Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Kiss this thing goodbye

In my teens I used to proclaim (somewhat smugly, I think) that "nostalgia is the enemy of the future". Although most of the records of my teenage years (during the 1980s) are available on iTunes I've generally avoided revisiting them, with a few notable exceptions (Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, Scary Monsters, Sulk). This might be a reflection, cynics would suggest, of the generally ephemeral quality of much of the music I was passionate about in the 1980s, a lot of which now sounds amazingly dated (The Brilliant Corners? The Bodines? The Close Lobsters? The Woodentops?), but I also have a sense that there is more than enough interesting new music around without the need for retrospection.

In a conscious departure from usual practice (which in a strange way actually made me feel a little ashamed) I recently downloaded del Amitri's eponymous first album. Recorded in more innocent times (1985, to be precise), before they embraced Americana as many Scottish bands do, it still holds up fairly well: many of the lyrics are obvious juvenilia (the definition of "irony" in the lyric to "Former Owner" is as inaccurate as Alanis Morrissette's), but much of it still sounds as fresh, clean-cut, and passionate as Justin Currie used to be.

At the time, I was obsessed with the record; even now I can recite the lyrics by heart despite a gap of at least 20 years since I last listened to it. I wrote to them and got nice letters in reply. My sister and I went to see del Amitri in a club in Tollcross, Edinburgh, not long after the album came out. There were only a handful of people there and we stood slightly awkwardly on the dancefloor watching. Afterwards, leaving, we met the band packing their van for the return trip to Glasgow. They offered us a lift; we declined. They weren't looking for groupies; they just thought, being the nice boys they were, that we might need a lift home.

I moved to Glasgow in 1987. After the success of their subsequent records on the back of their second album "Waking Hours" (1989), which I of course snubbed, due in part to their massive popularity - no longer a minority taste to be proud of - and also to what I saw as their capitulation to the mores of mainstream success by embracing a much more laconic, lazily rockin', American, and accordingly less distinctive sound, I used to see Justin Currie loping along the streets with his pointy cowboy boots, skinny jeans and massive sideburns. I also met him a few times at the Cul de Sac in Ashton Lane, Glasgow, near the university. I told him how much I'd loved their first record and he smiled ruefully and said he loved it too. And listening to it now reminds me of things which are worth remembering.

14 comments:

nmj said...

I still love the Woodentops! I saw Del Amitri play at Glasgow Uni, I liked them but was not quite as passionate as you. I love they offered you a lift and you said no. Eighties' music always chokes me slightly, I find it so emotive.

The greedy murmur of little men said...

I saw Del Amitri playing Elvis Presley songs, in a Rock around the Clock concert, in the bar on Queen Street in about 1986. It remains one of my favourite concerts. I can't remember the bar's name since it is now changed - it was gay downstairs - I once met a friend of mine there wearing a dress which, since he was in the closet, was rather amusing. Halfway down on the right hand side as you leave the train station.

LottieP said...

Too right, NMJ. We were going in the other direction and didn't want to put them out. So polite!

In my memory, murmur, every bar in the city centre was gay downstairs. Bennetts... Club X... During the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, they recreated the streets of Derry c.1973 using CGI as an aide memoire for the witnesses. If they don't do that for Glasgow c. 1985 (and what a weird experience that would be!), we may never know what the bar was called.

Mancsoulsister said...

Sorry I burst into spontaneous excitement at 'Sulk' and haven't read to the end yet...

Sulk was one of my favourite albums, stolen from me by a girl in my class at school (I think borrowed and never returned rather than intentionally). I still listen to 'Club Country' at a raucous volume while driving through Wellington.

I had the very great fortune to meet the wonderful Billy Mackenzie at a family gathering in Dundee (my brother's ex-partner went to school with him). He was as gorgeous and as witty as my teenage crush had hoped he would be. I can't believe he committed suicide only a few years later...

Got over my little outburst now - will dutifully go back and read the rest :-)

LottieP said...

Glad to be of service, MSS. I saw Billy a few times in Edinburgh clubs and once performing live at someone's extravagant farewell party at the George Hotel. His voice is incredible. This is for you.

Anonymous said...

I'll take your word for it that that's what happened! For some reason I can only remember seeing BMX Bandits at the same venue.

Claire (who can't remember her Google account p/w)

The greedy murmur of little men said...

How could I have forgotten. It was the Rock Garden, and sadly all the girls were far more interested in Justin Currie than in me.

Mancsoulsister said...

A FEW TIMES!!!!!!!Now I'm just plain jealous....

It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to ask him to say 'green curly-wurly' (the sexiest phrase on the planet when said with any kind of Scottish accent) followed by 'will you please father my children?'. I doubt I could have exhibited the same self-control if I had met him again :-)

Thanks for the link - brilliant especially considering it is a pre-release.

The greedy murmur of little men said...

cut here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sKWrpaEw0k&feature=av2n

LottieP said...

Thanks, murmur. Here's another song about Billy...

I always liked Alan Rankine's brooding, Italianate look more MSS. My instincts were never that good even when the clues were pretty obvious (George Michael? Morrissey?), but perhaps I'd picked something up about Billy...

Mancsoulsister said...

Apparently Morrissey wrote this about Billy as well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AvuweztG4Q

I think I fancied every gay man/effeminate male who could hold a note in the 80s - I had the biggest crush on Marilyn, David Sylvian, Kirk Brandon and Billy Mackenzie and worshipped Morrissey as if he were the second coming. I never ever saw the signs either - unlike my dad who stated 'well he obviously bats for the other team' during Wham's very first TOTP appearance. I think I liked the way they all flirted with their sexuality and the ambiguity of it all. Still felt a bit of an idiot when it finally dawned on me though! :-)

Agree about Rankin - he was cute too.

Lottie's Link for MSS said...

Thanks for the link (click here for a step by step guide to making a live link appear in comments; if that doesn't work, you can make your name the link by selecting the Name/URL option when you make your comment, as I've done in this comment with another treat for you!) - unfortunately I'm told, censoriously, that "This video contains content from EMI. It is no longer available in your country.". What was it?

LottieP said...

Can't believe you can't remember it, Claire! I can even remember what i was wearing. I don't think you liked them as much as me, anyway...

Mancsoulsister said...

It was 'Suedehead' by Morrissey