BritPop Skeletons
During the past month I've been attempting to re-arrange my living room, get rid of some old furniture, pickup some new pieces and generally simplify my living situation. I keep running into one problem though, the CDs.
I don't have as many CDs as I once did, and in fact I stopped buying CDs a year ago in favor of vinyl or digital only. But I still have rack after rack of CDs stacked in the corner of my living room. No matter how many times I have culled the collection with various sales on E-Bay it always ends up unmanageable again.
At one point in my life I spent more money on music than I did on housing, car payments, basically anything else. I was the kind of music addict who had to buy the European import on the day the UPS shipment came in from London rather than waiting two weeks for a US release. Was. Now I have a ridiculous collection of rare Britpop that gathers dust. I know i shouldn't hesitate to sell some of this other than it doesn't have nearly the financial value as it does emotional value. Who is going to want limited edition Gene or Echobelly releases? There is some of it I will never part with like my Saint Etienne collection or the 'el/Cherry Red releases but over the years I've ended up with so many one-hit wonders it's ridiculous. All it succeeds at now is rising a giggle out of a knowing Britpop conspirator when I DJ a party. Let's face it, there aren't that many people in the world who would even bat an eyelash anymore at mememe1 or These Animal Men.
As much as I can knock down the 18-year-old music listener I was, I can't get rid of the CDs. They are my music addict past, and a large part of the music snob I am today. For every CD of throw-away-SELECT-or-MelodyMaker-hyped band I own is someone way ahead of their time2...
I think in order to finish the living room I'm going to need to find more closet space and hide these CD skeletons away, at least until some of this stuff reaches the 15 or 20 year mark and I can ponder parting with it again.
1 MeMeMe is actually one of my favorite one "hit" wonders as it was a band organized by Damien Hirst and comprised of Alex James (Blur), Stephen Duffy (The Lilac Time), Justin Welch (Elastica) and some other guy who I don't remember where he came from. They released one single on Food Records (Blur's label of the day) called "Hanging Around" and never put out anything else again. Yes, it was as pretentious as the band name suggests. File near Menswe@r.
2 Many of whom, or rather most of whom, are still relatively unknown. Tiny Monroe never made a dent in the music scene, Salad fared only nominally better. I think Kenickie is still celebrated by about 100 people in the world (90 of whom live in Sunderland, the other 10 being devoted to Lauren Laverne's radio show). Out of the four examples I've provided the only band to do "alright" was The Boo Radleys.
Buy some: Salad, Kenickie, Boo Radleys, Tiny Monroe
Comments
I moved to England for the first time when most of this stuff was coming out and it was the first time I was ever really aware of cutting edge music at the time that it was actually cutting edge. Many of these bands mean a lot to me for that reason alone.
Posted by: Matthew | March 25, 2007 04:44 PM
Wow, just signed onto Hypemachine and saw the link for Kenickie.
Someone else actually likes them!
Well done you, absolutely amazing band. Feels good to be part of the exclusive 100.
(And I neither come from Sunderland, nor listen to Lauren's radio show)
Posted by: Alex | March 25, 2007 05:14 PM
Alex,
Someone else who still loves Kenickie? Fabulous! It still stuns me they were all still kids when they wrote these songs. Perhaps Kenickie is deserving of a post all their own soon... ;-)
Matthew,
Thanks for your comment. I understand where you're coming from. I used to run a website way back in "the day" called "Grand Central" that was one of the few resources out there in the mid 90s for fans of BritPop. Those few years really defined my life for quite awhile which is why I can't part with the music. It contains so many memories...
Liz
Posted by: liz | March 25, 2007 08:12 PM
what, no Sleeper? the 1st Kenickie album was brilliant & I still thank my luck & smarts for grabbing "Motorbike To Heaven" (and later Salad's full-lengthts) out of a Tower's clearance bin 'back in the day'...
Posted by: c@meron | March 25, 2007 09:23 PM
oh i *love* sleeper. 'The It Girl' is still one of my favorite driving records. Really everything sleeper did was brilliant, they even had such great b-sides.
