One week at number one - 5th December 1981
What a funny, slippery, tricky old business punk rock was in retrospect. If initially it could be categorised as a DIY, breath-of-fresh-air, give-music-back-to-the-kids movement - forgive the inevitable cliches - it morphed very quickly and collected a lot of disparate ideas under its umbrella. We started with The Ramones, The Damned and The Pistols, who all seemed easy enough to lump together, then within a year or two the movement shape-shifted as it was claimed by various weirdos whose musical ideas were a bit more than 1-2-3-4 - so much so that arguments continue about what is and isn’t “canon”.
Toyah is a case in point. While her childhood was troubled with serious physical health problems and dyslexia, and she became a textbook teenage outsider as a result, she initially trained at drama school rather than taking the route of forming an angry punk band. Her small stature and lisp made her the victim of some superficial critical feedback from the school she paid fees to, with report notes stating that she was “not attractive” and had “a lisp”. It’s either a testament to the changing times or her determination and talent (or more likely both) that her career nonetheless took off sharply with roles in the National Theatre, as well as parts in the films “Jubilee” and “The Tempest”.
The music came later with a band being formed in her own name, leading to questions about her authenticity. She had been an on-screen punk rocker in “Jubilee” and to some it seemed as if she had tucked the role under her arm and walked off with it, bringing her acting academy dressing up games into music. While these days around 40% of the charts seem to consist of ex-performing arts school graduates, punks were deeply suspicious of trained media figures moving in on their patch. Having a previous media or recording career didn’t prevent some punks from being credible (Poly Styrene had an interesting background, for example) but it helped if it was very uncommon public knowledge. There was nowhere to hide for an actress with an existing public profile. The proof was there on celluloid for all to see.
Despite this, or perhaps possibly because of her existing profile, the indie label Safari Records were quick to sign her. They began marketing her in some obvious ways, such as using the then-novel picture disc format as a frame for her striking image, plus some stranger ones, such as making her unusually titled debut mini-LP “Sheep Farming In Barnet” a budget seven inch record which played at 33rpm.
Further records trickled out in 1979 and 1980, each creeping closer to the mainstream than the last, before the “Four From Toyah EP” in February 1981 vaulted to number four in the national charts, helped no end by the lead track “It’s A Mystery”. It’s a track she had no hand in writing, but still regularly introduces at concerts as one “which has been very good to me”. Unexpected demand for the EP was such that Safari had to use melted down and recycled vinyl to keep up demand, which led to some copies sounding very rough indeed on people’s turntables; on occasion sudden success comes at a cost to the fans as well as the artist.
From “It’s A Mystery” onwards, Toyah was a huge presence in the media. Colourful and glamorous in an unorthodox way, she could sit on the front page of Smash Hits as easily as the middle of Sounds. Her backstory was a genuine and interesting one of a teenage misfit; such characters seemed two-a-penny in the late seventies and early eighties, but surprisingly few of them could also be trusted to appear on Swap Shop or be interviewed on early evening news magazine shows without causing a ruckus. Toyah, on the other hand, appeared smiling and genial, telling school-going teenagers that of course their Mums would be concerned if they chose to dye their hair exotic colours. She was a Pro at being herself without offending many people in Middle England, doing little apart from cause Mums and Dads to talk about “the state of that” while their children beamed on excitedly.
1981 was a logical time for her to break through. In the mainstream, the influence of punk was still apparent, but the harder, more DIY edges had been blunted and the focus was now on the colour and spectacle of the genre, producing something nearer to a pantomime of choreographed chaos instead of calling for literal anarchy. In the cases of people like Adam Ant and Hazel O’Connor, this was, if you like, a form of Video Punk Rock, quite distinct from New Romanticism; carefully stylised and performed, undeniably unusual - it’s still astonishing that a lot of these artists had massive hits with some deranged, hyper 45s - but glamorous all the same, and undeniably showbiz. Toyah had the right skills and background to cut through.
By the time “Four More From Toyah” came out towards the end of the year, she had scored three top ten hits and felt almost inescapable. Unlike “It’s A Mystery”, “I Want To Be Free” and “Thunder In The Mountains”, however, the lead track here “Good Morning Universe” is a strangely muted affair, opening almost immediately with some incredibly fussy, proggish work from the rhythm section, with burping bass slaps, tricksy offbeats, and pauses occurring where you least expect them. Chimes and an ambient interlude also sweeps in, and though the track is held closer to earth by both Toyah’s vocals and the keyboard player’s simple melodic frills, it never seems to quite achieve its objectives, sounding more like a gentle, extended theme tune for a television chat show than anything living up to its anthemic title.
The other EP tracks have a similar meandering feel, all seeming like intricate origami hiding the kernel of a small pinball sized central idea. “In The Fairground” stands apart from the pack, notable for being a rare example of a sixties toytown idea finding its way into the eighties, combining weary verses with a merry-go-round chorus. Up-to-date eighties keyboard sound aside, it could pass on a Bam Caruso “Circus Days” compilation LP as an obscure and exotic sixties acetate. The others are unusual ideas not fleshed out enough to realise their full ambitions, art rock if the art in question can be bought for £150 in a new age micro-gallery next to a market town teashop. If you’ve got a firm image in your mind of what such an item with the title “Good Morning Universe” might look like, trust me you’re not alone. It paints itself.
Regrettably, “Four More From Toyah” was her last top twenty hit, and it’s a shame that we’re discussing her career through the prism of a record that is probably one of her least interesting efforts. While it can probably be considered nobody else’s fault but her own that the record feels a bit sterile, she was a charismatic and natural performer and an incredibly powerful figure during a period where women were still often expected to sit down, be quiet and live up to the music business’s cliched expectations. If “I Want To Be Free” was the talk of all the girls in the playground after the video aired on Top of the Pops, it wasn’t just because it was bright, chaotic and colourful – it’s because the track suggested something a little bit thrilling, permission being granted not just to be a strange or unusual woman, but to be loud and proud with it too. Toyah still travels up and down the country performing in sizeable venues to people who remember those moments, and scored an indie album chart number one a mere three years ago. Unlike a lot of the artists we have talked about so far, she has maintained a presence.
She’s also arguably the only artist we’ve covered to have successfully jumped into the modern digital realm, regularly appearing on TikTok and YouTube horsing around with her husband Robert Fripp. You don’t get that with Pigbag, do you? (Though it might not go amiss from them if they feel up to it).
Away From The Number One Spot
The UK Subs emerge from their major label demotion at number 22 with “Countdown”, a one-off release on the NEMS label, whose origins were in the North End Music Stores owned by Brian Epstein. Fancy that. Not that The UK Subs suddenly found some late promise to become the New Fab Four, as “Countdown” failed to emerge in the national charts.
Then there’s more blink-and-you-miss-it under-two-minute punk rock at number 30 with “Young Offenders” by Disruptors. This one has some minimalist drumming patterns on it which Meg White would deem slightly skeletal, but it sets it apart from the a lot of the other second-wave punk doing the rounds. Despite that, it failed to climb any higher than number 27.
The full charts for this week are available at the UKMix Forums.
Number One In The National Chart
Julio Igleseas – “Begin The Beguine” (CBS)
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