Two further weeks at number one from 12th July 1986
It's been awhile since we've seen a rebound number one on the NME Indie listings, but if you were settling comfortably in your seat expecting not to be interrupted again, you reckoned without the enduring popularity of "Serpent's Kiss". As soon as the already battle-weary "Almost Prayed" plummeted from the number one position, Hussey and co were ready to take back the throne again for a whole fortnight.
As always, the only relevant question to ask at this point is "What was happening lower down the charts, then?"
Week One
13. Bogshed - Morning Sir! (Help Yourself)
Peak position: 4
Well, Bogshed pushed forward one of their best known singles for a start off. "Morning Sir!" is a delight and a curiosity in that it's one of the biggest and strangest hooks the indie chart saw in 1986, but the group lost none of their downright provocative oddness as a result. The chorus of "Morning Sir!" will stay in your brain for the rest of this week - indeed, I even thought about making it my mobile's alarm sound for a bit - but that doesn't stop the song as a whole from sounding warped, detuned, scuffed and discourteously kicked around.
This is like modern-day skiffle if it were composed by village outcasts rather than handsome and clean-cut kids in Soho coffee bars which, in case you need telling, is a good thing. Suck on that, Terry and Gerry.
20. Age Of Chance – The Twilight World Of Sonic Disco (Riot Bible)
Peak position: 20
The Age of Chance were rapidly getting closer to becoming one of the more "important" C86 acts, but at this stage, "Motor City" off the "Twilight World" EP shows no signs of them budging from their own tinny and uncompromising groove - it's stark, harsh and devilish, and as Steven E repeatedly urges "If you can get through my wall of sound" beneath the metallic beatings, it's hard not to hear it as a direct challenge to you, the listener.
Marc Riley and his cohorts covering Brian Eno must have raised a few eyebrows in the old Fall camp at the time, with Mark E Smith doubtless opining that he was right to sack him. Nonetheless, in much the same way that his original group used cover versions as templates to scrawl their own impenetrable avant doodles over, The Creepers rip "Baby's On Fire" to pieces, making it somehow feel even more menacing as a caterwaul of sound builds up steadily with each instrumental break.
At the time, the track's video benefited from a dispute which saw many British Phonographic Institute (BPI) members removing their promos from the BBC and commercial television stations until adequate royalty arrangements were drawn up. As In Tape were not members of the BPI, however, The Creepers managed to grab a vacant slot on Channel 4's Chart Show in place of Rod Stewart or Robert Palmer or some other climber with big money behind them that week. Bad news for Mark E Smith and suited, professional thirty-somethings settling down to watch something palatable with their tea - great news for The Creepers. And for what it's worth, I do think this is a great single which deserved the exposure, so a top result for us too.
20. Play Dead - Burning Down (Tanz)
Peak position: 20
All online sources point towards this being a 1985 release, and the reasons for it taking more than half of 1986 to appear in the indie listings don't feel clear - nonetheless, it was the group's final single so it doesn't seem improbable that their split announcement may have lit the fuse.
"Burning Down" is yet more surprisingly anthemic goth rock, and if The Mission were clearly pushing towards a notable career with slightly lighter fare, it seems a pity for Play Dead to have thrown in the towel at this point. Only the fact that they cling to early eighties post-punk tendencies towards vocal hollering and Peter Hook styled basslines mark this out as being slightly out-of-time.
23. That Petrol Emotion - Natural Kind of Joy (Demon)
Peak position: 17
TPE take things down a notch or two with a rinky-dink and almost McCartney-esque clockwork ballad, seemingly about finding love in the open air, away from the capitalist distraction of quick and needful thrills. It could have been written in 1967 or indeed also written in a slightly filthed-up form by Depeche Mode in 1986, but That Petrol Emotion keep it pure and simple. If you're in the right mood, this is touching and sweet, but it remains a very strange choice for a single.
Happy New Year to you and yours, sir.
ReplyDelete