Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 9, 2015 15:36:24 GMT
Most difficult week so far - and, in all likelihood, for the whole series.
Like Eppers, I have Saint Etienne, Spacemen 3 and Stereolab on my long-ish short list... along with Smog, Sonic Youth and the Sluts of Trust.
Plus, in no particular order:
Sandie Shaw - the barefoot pop princess.
The Shangri Las - best-ever purveyors of teen heartbreak melodrama (check out I Can Never Go Home Anymore, and try not to blub).
The Stooges - primitive protopunk, hugely influential.
Suicide - synthpunk, ditto.
The Small Faces - the only mod band properly worth knowing.
Sleater-Kinney - easily the finest riot grrrl band, and still going strong with their powerful political insight while delivering an emotional impact (new album out on Monday).
Sewer Zombies - just for putting out a song called They Died With Their Willie Nelson Shirts On.
The Seekers - bit of a guilty pleasure here, although I got to listen to, and like, them a lot as a very little Macc, given that they were the group of choice for my Welsh Grandpop (Macc Bach)... that is, until Judith Durham cut her hair, whereupon the old man refused point blank ever to play any of their records again!
It really is an agonizing choice, and many of the above would, for me, have won in other weeks - but my vote goes to...
The Specials. Gazza summed them up very well from a personal and musical perspective - and, for those of us who were around at the time of Gangsters and the first 2-Tone album and tour, they were absolutely essential. Their songs were politically and socially relevant to the time, and you could dance and dress up to them as well.
Furthermore, unlike the punk bands us teens loved from afar (hello, Sex Pistols!), they were like a gang to which we could belong. The claim to fame about which I never tire of boring people is that I managed to get on stage with them at Brighton's Top Rank. But when a band like that comes along, and, for a brief while, represents a way of life, it's still a boast to cherish.
The members started to fall out with each other the following year - but still, between them, produced a decent second long player... and then, from out of nowhere, came Ghost Town.
Very Special indeed. And I still have my pork pie hat...!
Like Eppers, I have Saint Etienne, Spacemen 3 and Stereolab on my long-ish short list... along with Smog, Sonic Youth and the Sluts of Trust.
Plus, in no particular order:
Sandie Shaw - the barefoot pop princess.
The Shangri Las - best-ever purveyors of teen heartbreak melodrama (check out I Can Never Go Home Anymore, and try not to blub).
The Stooges - primitive protopunk, hugely influential.
Suicide - synthpunk, ditto.
The Small Faces - the only mod band properly worth knowing.
Sleater-Kinney - easily the finest riot grrrl band, and still going strong with their powerful political insight while delivering an emotional impact (new album out on Monday).
Sewer Zombies - just for putting out a song called They Died With Their Willie Nelson Shirts On.
The Seekers - bit of a guilty pleasure here, although I got to listen to, and like, them a lot as a very little Macc, given that they were the group of choice for my Welsh Grandpop (Macc Bach)... that is, until Judith Durham cut her hair, whereupon the old man refused point blank ever to play any of their records again!
It really is an agonizing choice, and many of the above would, for me, have won in other weeks - but my vote goes to...
The Specials. Gazza summed them up very well from a personal and musical perspective - and, for those of us who were around at the time of Gangsters and the first 2-Tone album and tour, they were absolutely essential. Their songs were politically and socially relevant to the time, and you could dance and dress up to them as well.
Furthermore, unlike the punk bands us teens loved from afar (hello, Sex Pistols!), they were like a gang to which we could belong. The claim to fame about which I never tire of boring people is that I managed to get on stage with them at Brighton's Top Rank. But when a band like that comes along, and, for a brief while, represents a way of life, it's still a boast to cherish.
The members started to fall out with each other the following year - but still, between them, produced a decent second long player... and then, from out of nowhere, came Ghost Town.
Very Special indeed. And I still have my pork pie hat...!