the rectal prolapse of norman lamont: terrible post-britpop/dadrock ephemera

staying out for the summer was okay.

but that was it. good enough is one of the worst songs ever recorded

So Let Me Go Far was pretty good too.

You were possibly getting them confused with The Boo Radleys, who at times wrote brilliant simple pop but also made interesting albums that sound just as good now and even did entertaining interviews in the press, Basically they were everything Dodgy were not.

The only pure pop album Boo Radleys made was "Wake Up", which is usually hated by the same people who hate Dodgy. The others were all full of screaming and really loud guitars, i.e. not pop but rock. Hard rock even.

But, sure, I know, they were critically acclaimed for a while. In fact, those who hate them do it because of just one song. A song that was far from their best, but still by far their biggest hit.

http://i.imgur.com/OWfS4.jpg

ha, i thought 'no way no way' sounded pretty bad in my head, but actually listening to it, it's baffling that anyone thought this was something suitable for release.

(and then people bought it!)

the 'and you can hold me' bit is one of the three or four most important pieces of recorded sound in the 20th century

girl just finds notes nobody else could reach

and once she finds them, she fuckin disembowels them

was it a prank by the big breakfast or something?

7 decent songs from this lot

“into the blue” – geneva
“sleep well tonight” – gene
“neighbourhood” – space
“what do I do now” – sleeper
“whippin picadilly” – gomez
“not so manic now” – dubstar
“the frog princess” – the divine comedy

I used to love Dubstar's "Inside" back in 1997 or so, but it's not on youtube so I can't verify whether it still holds up.

I do remember reading some review of Dubstar that said something like, "we've all long imagined what it would be like if the world's two best bands (The Smiths and New Order) collaborated, then it happened and it was Electronic and it wasn't very good, but this is much better" - typical myopic British music crit obv but what I remember is not perceiving it as myopic at the time, even though my own listening habits were far more broad even then. The uk music crit style is so confident - and there's so much of it - that it's pretty good at self-legitimising to suggestible young readers.

Can it be true that this thread has so many posts without anyone linking to the trapped in amber beauty of Northern Uproar's website?

omfg

Stories

Chris and Leon went for a hike up Ygairne near Tryffyn in Wales, the wind was blowing at 80 mph and they had to crawl and slither to keep from being blown away.
When they got back down to the bottom, Leon slipped and hurt his ankle, but instead of going to the hospital like any mere mortals would do... they went to the pub for some liquid anaesthetic.
Not 'til the next day did Leon find out that he had actually broken his ankle!

Northern upLAD

The uk music crit style is so confident - and there's so much of it - that it's pretty good at self-legitimising to suggestible young readers.

Sooooo OTM. The preening bullshitters who staffed the NME and Melody Maker persuaded me to buy any number of terrible records in the early '90s, and it was some time before I developed the self-confidence to accept that I was right not to see any value in most of the bands they were pushing.

These were all great:
divine comedy
dodgy
dubstar
gene
sleeper
bluetones
silver sun
supernaturals

Plus Gomez and Hurricane #1 (and even many of the others) also had brief moments of greatness.

hahaha Northern Uproar's fanclub is ("is") based in Truro

Can it be true that this thread has so many posts without anyone linking to the trapped in amber beauty of Northern Uproar's website?

― Animal Bitrate (Raw Patrick), Saturday, 26 February 2011 11:47 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omfg

― this odyssey that refuses to quit calling itself (history mayne), Saturday, 26 February 2011 12:08 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

^^^

Stand and Fight is the third album by British band Northern Uproar, and the first after their reunion in 2005. It was released in 2007.

The only pure pop album Boo Radleys made was "Wake Up", which is usually hated by the same people who hate Dodgy. The others were all full of screaming and really loud guitars, i.e. not pop but rock. Hard rock even.

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro)

Wake Up had some pretty strange moments on it too, I would say King Size was their most pop album. Even Giant Steps had some pure pop moments like Wish I Was Skinny and Barney (& Me).

If the Boo Radleys don't count how about Teenage Fanclub? The critics loved them and they definitely fit into your description of pure pop and I don't remember them being assholes or rock n roll in the press. The difference is they had big fuck off tunes and a few great albums. It's not really a case of the press not being able to accept Dodgy, they obviously just didn't rate them past their first album. Judging by the many singles they put out I can see why, the worst offender being Found You.

Didn't one of Dodgy used to go out with Denise van Outen? Couple of half-decent songs (So Let Me Go Far was almost good), but mostly rubbish.

I once went into an Italian restaurant in Soho that had several pictures of Jocasta on the walls.

