'The Early Nineties Were Easier' - Band No.5 : U2 by @TheJDaddy #TENWE

Today it's a beautiful day (okay, so that's even worse than the pun you will read in the post below, apologies), the wonderful Greg aka @TheJDaddy has written a post for Session Bloggers.

Greg blogs over at the brilliantly named Whiskey For Aftershave and I'm chuffed that he could take some time out from that to blog about his favourite early 90s band here.  He is another music fan who I bonded with over on twitter.  I highly recommend you follow him on there and visit his blog too.

Take it away, Greg...

Top bloke Simon (aka Session Blogger) has asked me to write a guest post for his blog. And how could I refuse? I’ve never done a guest post before, & the subject is one dearest to my heart after my family (of course): music.

And he asked so nicely. (The promise of a lifetime’s supply of Twiglets helped too).

He's started a series called 'The Early Nineties Were Easier" (#TENWE) & has invited me - and anyone else who wants to - to write about a favourite band from that era.

Well, I had to think about it. So I did that, & decided on the band I’d rave about.

Then I changed my mind.

The band I first thought of fitted with the rest in the series so far. They were huge in indie clubs and, although they have achieved great mainstream success & even had a big hit across the pond, they are first & foremost an indie band. I love them, & today they are still 1 of my favourite bands, 1 of only 2 I’ve been to see 3 times.

So why did I change my mind? I realised that I wasn’t actually into them at the time! As with most things in my life, I came in late. It wasn’t until the end of the decade that I came to love them. So, if I’m going to be honest – and I always try to be – I should write about the band I really was most into at the time. So I will.

In the early '90s my life was in a huge state of transition. I’ll spare you the details but I’d spent the '80s mixed up in fundamentalist religion, & my attitude to secular music would have done the Taliban proud. I considered it inherently corrupt & corrupting; to be avoided at all costs.

1990 was the year I escaped. I emerged, blinking & naïve, into what – for me - was a brave new world. I spent the next few years tentatively feeling my way into the real world, slowly breaking free from the chains in which I’d been bound. A major part of that was catching up on a lost decade of music! As cheesy as it seems to me now, Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman’s Radio 1 show 'Pick of the Pops' became one of the most important things in my life! I still have many of them on cassette tape.

I heard a song on the radio which I loved, although I didn’t know what it was or who it was by. So I went into Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus, went up to the nearest till & said to the guy there:

“I’ve heard this song that I really like & I don’t know what it is. It’s live, it features a great Gospel choir, & it’s something about ‘what I’m looking for’. Do you know what it is?“.

To the lad’s eternal credit his wry smile didn’t appear to contain even a hint of sarcasm, as he straight away went off to fetch the record in question.

He came back with an album from 1987 called 'Rattle & Hum'. By some outfit called ‘U2’. You may have heard of them. *ducks to avoid any thrown bottles & various types of fruit*

I hadn’t. I kid you not.

So I bought the album: my first album purchase as an adult. And I loved the album, & the song, & still do. The song pretty much summed up my life at the time, & to this day I find it trremendously moving every time I hear it. Always will I think.

  

I found what I was looking for! (Sorry – couldn’t resist…)

I then discovered 'Rattle & Hum' s predecessor 'The Joshua Tree' & immediately had a new all-time favourite band & album.

“OK”, you say, “you bought the albums in the early '90s, but it’s still the music of the '80s!”. Fair enough. But then in 1991 U2 brought out ‘Achtung Baby', a ‘comeback’ album, & one that is regarded by many – myself included - as their other great album along with ‘The Joshua Tree’.

Bought it, played it, loved it, still do. Later did the gig & bought the T-shirt. Which I still wear! ‘Zoo Station’, ‘Even Better Than the Real Thing’, ‘Until the End of the World’,’Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?’, ‘The Fly’: great rock with added electronica; ‘So Cruel’, a classic intense slow-burner; & this 'one' - my favourite - melts my heart every time I hear it: electrifying, achingly beautiful.

U2, for my sins, was the soundtrack to my life in the early '90s. I still have in mind maybe to one day write a post called 'How U2 Kept Me Sane'.

And my first, discarded, choice? Probably much cooler, sorry: maybe another time! So I'll end with my favourite song of theirs from the time:

Thanks for the brilliant post, Greg. It's a fantastic story, still can't get over the fact you didn't listen to any music in the 80s - don't know what I would've done without my regular fix of Wham!

