Not many punk rock songs are written about seagulls stealing boyfriends but the B-52s managed to do it in 1980 for the Wild Planet LP. Who needs boy meets girl when you can have boy kidnapped by bird ?
Also tonight there's one of the lesser singles by the Buzzcocks - I say lesser advisedly because 'Harmony In My Head' wasn't a Pete Shelley song. Steve Diggle wrote it and sang it and when they appeared on Top Of The Pops Mr Shelley looked a bit lost in his role as supporting player. Of course, he sometimes looked lost when he was out front singing as well. It was the only time I ever met the Buzzcocks, during that TOTP appearance. I say 'met' when it was really a quick 'hello'. The Undertones were also performing that day - can't remember our song but I suspect it was Here Comes The Summer, it being the summer of 1979. Damian O'Neill and I used the occasion to be part of the Top Of The Pops audience, avoiding being run over by cameras and being herded from one fake plastic stage to the other. A careful study of video footage of the Buzzcocks performance reveals a seconds worth ofÌýthe back of my head while another extract shows Damian straining his neckÌýin search of a camera to look into. TVÌýdoes strange things to impressionable people.
Ìý
B 52s - Give Me Back My Man
Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head
The Wind - Wonder Track
Orange Juice - Poor Old Soul pt 1
MC5 - Shaking StreetÌý
Tiny Town - Know Better
Nerves - Hanging On The Telephone
X - Poor Girl
Rudi - Without You
Dictators - Whats Up With That ?
Human League - You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin’
Girls At Our Best - Warm Girls
Fleshtones - The Girl From Baltimore
Wolfhounds - Anti Midas Touch
Dils - Mr BigÌý
Ìý
Have the Sex Pistols given up on re-releasing God Save The Queen, to mark the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee ? I think they did it for the Golden, which was, that's right, ten years ago but the foundations of the state didn't shake, as they did in 1977.ÌýThe establishment realised it was , after all, only a record. A great record, admittedly. If they are planning it, they'd need to get their finger out.
There's a Sex PistolsÌýlink this week with the McCarthy song, in that Peregrine Worsthorne , former Sunday Telegraph editor, once swore on Nationwide. Of course many people would have been close to swearing watching Nationwide, but it turns out that he was the second person to say what is coyly referred to as the 'eff word' live on TV. The first was Kenneth Tynan, and the third was one of the Sex Pistols. From my memory of the famous Billy Grundy incident, the swearer was Steve Jones. Exalted company, Peregrine.
Ìý
Skids - The Saints Are Coming
McCarthy - Vision Of Peregrine Worthsthorne
Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen
Go Betweens - Streets Of Your Town
Saints - L-I-E-S
Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Nightingales - Lower Than Ever
Angelic Upstarts - Woman In Disguise
Shop Assistants - What A Way To Die
Adam & The Ants - Press Darlings
4 Skins - Wonderful World
Wailers - Out Of Our Tree
Stooges - Down In The Street
CircleÌýJerks - Coup d'Etat
Preachers - Thirty Nine StepsÌý
Starting tonight with Kevin Rowland's finest moment, the words to "There There My Dear". I know he's now sharing the credit for much of Dexy's greatness with other members of the band - Kevin Archer in particular, who was advised that he should change his name to Al, as there wasn't room for two Kevins in Dexys - but the words of both "There There...." Ìýand "Dance Stance" raise the bar for former punk rockers everywhere.Ìý Also tonight, the Au Pairs, whose singer Lesley Woods knew Dexys from her time in Birmingham. There's a great where he talks about a conversation he had with Lesley, after a ring was stolen at a party they were both at. Apparently the early Dexys were seen by the other bands in Birmingham as a gang - a slightly scary gang - which is the effect most great bands would like toÌýcreate.ÌýÌýEnding tonight with the long version of Waiting For My Man - or is it Waiting for The Man ? - recorded live in Dallas in 1969. The song is long, but there's a minute of Lou Reed talking to the audience , asking if they'd like two short sets or one long set. I don't mind Lou, whatever works for you.
