From the arrogant West German perspective, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, people liked to think that the weekly magazines “NME” and “Melody Maker”, which were still in power at the time, were chasing new pigs through the kingdom week after week, and a few months later nobody would be gone anyway speak. Today we know: quite a few “singles of the week” from back then are now classics. With their CD sets, the London reissue specialists Cherry Red compile chronologically important tracks from these years – even if not completely, for which the rights for certain labels are missing.
Despite the gaps: The panorama of the box sets is large enough to be of interest to connoisseurs as well. The starting point of the series is the box C86, an extension of the very influential “NME” compilation “Class of 86”. Cherry Red has now arrived in 1991, which in retrospect marks a transitional period. There is no defining subgenre, half a dozen of them are struggling for attention.
The panorama of the box sets is large enough to also be of interest to connoisseurs
The baggy boys from Manchester are still active: Northside and the Dylans, Flowered Up and the Honey Smugglers play groovy guitar music, as if made for noisy meadow festivals on English summer days. The “Madchester” movement only came to an end in 1992, and the acts’ music was then considered cheesy. But that’s not true, the idea of playing psychedelic pop groovy still works. The most beautiful rediscoveries are the smart “Pulling My Fingers Off” by the Wendys, “Stolen Heart”, the grooviest single by the eternal insider tip See See Rider, and “7×7” by Poppy Factory, a band that formed before their first album by was dropped by the record company, but managed to create a perfect indie hit with this song.
A 90s update on Britain’s pop past
What makes the short “Madchester” phase special in terms of music history: Technically rather clumsy indie bands storm the charts with their singles. In the slipstream of these commercial successes, new acts began to replace the indie orgies of scratches that had set the tone until then with differentiated guitar work. Even before the Auteurs and Suede started the first Britpop battle in 1992, bands were already trying to give British pop a 90s update a year earlier.
The often underestimated Dodgy can be heard with their first single “Summer Fayre”, Kingmaker anticipate the Kaiser Chiefs with “When Lucy’s Down”, the ethereal “Them” comes from a talented band from Ireland, which John Peel in his show in high Tonen praises because they play a sound that combines the music of the Cocteau Twins with folk, their name: The Cranberries.
The antithesis of this proto-Britpop are the English groups that indulge in noise. Daisy Chainsaw’s “Love Your Money” is fuzzbox punk not far from the stuff that Amyl & The Sniffers play today. And if IDLES came up with the idea of covering “Where’s Me Jumper” by Sultans Of Ping FC, nobody would be surprised: “My brother knows Karl Marx / He met him eating mushrooms in the peoples park.” The Manic Street Preachers from Wales bring it The Sweet, poetry and politics together with “Stay Beautiful”, The Stairs foreshadow the 1991 garage rock revival, while their “Weed Bus” proves that drug references are all the rage in the early ’90s.
Noise without rockisms
The shoegazers offer a different kind of noise: noise without rockism. Slowdive and Moose, Lush and Chapterhouse – the music sounds just like the names. While these bands are almost cult worshiped today, especially in the USA, the shoegazers with a penchant for alternative rock have fallen into oblivion. Songs like “Black Metallic” by Catherine Wheel or “Crimson” by Revolver create a powerful pull. Even better: “Nadine” from Levitation, Terry Bickers’ new band after he left the highly touted but eventually defunct The House Of Love.
That leaves two more sub-genres of the UK indie scene of 1991: Firstly, the twee indie pop by acts like Heavenly and Blueboy, who play the most beautiful melodies, but still don’t want success for that, they are much too concerned with their inner self sadness busy. Finally, the projects that bring together indie aesthetics and modern dancefloor. “Oh Yes” by Paris Angels sounds crooked, but charming. “Nothing Can Stop Us” by Saint Etienne is the most forward-looking piece in the box, the trio already anticipates much of what will shape the pop decade: kitsch and camp, samples and grooves – and a large portion of positivism before the mood tip to the millennium.
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