Worst on this list is definitely Heavy Stereo. Awful fucking band, and really horrible people as well.

think it's p much mandatory for italian restaurants to have autographed photos of minor celebs over the wall (ususally from the kerry dixon / mad frankie fraser / her out of are you being served school, so 90s indie chancers are quite avant garde in context)

w/r/t music press plausibility: when one week the editorial line was don't like oasis? r u a nazi? and the next its like oasis? r u a nazi? it wasnt difficult to work out to just ignore the silly cunts

northern uproar website like finding a pacific island full of dinosaurs

the only reward those journos got was to end up writing for failed mags then failed blogs and/or posting here (or sleeping w/lauren laverne, ymmv)

If the Boo Radleys don't count how about Teenage Fanclub?

I like Teenage Fanclub, but they are still a bit too Americana influenced to really score with me. Dodgy were archetypically English in a Beatles/Hollies/Who way while Teenage Fanclub are considerably more Byrds/Big Star.

The critics also loved "Parklife", which is a lot closer to the musical spirit that makes me love Dodgy than Teenage Fanclub ever were. But, again, basically, Dodgy were more powerpop than Britpop, and fans of powerpop still love everything by them. Powerpop, unlike Britpop, has never been "cool" with the hipsters though (OK, maybe it was for a very short while around 1978-79, but it was much more needed in the 90s)

Well I've never come across any of these power pop fans who like everything Dodgy put out (apart from you) but to me they were just everything that was wrong with Britpop, although they are worse bands on the list like Embrace.

The NME had Big Star in their heartbreak list, best albums of all time and albums that students should own, if the NME is what mean by hipsters then I would say they are seen as very cool.

Powerpop, unlike Britpop, has never been "cool" with the hipsters though

fwiw this is rong btw

yeah wtf

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/129/l_c13a0d25feed4626adc737d168954526.jpg

"BUNGALOW BUMS are from Omsk in southern Siberia. They’ve been around since 2006, when they originally cranked out songs under the direct influence of britpop and US rock. With time, however, their interests and influences have moved backwards through the history books. Their listed idols begin with the time-tested threesome of The Stooges, MC5, and the New York Dolls. Somewhere in this post, therefore, the term garage rock is bound to pop up.

http://www.myspace.com/bungalowbums

http://www.last.fm/music/Bungalow+Bums

Should never have allowed Geir a visa into Siberia for his holiday look at the cultural damage he's done.

geirov hongroski

the URL alone of the Northern Uproar site is a joyful burst of anticipatory nostalgia

Northern Uproar Membership Club.
P.O Box 102.
Truro.
TR1 3RF
UK.

everyone write to them asking for signed copies of a cd

http://www.n-uproar.u-net.com/images/review_1.gif

the source code of the website says it was designed by some guy called 'blueski'?

The NME had Big Star in their heartbreak list, best albums of all time and albums that students should own, if the NME is what mean by hipsters then I would say they are seen as very cool.

Big Star, along with Cheap Trick, were really the least powerpop of powerpop bands. A lot of power, but not a lot of pop. But sure, the kind of powerpop fans that prefer Big Star to Beatles or Beach Boys will not be all that much into Dodgy. I am speaking more of the McCartneyesque line of powerpop: Jellyfish, Crowded House etc.

i vaguely remember that northern uproar did a photoshoot for jeans or something?

every sixth form in the country had a dire band that sounded a bit like oasis, NU were just lucky enough to be the ones that got a record deal. the gallagher bros enabled loads of really boring "unpretentious" guys to make music, without being considered weird or moshers or whatever.

Northern Uproar, like most second rate Britpoppers, did make a couple of rather nice anthemic ballads. But then, people who hate Britpop hate anthemic ballads. Bad for them, missing out on such a fantastic kind of musical form that anthemic ballads have always been.

Those fools!

i'm missing out on anthemic ballads like i'm missing out on dengue fever

i like anthemic r'n'b or hip hop ballads, tho. i just don't think white ppl have been up to the task of late.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lf2seuctNK1qcjrs8.png

sorry

so if anthemic ballads are so great, why don't people like them? why do young americans, scots and norwegians prefer rihanna, jay z and my chemical romance to dodgy, cast and jellyfish?

so if anthemic ballads are so great, why don't people like them? why do young americans, scots and norwegians prefer rihanna, jay z and my chemical romance to dodgy, cast and jellyfish?

The hipsters don't consider singalong quality to be a quality, but that doesn't mean nobody else does. Anthemic ballads by the likes of Coldplay and Travis have actually been very popular, and while they may appeal to a somewhat older generation, the kids have also gotten into anthemic ballads by the likes of Avril Lavigne, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift.

The kids weren't into anthemic ballads in the 90s though. And certain people on ILX tend to live in the 90s, not realizing that the pre-90s has long since come back.

hey geir are crowded house and jellyfish really powerpop when they like have no power in the pop?

ohhhhh now feel it comin back again
like a trollin' hongro chasing the wind