Dexys Midnight Runners - There There My Dear
Five Or Six - This Is For The Moment
Mighty Lemon Drops - The Other Side Of You
Fire Engines - Everythings Roses
Barracudas - Somewhere Outside
Deadbeats - Lets Shoot Maria
Beat - Hands Off She’s Mine
Public Image - Religion II
The Action - She's Got My Heart
Gymslips - Valley Girl
Milkshakes - For She
Au Pairs - It's Obvious
Velvet Underground - Waiting For My Man (1969 Live)
I once met Pete Wylie, the man behind Wah ! HeatÌý, Wah, and other variations on the name. It was 1981, the year before ‘Story Of The Blues’ brought him into the Top Of The Pops studio and national consciousness. I was in a recording studio with my chums and I didn’t know who he was, Ìýjust that he was a great talker. And he had crutches. He knew our producer, Dave Balfe, as both were part of the great Liverpool Renaissance of 1979 – Dave was in The Teardrop Explodes, Pete was a member of the Crucial Three, the legendary (as in, never played a show, never made a record) band that included Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope. When he went out, Dave said – that was Pete Wylie. Presence of a true genius. (my words, not Dave’s)
I loved Story Of The Blues – a wonderful record in 1982. The unfortunate thing is that thirty years later it doesn’t sound as good. Which still surprises me. So, the earlier ‘Seven Minutes To Midnight’ instead.
And remember to sing along with the Pop GroupÌý - or whistle it if you don’t remember the words.Ìý
Ìý
Wire - Map Ref 41 Deg North 93 Deg West
Stomachmouths - Don’t Put Me Down
Wah Heat! - Seven Minutes To Midnight
Germs - Communist Eyes
Madness - Razor Blade Alley
Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes
Young Marble Giants – NITA
Blondie - Bermuda Triangle Blues (Flight 45)
Jet Bronx & The Forbidden - Ain’t Doin Nothin
Cramps – Primitive
The Loft - On A Tuesday
Flamin’ Groovies – Reminiscing
Gun Club - Carry Home
Standells - Mr Nobody
Replacements - Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
Ìý
Name your band after a character in the Clangers and you can get away with anything. That's my theory about the Soup Dragons, who came up with the best Buzzcocks impersonation since The Undertones attempted it on their first LP. We failed. There's also an impression of a punk rock band by XTC, who managed to keep it going for only 75 seconds. Ending tonight with an impression of Belfast's Billy Harrison , courtesy of Motor City Madman and Amboy Duke Ted Nugent.ÌýDid Ted learn the riff from Them's version of Baby Please Don't Go ? It looksÌý, and sounds, like he did.ÌýI hope he thanked Billy.ÌýHappy New Year.
Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World
Heartbreakers - I Love You
XTC - Do What You Do
Slits - Vindictive
Underachievers - Dead Plants
Crispy Ambulance - Deaf
The Jam - Pretty Green
The Sleepers - Los Gatos
Siouxsie & Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
Models - Man Of The Year
Skodas - Everybody Thinks Everybody Else Is Dead Bad
Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Auntie Pus - Marmalade Freak
Amboy Dukes - Baby Please Don’t Go
Christmas and punk rock recordsÌýgo togetherÌýlike Easter and heavyÌýmetal but someÌýpractitioners try and keepÌýthe spirit alive - notably the Boys, who had a seasonal parallel career as the Yobs.ÌýFor threeÌýChristmases in a row they donned the red hats and produced someÌýsingles, none of which ever ended up onÌýNow That's What I Call The Best Christmas Album Ever !ÌýThe exclamation mark isn't mine. I don't know who owns it. I do like the Sonics'Ìýeffort, which involvedÌýlearning the chords toÌý'Too Much Monkey Business' and getting all snotty aboutÌýDecember 25th. It fitsÌýin with the principle that you should keep this time of year as simple as possible. Let Chuck Berry take the strain. ÌýÌýÌý
Ramones - Swallow My Pride
Yobs - Another Christmas
Action Pact - Consumer Madness
Korova Milk Bar - Do It Again
Fall - No Xmas For John Quays
Horror Comic - I Don’t Mind
Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Vibrators - Whips And Furs
Blake Xolton - Merry Christmas
That Petrol Emotion - Can’t Stop
The Choir - It’s Cold Outside
Hybrid Kids - Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
101’ers - Keys To Your Heart
Suicide - Rocket USA
Sonics - Don’t Believe In Christmas
