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Around two years ago I developed a theory that 'Teenage Kicks' was the new 'Hi Ho Silver Lining'. I came to that conclusion after a rash of sightings (hearings?) of the song at wedding receptions. Not weddings that I had attended, but that friends and acquaintances had been at. The song had been making appearances after the turkey and ham and sticky toffee pudding, when the DJ put it on and 'the floor was filled' according to eyewitnesses. Being associated with a 'floor filler' is not an unpleasant experience, although I suspect it was just a phase wedding DJs were going through.Ìý I mention this because a mention of the record came up suddenly when I was reading an this morning, while getting sunburnt in the garden. A writer called Toby Litt was telling the story of his time in Prague in 1990 just after the Velvet Revolution. It was a time when Prague people (Pragunians?) were still excited by their new found freedom, when the country was open to new ideas and Westerners went there for more than just stag nights. Toby found himself teaching English and was enjoying life in Czechoslovakia. He was enjoying himself so much he and a few friends decided to hold the country's first acid house party. He hired the hall, organised a sound system, ordered 740 bottles of beer, and the night was a great success. Until he put on a record by The Undertones. He said the crowd were getting so overexcited that the moshing became too violent. Wanting to calm them down, he put on 'Teenage Kicks'.
"The room emptied" says Toby.
I've never been to Prague. Doesn't look like I'll be going there anytime soon, does it?