There was a band called The Spotnicks. Record Collector readers will doubtless know more about them than I do - Record Collector readers know more about anything than I do - but they were Swedish and played instrumentals, and weren't bad, but are best known for their unique gimmick of dressing up as spacemen, presumably because dressing up as actual Sputniks would have made it quite difficult to play their instruments. But in doing so, The Spotnicks were one of the, if not actually the, first acts to Dress Up.
Dressing Up is one of the great cornerstones of popular music. For years it was very simple: if you were serious, you wore Posh Clothes onstage tuxedos for men, gowns for women and if you were funny, you wore Normal Clothes or, if you were really funny, Daft Clothes. There was nothing in between (except Ethnic Clothes if you were Harry Lauder or Roy Rogers). And this was how it went, from Enrico Caruso to Frank Sinatra, from Dame Nellie Melba to Vera Lynn.
But then something awful happened: authenticity. Authenticity was the clearly made-up notion that the best things in art are "real" and anything "not real" is bad. So, blues singers were required to take off their smart clothes and put on overalls to show that they were real, so country singers were compelled to wear cowboy hats and boots, and folk singers oh God. The average 50s folk singer looked like Wurzel Gummidge fronting the Wurzels.
Bu hikaye Record Collector dergisinin March 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Record Collector dergisinin March 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
At the peak of their powers in the early 70s, by 1975 there were signs that Led Zeppelin were burning out, and their legendary appetite for excess, not to mention stadium-straddling, mythically charged, epically inclined hard rock, might be waning.
HI-FIDELITY?
Running a record shop is a dream for many music aficionados. Steve Burniston investigates how to run a successful one
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
45 SHEFFIELD 45s
Continuing our celebrations of RC's 45th birthday and following on from our look at the best 45s to come out of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow, we focus on the urbanisation formerly known as Steel City: Sheffield. Close to the (Nether) Edge: Jeremy Allen
Finished Symphonies
In the late 80s, Shelleyan Orphan made rarefied, ravishing, precious (both meanings) baroque pop, all chamber quartet accompaniment and literary reference points, like an 18th century Cocteau Twins.
"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"
Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.
FRENZY REUNITED
Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.
Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
"Beware the Savage Lure/of 1984..." - David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods.
David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods. For many, 1984 remains the nadir of his Phil Collins” phase; an artistic/sartonial/tonsorial disaster area. But was it really that awful? Forty years on, Matt Phillips explores Bowie's so-called annus horribilis.