I think that was my favourite period for U2 as well, even though I love 'The Joshua Tree', 'Achtung Baby' really reminds me of that era, when we were learning to drive and that was one of the tapes we always had in the car.  I really think you should write the 'How U2 kept me sane' post, would love to read that too.

As a special treat for writing a great post (and cause I'm all out of Twiglets), I have added both U2's 'One' and 'Out to get you' by James to the Spotify playlist here - The Early Nineties Were Easier #TENWE

Until next time, thanks for reading everyone.

Love

Simon S.
x

'The Early Nineties Were Easier' - Band No.4 : Carter USM' by @KevTheHornet #TENWE

It has finally happened!!! We have our first official Session Blogger (bar me) to contribute a post to the blog!  *Takes deep breath* Sorry, it's just too much to take in.

Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to @KevTheHornet - we bonded a while back on twitter about early 90s music hence why I'm very pleased to have him here to write a post about his favourite band from that era.  Kev's blog can be found here - Not Just Another Blog II  He also runs a music blog over at Hornetmusic where he features great new / unsigned UK Indie bands.

Once you've read his post below I highly recommend you pop over there for a butchers and also follow him on @hornetmusic (as well as @KevTheHornet of course).

Anyway, that's enough from me, this isn't my blog post - over to you Kev...


So what’s this you ask?! Well my mate Simon (AKA Sessionblogger) contacted me to ask if I fancied contributing to his new series “TENWE” or The Early Nineties Were Easier – a nostalgic look back at some of the bands and music that carved our own love of music today.

Being a Nineties Indie kid, now a slightly older but still loving “indie” kid, how could I refuse?  The only dilemma I had was what music to feature – anyhow I have settled on one of the best 90s bands that in fact I stumbled across purely by chance…

In the late 80s /early 90s you could rent music CDs and casette tapes from my local library. It cost less than a quid a week to rent these, so it was perfect for me to get down to my local “Woolies” buy a pack of ten 90 minute TDK casette tapes and copy the music I borrowed. Kind of an early day Piratebay, i suppose, but it was a cheap and easy way for us poor student types to obtain great music for a small price. I would visit the library each week and stock up on the latest music I was into, and more often than not decided to borrow other tapes and CDs just coz the band or artist were on the same record label as ones I already knew and loved – or in this case, just ’cause the cover looked “cool!

…And there began my love of Carter USM!

From the first strains of “You Fat Bastard” on “Surfin USM” I was hooked!  In fact my parents grew sick of hearing that album as I played it over and over again.  It still remains one of my all time favourite albums,  there are no stand out tracks its just a great album from start to finish.

But, if I had to chose one to highlight what a great album this is (for those who dont already know) it would have to be this one – “A Prince in a Pauper's Grave”  …blinding!

I was amazed to find the above video on Youtube because Carter USM were also the first ever “proper” live gig I went to… and my first ever trip to the fabulous (or it seemed it back then!) Brixton Academy.  The date was 9th November 1991 – 6 days after my sixteen birthday – an age when my parents finally agreed I was old enough to go to a gig without them!  I remember it well -Carter were supported by The Inspiral Carpets - another of those highly underrated nineties indie bands.  It has to go down as one of the best gigs I have been to, simply because they were two of my favourite bands of the time, I was allowed there with my mates – and we managed to pursuade the bar staff we were old enough to buy beers!  I even managed to get a bootleg copy of the concert on cassette tape a few weeks later! The above video is actually from the gig I went to and brings back some great memories!

And so my love of Carter USM was born.  Of course, I went back to the library and “borrowed” Carters first album “101 Damnations”, but when “1992 The Love Album” was released I actually went to Record House in Thame (Oxon) and purchased it!  Another fantastic album added to collection, and if you want some final proof have a listen to Jimbob's version of “The Impossible Dream” sung live on TOTP in their bid for Xmas Number one – they didnt make it!, but the song is great anyway, and a great way to sign off this blog post.

Thanks for your brilliant contribution Kev, Carter were a unique band who I sorely miss, although they are still touring so if anyone reading this never did get to see them live, check them out. 

Kev, you can now add that you are officially a 'Session Blogger' to your CV - it will open up numerous opportunities I'm sure (or more than likely close them, give it a go and let me know).  We hope you'll come back soon and write another post for us.

