Post by sixtiesrelic on Oct 1, 2011 15:44:37 GMT
I've rewritten this several times, but it still reads like a pretentious sixth-form essay so don't say you weren't warned!
Some half-remembered research from the University of the Flippin' Obvious claims that the music you like between the ages of 15 - 17 has the greatest impact on your life.
I'm not the oldest Bluetones fan but, even with the aid of Windy's time machine, that would still make me about ten years out of date. I've always been into pop music but my "life-changing band" had been, gone, and seen each other in court leaving me feeling slightly cynical.
So why am I back here typing rubbish (apart from being too idle to start my own blog) and just what was it about the Bluetones? In an attempt to find out, I started an argument with myself...
They didn't exactly hit you like a thunderbolt did they?
Well, no. Like a lot of people, I heard a song on the radio called "Slight Return". It was the title that grabbed my attention - it was referential and clever, but not too clever. Also the band was called "The Bluetones" which had a popular-beat-combo vibe about it (erm...man).
Then "Bluetonic" was used on a Radio One documentary (about the mod scene in Japan, I think). Two good songs couldn't be just a coincidence so I became a fan and all the usual fan-type nonsense followed.
As I recall you liked quite a few bands who were knocking about in those days, why aren't you eulogising any of them?
They all seemed a bit too contrived, too arrogant, too distant or too short of ideas. On the other hand the Bluetones had found my "ideal band" checklist when I didn't even know I had one!
In no particular order: -
- They were a gang, not one big ego and three hired hands, and the talent was distributed evenly. The joint song writing credits reinforced this, and in some extreme Beatles/Monkees fantasy they actually shared a house!
- Two of them were brothers, and they sang harmonies. Seeing Mark and Scott with their eyes closed singing the "hallelujahs" on "Teenage Jesus" is something that will stay with me for a long time.
- Their songs weren't too predictable, musically or lyrically and they had mastered the upbeat-tune-with-twisted-words trick. I once played "Colorado Beetle" to a DJ friend to prove that you could fall out with your girlfriend without depressing your listeners. Moreover, there was a great depth to their b-sides - some of the most epic, comic, tragic and completely brilliant tracks that I've ever heard. Even when the odds were against them they fought back with "Your Psychotic Friend" and made me go "wow" again.
- One of them was good at drawing and stuff like that. Scott's artwork added another dimension to this blue world that they'd constructed and his most recent style has to be my favourite.
- The band could "cut it" live. On stage they made it seem effortless, but then I'd look at Eds concentrating as he created some complicated rhythm and realise that they had to put in a lot of work to be that good. Right from the start there were moments that made their gigs special: songs within songs, random covers, the first airing of new material and all those you-had-to-be there incidents that sent you home with a smile on your face and beer on your jacket. Mark was a fantastic frontman and developed such a rapport with the audience that it was hard to feel left out.
- As a bonus they introduced me to some great support bands (the Webb Brothers, Phoenix, the Vessels, Mohair...right up to Married to the Sea and Pugwash). A compilation of some of these, played before the 'tones came on stage during the Farewell Tour, felt like so many gigs flashing past my ears and left me almost tearful.
- They seemed like nice lads. You could trust them to look after your cat but you'd also want them on your pub quiz team in case it all kicked off in the tie-break. Ten years down the line I found out by accident that all this was true.
- They were funny, in a subtle, self-deprecating way (Osmonds please note that any band prepared to play my hometown must have a sense of humour).
- Finally, they forgot to split up. That was never on the list and I kept waiting for them to put a foot wrong but they didn't. Meanwhile I put several feet wrong (and arms too, probably) as dwindling audiences gave me more room to flail around like your auntie after too many Lambrinis.
Is this the point where you dedicate a whole paragraph to Adam?
It's more of a sentence. I'm thinking about starting a petition to get Adam a knighthood, for his guitar playing, tour dairies (sic) and services to waifs and strays. Will that do?
Well it worked for Sir Brucie. Anyway I'm bored of this now - give me the punchline and go away.
So that was the Bluetones as I saw them. They loved music, I loved music and somehow it made sense. I'm sad that it's over but as proceedings draw to a close I'm buoyed by the thought of their back catalogue waiting to be discovered by the discerning music fans and lousy dancers of the future. In some ways I'm a bit envious...
