Four weeks at number one from 27th August 1988
Accompanying him would be a gentleman who always took his clothes off at the height of his high, “dancing like ET” afterwards. That man was Guy Chadwick, the lead singer of the House of Love, a group by now widely tipped to be the future of rock music; if not the next Smiths, with whom they had little in common, then perhaps the next U2.
There are numerous unexpected contradictions in the above. Chadwick’s group never went near drum machines and samplers, yet there he was, dancing badly to everyone who did. Creation Records also really hadn’t delved into House music much yet, though their time would come. This odd schism paints a fair picture of the state of alternative rock in 1988; while to a casual reader in 2026 it may seem strange to have so many House records dominating the indie listings, at the time it felt logical and wonderful. That was where the revolution was occurring and the fresh, exciting sounds were emerging from. Some alternative rock musicians, from Jaz Coleman to Miles Hunt, may have mithered on about how House Music wasn’t “proper music” and lacked the integrity and passion of rock, but they frankly sounded ridiculous in the process – like a bunch of proggers witlessly complaining about the lack of craft to be found in punk. "If we should be listening to you instead, come up with some fresh ideas and make us want to, you nitwits", you couldn't help but think.
This environment created an awkward situation if you were in a straightforward alternative rock band. Music journalists began the year wondering who would replace the dearly departed Smiths, and ended it no longer really caring. Record Mirror even changed its editorial focus to mostly specialise in Dance music, often treating Indie as something to be ghettoised in its own two-page news section. Outside the shadowy corners of the Goth scene, it also seemed as if not much was going on which would result in new stars. Except, that is, for the House of Love.
By 1988, the major labels were watching the group, enabling Alan McGee to stay at the Savoy Hotel in London and invite A&R representatives in, one after the other, to pitch their six-figure advance offers. A frenzy ensued which ultimately resulted in the group being sold to Alan Bates at Fontana Records, but amidst the confusion at least one other label entered the fray who seemed to have mistaken them for another band entirely, nearly putting a huge bid down for something they didn’t actually want. Such things happen when hysteria is allowed to take hold.
Record company frenzies are rarely forged from complete mediocrity, however, and while the group had very little obvious competition in 1988 (huge emphasis on “obvious” here) they were still responsible for a string of singles which were mysterious, touching, and enormous sounding without once being pompous. Their single “Christine” is a prime example of this, a track which seemed to stare down at you from an enormous plinth yet still somehow sounded fragile and brittle, avoiding all the stadium cliches for something which alternately jangled earthily, then scraped the sky with its airy, whitewashed chorus.
Guy Chadwick may have written all their songs, but to most people it was obvious that there was another key figure in the group. Terry Bickers, the lead guitarist, took his songs and smeared paint all over them, amping them up from moody Leonard Cohen influenced laments into something much more colourful and unpredictable. “Destroy The Heart” is a primary example of this. Lyrically it’s frequently nondescript, with Chadwick merely offering a series of frustrated complaints about the romantic expectations of ladies he’d loved and lost, but those matter-of-fact late night regrets are picked up and carved into strange new shapes by Bickers. In much the same way Syd Barrett took Richard Wright’s blank, rueful prose about a lost childhood in “Remember A Day” and made it squawk, swoop and wail, Bickers slams his guitar and makes it squeal against Chadwick’s monotone, adding sprays of powdered pastel colour to a dark backdrop. The song is transformed from a groaning ballad into something much more dramatic, desperate even.
Beneath it, a simple, clattering rhythm propels it along, but there’s little variation or ambition from the other members of the group; I still find it fascinating that something so strange and bewitching was created from such simple ingredients. There’s no demanding chorus, no real changes of pace, or attempt to scale upwards or downwards – the only person sprinting around, moving as much as he can within the song’s tight boundaries is Bickers himself, who is the least predictable element. It makes for an astonishing listen.
Not that his contributions would last for much longer. After they signed to Fontana, partly as a result of the amount of money changing hands and the mounting expectations, Bickers began to feel uncomfortable, isolated even. Dramatic scenes ensued whereby he set fire to bank notes in the group’s van while chanting “Guy Chadwick is a breadhead!”, ill feelings grew, and eventually the situation was deemed to be untenable and Terry Bickers was ejected from the group before they had even released their second album. Chadwick’s confidence was temporarily knocked by Alan McGee screaming “You are nothing without him!” down the phone.
Alan Bates’ expectations of the group also became painfully obvious; having spent a small fortune signing them, he began teaming them with incompatible producers with the sole aim of creating obvious hit singles. When I interviewed him in the late nineties, Chadwick complained that Fontana had “never known what to do” with The House of Love once they had them.
I have to wonder how much of this had to do with Bates and his team – who were some of the most experienced people at breaking groups in the music business – and how much of the blame sat with Bickers departure and also the scene shifting around them. In 1988, the House of Love occasionally sounded phenomenal, in the way that alternative rock music so often didn’t at that time. Where other groups jangled, they soared. Where others snapped and sulked, they sprayed psychedelia on to their simple backdrops. Where others wrote simple three-minute songs, The House of Love often brooded for longer. Their ambition, and their creativity, was obvious.