Anyway, I've added 'A Prince in a Pauper's Grave' to the Spotify playlist here - The Early Nineties Were Easier #TENWE

If anyone reading this was / still is a fan of early 90s music then we'd love you to write a post for Session Bloggers as well - please comment below or tweet me @sessionblogger - the playlist is only 4 songs long at the moment, we need more!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Lots of love

Simon S.
xx

'The Early Nineties Were Easier' - Bands 1,2 & 3 : The Stuffies, The Poppies & The Joneses #TENWE‏

I know it's stating the bleeding obvious but every music fan has a particular era of music that they're fondest of. Even though I love the 1960s I wasn't around to live the experience. My favourite era for music therefore has to be the early 90s. I was definitely there for that one.

Why does it mean so much to me? Well, as you're asking - between 1990 and 1994 I went to my first live gig (The Macc Lads, who won't be featured in this series as I went along due to peer pressure more than anything else. I still had a good time mind, and it's not a bad first gig to go to, I just think they're a bit pants now), attended my first festival (Reading 1992 which was headlined by a band I'll be talking about in more detail in a bit) and started Uni (in Salford which meant I had easy access to the many crackin' Indie clubs in Manchester). It was a fucking great, and much easier, time (hence the title of the series).

This series will be covering bands that I, and others, loved in that era. I'll also be compiling a Spotify playlist to run alongside it featuring songs from each of the bands included.

To kick the series off, I thought I'd talk about 3 bands who I saw play live on the same bill at the Shepherd's Bush Empire only last Wednesday - The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Itself and Jesus Jones. It was a crackin' gig which brought back some fond memories and here's why :

The Wonder Stuff

For a few years The Stuffies were my favourite band on the planet and from the recent gig I can see why. They just have so many good songs and I was surprised that I remembered the words to so many after 20 odd years. Even though they only have one original member left they still sound amazing and in Miles Hunt they still have a frontman who can work the crowd and charm the pants off them as well. In Erica Nockalls they have one amazing fiddle player as well.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen them live now, my first being Brixton Academy in 1991 followed by their headline slot at Reading a year later. I've seen Miles play solo and Erica and him also played Hertford a few years ago. They never have disappointed.

The song I'm adding to the playlist is 'Don't let me down gently' as it was the first song I heard of theirs (on the ITV Chart Show if you must know).  Here they are playing it on Top of the Pops if you want to have a butchers :

Pop Will Eat Itself

I'd never seen The Poppies live, prior to Wednesday, and even though only one original member remains they still entertained on the night and got the crowd going.

My fondest memory of P.W.E.I. in those days, however, was when some friends and I walked down our local high street when we were younger, topless in the pouring rain singing the line 'Is Everybody Happy?' from the song 'Bulletproof' out loud, over and over again. Okay, so maybe it was a bit of a twatty thing to do, and we all could've caught colds, but we were 17 (some were 18 so should've known better) and they were good times which I very much doubt will ever be repeated (I got away with it in Essex when I was younger but I think my family and the rest of Hertford would disown me if I tried it now).

The song I'm therefore adding to the playlist is that one.  If you want to watch the original line up play it live, here it is -

Jesus Jones

Last Wednesday a dream of mine came true, I saw Jesus Jones play live for the first time. I first got into them when, while watching The Wonder Stuff on the ITV Chart Show (as mentioned above) it popped up on screen that they had recently been seen 'freaking out at a Jesus Jones gig'. Endorsed by my favourite band at the time, I ended up rushing out to buy their album 'Liquidizer' on cassette at Our Price with my pocket money.

As soon as I heard the opening song 'Move Mountains' it blew me away. By that point the only band who had really nailed the Indie rock / dance crossover was The Shamen and Jesus Jones took it up a notch.

That album still sounds so fresh today and I really think if it was released now it would be huge. They were brilliant live as well and in Mike Edwards they have one of the nicest frontmen ever produced. He hasn't aged a bit either and my wife was definitely swooning while we were watching them. He is a very beautiful man.

I'll definitely be listening to 'Liquidizer' again soon and it's 'Move Mountains' that makes it onto the playlist. Here it is on You Tube if you want to have a listen :

So there you have it, if you're a fan of the above bands and you missed the tour, they'll be doing it all again next year so don't worry.  I highly recommend you go, you won't regret it.

If anyone reading this was also a fan of this era, and has a particular band they'd like to write about, then please comment below or tweet me @sessionbloggers and I'll publish your post on the blog.

As an added incentive, you even get to choose what song by that band goes on the playlist - how cool is that?! Well, it's quite cool anyway. If you want to have a listen to what's on it so far, the link is here - The Early Nineties Were Easier #TENWE

Thanks for reading and until next time, take care.

Thanks for having me.

Simon S.
xx