their case at the Indietracks music festival in 2009 and Popfest Berlin in 2010.

Enjoy