The trajectory which propelled indie microstars We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It in 1985 to WEA international achievers in the late Eighties to glam popstrels who disbanded in 1990 is a cautionary tale, but yet contains all the ingredients which contribute to everything I love about pop music. Indie no-hopers to bona fide chart stars with major label support and mainstream pop success, on to the whole music biz control cliché and the subsequent musical differences. All within the space of two albums! How brilliant is that?
I've got a soft spot for Fuzzbox, and am in awe of their heroic lady balls for having the courage, nouse and ambition to get up on a stage when they reportedly really couldn't play their instruments. At all. I think I saw them on TV once. One of them was sawing away at a violin making a horrible noise. I was captivated. Anyway, they were fucking right, weren't they. They were the future. Capability didn't matter then and it matters much less now. Despite that, or maybe because of it, some of their records really, really stand up.
I'm going to post a few of these excellent records, but let's kick things off with this one, "Love Is The Slug", here featured in the 12" "Bargainous Longerer Mix", which equates to some more inept drumming at the start, basically. Brilliant. This also features their infamous cover of "Spirit In The Sky" which is good. And when I say "good", I mean "bad". And yet, when I say "bad", I mean "good". It's one of those.
They were from Birmingham.
Not the one in Alabama.
You can't see the stars from the A38 Aston Expressway.
Wikipedia Entry
Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.
Link Expired.
8 comments:
Great stuff sir. This and Buffalo by Stump were the first indie records I ever bought. I think when I got mine it was on 7" with a green cover.
Anyway, I'd forgotten what a blinding single it was. So thank you.
Perhaps I can clarify your confusion Mr Micron. Their cover of Spirit In The Sky was awful. Full stop. No further explanation required.
Rules and Regulations on the other hand was class.
I have a 7" of this somewhere. It came with a girls' magazine style photo-story comic featuring Fuzzbox. Slim on plot.
Action Beard once sent a demo tape to Vindaloo but the lack of a response suggests they didn't see our undoubted talent...
Hi,
Could you please rip Death in Vegas "Dirt Dubs"? I think I saw it here some time ago.
I have my own copy, but I'm not able to digitalize it. I found it in some blog, but it turned out that guy who ripped it made "classic Peel error" and played it on wrong speed!
Last but not the least: thanks for great uploads.
Great stuff. With Fuzzbox, I was equally impressed with the indie/punk version, and the glam pop version. Although sometimes difficult to believe they were the same band. Like many pop gems, perhaps it was right that they stopped after a brief incandescent moment.
Another record we have in common ,heard on Peel show ,got from the little box of indie singles at HMV Wolverhampton,great memories.
I loved Rules And Regulations. Fuzzbox on The Whistle Test doing Spirit in the Sky.....................it was entertaining.
Entertaining once. Or as Fugees would have it, "one time".
Post a Comment