Some half-remembered research from the University of the Flippin' Obvious claims that the music you like between the ages of 15 - 17 has the greatest impact on your life.
I'm not the oldest Bluetones fan but, even with the aid of Windy's time machine, that would still make me about ten years out of date. I've always been into pop music but my "life-changing band" had been, gone, and seen each other in court leaving me feeling slightly cynical.
So why am I back here typing rubbish (apart from being too idle to start my own blog) and just what was it about the Bluetones? In an attempt to find out, I started an argument with myself...
They didn't exactly hit you like a thunderbolt did they?
Well, no. Like a lot of people, I heard a song on the radio called "Slight Return". It was the title that grabbed my attention - it was referential and clever, but not too clever. Also the band was called "The Bluetones" which had a popular-beat-combo vibe about it (erm...man).
Then "Bluetonic" was used on a Radio One documentary (about the mod scene in Japan, I think). Two good songs couldn't be just a coincidence so I became a fan and all the usual fan-type nonsense followed.
As I recall you liked quite a few bands who were knocking about in those days, why aren't you eulogising any of them?
They all seemed a bit too contrived, too arrogant, too distant or too short of ideas. On the other hand the Bluetones had found my "ideal band" checklist when I didn't even know I had one!
In no particular order: -
- They were a gang, not one big ego and three hired hands, and the talent was distributed evenly. The joint song writing credits reinforced this, and in some extreme Beatles/Monkees fantasy they actually shared a house!
- Two of them were brothers, and they sang harmonies. Seeing Mark and Scott with their eyes closed singing the "hallelujahs" on "Teenage Jesus" is something that will stay with me for a long time.
- Their songs weren't too predictable, musically or lyrically and they had mastered the upbeat-tune-with-twisted-words trick. I once played "Colorado Beetle" to a DJ friend to prove that you could fall out with your girlfriend without depressing your listeners. Moreover, there was a great depth to their b-sides - some of the most epic, comic, tragic and completely brilliant tracks that I've ever heard. Even when the odds were against them they fought back with "Your Psychotic Friend" and made me go "wow" again.
- One of them was good at drawing and stuff like that. Scott's artwork added another dimension to this blue world that they'd constructed and his most recent style has to be my favourite.
- The band could "cut it" live. On stage they made it seem effortless, but then I'd look at Eds concentrating as he created some complicated rhythm and realise that they had to put in a lot of work to be that good. Right from the start there were moments that made their gigs special: songs within songs, random covers, the first airing of new material and all those you-had-to-be there incidents that sent you home with a smile on your face and beer on your jacket. Mark was a fantastic frontman and developed such a rapport with the audience that it was hard to feel left out.
- As a bonus they introduced me to some great support bands (the Webb Brothers, Phoenix, the Vessels, Mohair...right up to Married to the Sea and Pugwash). A compilation of some of these, played before the 'tones came on stage during the Farewell Tour, felt like so many gigs flashing past my ears and left me almost tearful.
- They seemed like nice lads. You could trust them to look after your cat but you'd also want them on your pub quiz team in case it all kicked off in the tie-break. Ten years down the line I found out by accident that all this was true.
- They were funny, in a subtle, self-deprecating way (Osmonds please note that any band prepared to play my hometown must have a sense of humour).
- Finally, they forgot to split up. That was never on the list and I kept waiting for them to put a foot wrong but they didn't. Meanwhile I put several feet wrong (and arms too, probably) as dwindling audiences gave me more room to flail around like your auntie after too many Lambrinis.
Is this the point where you dedicate a whole paragraph to Adam?
It's more of a sentence. I'm thinking about starting a petition to get Adam a knighthood, for his guitar playing, tour dairies (sic) and services to waifs and strays. Will that do?
Well it worked for Sir Brucie. Anyway I'm bored of this now - give me the punchline and go away.
So that was the Bluetones as I saw them. They loved music, I loved music and somehow it made sense. I'm sad that it's over but as proceedings draw to a close I'm buoyed by the thought of their back catalogue waiting to be discovered by the discerning music fans and lousy dancers of the future. In some ways I'm a bit envious...