The State Of Independence...
One of the UK's best music magazines, Mojo, has just published a list of the 50 greatest UK indie records of all time. As you, and no doubt Mojo, would expect it's a list that is bound to prompt many drunken debates in indie pubs and clubs across the land.
The list includes New Order and The Happy Mondays while true carriers of the indie like such as Hefner, Ballboy and Talulah Gosh are inexplicably excluded. Wah Heat 's '7 minutes to Midnight' is excluded, yet bizarrely included on the excellent CD that comes free with the magazine. There's no room on the list for the Teardrop Explodes, but, like Wah Heat, they are featured on the CD. Did the compilers of the list and the CD not talk to each other? The indiest of labels, Sarah Records, is massively underepresented (no Field Mice?). Where are those stalwarts of Peel's Festive Fifty, surely the most authoritative source of indie, The Nightingales, The Family Cat, Veruca Salt and Bearsuit?
To make matters worse the forefathers of the DIY indie movement are notable by their absence. Missing presumed ignored are Alternative TV, The Desperate Bicycles, The Buzzcocks (surely more deserving of a place on the list than New Order, 'Spiral Scratch' was arguably the first truly DIY Indie record) and Scritti Politti, who's first single, 'Skank Bloc Bologna', with it's photocopied and rubber-stamped sleeve and breakdown of production costs, helped demystify the process of issuing records paving the way for the early 80s indie explosion.
Yes there is certainly ample room for debate over the respective claims of the bands that made the final cut. However there will surely be no debate about 'Beloved' the CD that comes with this months Mojo. It is quite simply the best free compilation given away by a magazine since the NMEs C86 cassette.
Rush down to the newsagents today and grab yourself a copy before they're all gone. You can thank me later.
The full list, in reverse order, is:
50) Huggy Bear - Herjazz
49) The Delgados - The Great Eastern
48) James - Village Fire
47) Swell Maps - Read About Seymour
46) Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
45) Half Man Half Biscuit - Trumpton Riots EP
44) The Wild Swans - The Revolutionary Spirit
43) The Pooh Sticks - On Tape
42) Fire Engines - Candyskin
41) McCarthy - Keep An Open Mind Or Else
40)Jane And Barton - It's A Fine Day
39) Josef K - The Missionary
38) Ride - Ride EP
37) The Bodines - Therese
36) Shop Assistants - Safety Net
35) The Primitives - Really Stupid
34) Saint Etienne - So Tough
33) The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
32) Elastica - Line Up
31) Stereolab - Peng!
30) The Wedding Present - George Best
29) Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
28) New Order - Temptation
27) Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
26) The Libertines - What A Waster
25) The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope
24) The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
23) Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
22) Happy Mondays - Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)
21) The Pastels - Up For A Bit With The Pastels
20) Spacemen 3 - Revolution
19) This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
18) Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Rattlesnakes
17) Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
16) Wire - Outdoor Miner
15) Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles
14) Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
13) The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
12) Subway Sect - Ambition
11) Felt - Forever Breathes The Lonely Word
10) Primal Scream - Crystal Crescent/Velocity Girl
9) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
8) The La's - There She Goes
7) Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
6) Joy Division - Transmission
5) My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise
4) The Fall - How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'
3) Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
2) The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
1) The Smiths - This Charming Man
The tracks on the CD are:
1. The House Of Love - Real Animal
2. Felt - Penelope Tree
3. The La's - Son Of A Gun
4. The Monochrome Set - He's Frank (Slight Return)
5. The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope
6. The Blue Aeroplanes - Jacket Hangs
7. The Sound - Total Recall
8. Orange Juice - Simply Thrilled Honey
9. McCarthy - Keep An Open Mind Or Else
10. Jane - It's A Fine Day
11. The Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit
12. The Teardrop Explodes - Reward
13. Wah! Heat - Seven Minutes To Midnight
14. Half Man Half Biscuit - God Gave Us Life
13. The Gist - Love At First Site
and if you like true alternative British indie rock then you'll love these...
MP3 - The Desperate Bicycles - The Medium Was Tedium
MP3 - The Desperate Bicycles - Teachers Prayer (Peel Session)
MP3 - Ballboy - I Gave Up My Eyes To A Man Who Was Blind
Buy Ballboy 'Club Anthems' from Amazon
MP3 - The Family Cat - Place With A Name
MP3 - Veruca Salt - So Weird
Buy Veruca Salt 'American Thighs' from Amazon
3 comments:
Just an excellent post, thanks. I grew up outside the UK so, despite being of the right age, I missed out on the birth indie, which is such a shame.
Issues like that Mojo article and posts like this are just fantastic for someone like myself who is still trying to get his head round some of the best bands of that era.
Matthew,
Thanks for the feedback. It was a truly magical moment in music when anything seemed possible and creativity, originality and popular weren't mutually exclusive. If you've not already done so you could also check out the brilliant Little Hits site http://www.littlehits.com/blog/ or Indie MP3 http://www.indie-mp3.co.uk/.
Keep reading the Devil and I hope to publish more posts that catch your imagination.
I thought that Veruca Salt was American?
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