Really stunned to read that Sean Hughes has passed away at the age of 51.
He was a comedian that I had so much time for. He emerged in the late 80s and much of my love for him was the way he incorporated so many indie music references into his material and the gentle yet hugely satirical nature of his material. He was a fan of pop which showed through to great effect when he was one of the original team captains on the BBC comedy/music quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks. I can also recall him appearing in a couple of promo videos over the years, not least Tequila by Terrorvision, the remix of which was a huge hit in the UK in 1999.
I once spoke to him for about 5 minutes when I was alongside him in a very small audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a theatre show about The Jam – this was the period when Paul Weller was yet to be christened as the Modfather of Britpop and interest in him and his former bandmates was at all time low. The chat took place during the interval of the show and it was very clear that he had a great knowledge of post-punk/new wave/indie and he seemed genuinely pleased to be able to talk to someone about that rather than stand-up comedy.
He was a huge fan of David Gedge and so it must have been a huge thrill to be asked to contribute a backing vocal to this:-
mp3 : Cinerama – Sly Curl
Got a lump in my throat as I listen to it as I’m typing these words.
RIP Sean Hughes. You were one of my idols.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 