Judging by the reaction I've had by posting about Britpop I should apparently be sharing more of my britpop collection and not hide it in a closet. ;-)
Posted by: liz | March 25, 2007 09:31 PM
Great stuff, I was a britpop freak too and I couldnt part with my Blur/St Etienne/Boo Radleys etc stuff. Just bought Lush - Lovelife again, thats the 4th time:)
Posted by: gareth | March 26, 2007 03:33 AM
I have to admit, I only got into Kenickie last year.
I was a bit young for Britpop the first time round (but they were the kind of singles I grew up with). Then, in my early teens, I really discovered Britpop.
This passion (apart from m everlasting love of Pulp) lay dormant till last year, when I read a comic called Phonogram.
It's absolutely awesome, a great look back at Britpop.
A heady mix of nostalgia and bands I'd never heard of before.
I recommend it immensely to any fellow Britpoppians.
Posted by: Alex | March 26, 2007 10:12 AM
Allow me to second the recommendation for Phonogram. I have never seen anyone, anywhere, write with that level of infectious enthusiasm for Kenickie.
Posted by: padgett | March 26, 2007 06:53 PM
there's at least two kenickie fans (myself being one) here in New Zealand, FYI ...
And I'd buy a Gene ltd. edition release, on the off-chance I didn't already have it.
Posted by: Lawrence Mikkelsen | March 27, 2007 01:54 AM
Good, innit?
Posted by: Alex | March 27, 2007 05:17 AM
Lawrence,
If/When I put stuff up for sale again I'll give you first go. You seem to bid on 90% of the stuff I sell anyhoo. :p
Moi
Posted by: liz | March 27, 2007 03:23 PM
such good memories here, and i commend ya for mentioning Tiny Monroe and Salad. So many of these bands never saw a release this side of the world. Shame too.
Phonogram is good, but sometimes the writer can be infuriating. "Come Out 2Nite" is classic, for sure, but sadly it seems Kenickie were to lose the plot soon after.
Posted by: The Gil | April 16, 2007 06:01 PM
hey gil,
long time, no talk (that's probably my fault, sorry). I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't for you in the mid-90s I would have never heard salad. didn't you introduce them to me on one of your brilliant compilation tapes we were always sending back and forth across the country? speaking of which, when did you move back to cali?
-liz
Posted by: liz | April 16, 2007 06:50 PM
liz,
yes, i think, that would be the case...have a recollection of always using Motorbike To Heaven as a taster to get people wanting more Salad. i've still not seen the video to this day.
i moved back in late Feb, came to spend time with an ill parent.
yeah, i still make comps. occasionally blog about them on my um, myspace.
gil
Posted by: The Gil | April 17, 2007 12:36 PM
Gil,
The more I think about it, the more I *know* you introduced me to salad. They weren't someone who were ever really pushed by the music press. I'm 99% sure it was Motorbike to Heaven tacked onto one of those comps you were always making.
Tiny Monroe (btw nice email addy) on the other hand was a gift from a brit named Billy who moved to Chicago during my last few years of high school. He had the VHF single, which led to me purchasing the Creme EP at a now defunct record shop in the Chicago suburbs. I am still amazed that a tiny lil record store like that ever carried a Tiny Monroe single. The "band" I was in during high school even did a *fantastic* cover of Creme Bun.
Anyway, good to hear from you again.
liz
Posted by: liz | April 17, 2007 08:29 PM
Wow, that's some good stuff. what else have you got? i kinda went hog wild on your blog - Jens definitely cribbed the Left Banke but I still like him. And you like The Changes and Incredible Moses Leroy/SoftLighties. What other Britpop gems have you got? I've amassed quite a collection myself...
Posted by: dave | April 23, 2007 09:50 PM
Dave,
What else have I got? Well what else do you want? I'll take some requests if there's something you're dying to hear again. I've parted ways with a lot of my old Britpop CDs but certainly not all. I was always into female vox more than anything else so my echobelly, salad, sleeper, etc collections are still in whole.
liz
Posted by: liz | April 24, 2007 07:48 AM