The problem was that it also sounded like the last gasp of a certain kind of post-punk sound; more Echo & The Bunnymen and The Psychedelic Furs than the Roses and the Mondays. The group’s debut album on Creation finished high in critic’s year-end lists, to the extent that you would expect it to still be pointed out as a high point of the decade. In reality, I can’t remember the last time it was mentioned, the timing of its release leaving it seeming like an afterthought in the first phase of indie rock.
The House of Love still occasionally get together to play live and even release new records, sometimes with Terry Bickers (with whom Chadwick has patched things up) and sometimes – as when I saw them live a couple of years ago – without. On the last occasion I caught them, some members of the audience kept impatiently shouting “Destroy The Heart!” as the gig passed the three quarters mark, in the manner of the Big Train comedy sketch where Ralph McTell is bombarded with cries of “Streets of London!” The group would release more obvious singles – their biggest hit “Shine On” being a prime example – but nothing else seemed to be treasured by the fanbase to quite the same degree. This single is really the group at their absolute best.
New Entries Elsewhere In The Charts
Week One
9. A.R.K (A.R. Kane) - Listen Up! (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 9
AR Kane with a clubbier approach, using DJ Awe to take a pair of scissors and a sharp needle to their work. Sadly, it ends up being neither as propulsive and vital as “Pump Up The Volume”, nor as forward-thinking and eerie as “Lolita” or “Baby Milk Snatcher”. What we’re left with is a restless mix of snapshot ideas which really could have been released by just about anybody – a wasted opportunity.
15. The Wonderstuff - Unbearable (Far Out) (re-entry)
Peak position: 14
Following the group signing to Polydor, their second indie release “Unbearable” began to shift copies again, thanks to purchases by new fans. It remains arguably their best single, and certainly one of the finest tracks on their debut album “Eight Legged Groove Machine” which was stuffed with sharp, tangy three minute ditties which sounded breathtaking when I was 14 years old.
19. Psychic TV - Jack The Tab (Temple)
Peak position: 15
29. Dub Sex - The Underneath (Cut Deep)
Peak position: 18
Debut appearance from one of the less remembered Manchester groups. They may have supported The Stone Roses and even generated a reasonable amount of press at the time, but their cultural footprint feels almost invisible in 2026.
Unlike The Roses, of course, they often performed a dark, savage and primitive form of rock, owing a bigger debut to the American underground that any upcoming Madchester goings on. “The Underneath” is a good example of this, anchored as it is by rubbery basslines and a thundering drumkit.
Week Two
7. Pixies - Gigantic (4AD)
Peak position: 6
Debut entry for Pixies, a group who seemed to drop out of the sky in the UK, becoming music press legends mere moments after their 4AD contract had been signed. Having a single as powerful as “Gigantic” so early in their career obviously helped no end – as did having a sound which felt not a million miles away from the cacophony of the American underground, but combined that with pin-sharp choruses, ludicrous mythology and surf guitar licks.
Unlike The House of Love, Pixies sounded so different from anything and everyone else around that the road ahead would be clear for them, irrespective of emerging trends.
10. The Sugarcubes & The Jesus and Mary Chain - Birthday EP (Christmas Eve) (One Little Indian)
Peak position: 2
In their keenness to further promote the group’s debut LP “Life’s Too Good”, One Little Indian decided to re-release Birthday a year on and pad it out with special remixes by the Jesus and Mary Chain and some live tracks across several formats.
The idea failed to push the track into the Top 40, not least because the Reid brothers remix callously takes the original and fires a blowtorch at it; whatever eerie intrigue it had is destroyed by a cacophony of feedback and distortion as Bjork struggles to make herself heard. What worked for the Mary Chain clearly didn’t always make sense for everyone else.
A new video was also shot for the standard English language version of the track, which featured The Sugarcubes merrily strolling around Reykjavik and bathing in the thermal spa; at some points it’s unclear whether it’s trying to be a promo video for the band themselves, or the country of Iceland.
Peak position: 2
In their keenness to further promote the group’s debut LP “Life’s Too Good”, One Little Indian decided to re-release Birthday a year on and pad it out with special remixes by the Jesus and Mary Chain and some live tracks across several formats.
The idea failed to push the track into the Top 40, not least because the Reid brothers remix callously takes the original and fires a blowtorch at it; whatever eerie intrigue it had is destroyed by a cacophony of feedback and distortion as Bjork struggles to make herself heard. What worked for the Mary Chain clearly didn’t always make sense for everyone else.
A new video was also shot for the standard English language version of the track, which featured The Sugarcubes merrily strolling around Reykjavik and bathing in the thermal spa; at some points it’s unclear whether it’s trying to be a promo video for the band themselves, or the country of Iceland.
15. The Highliners - Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) (ABC)
Peak position: 15
Psychobilly group and Klub Foot veterans The Highliners get their teeth stuck into the Swingin’ Medallions garage classic here, although its an odd spot in their discography, being neither psychobilly nor garage – instead, they shine it up into a bright, whooping burst of indie-punk, the kind of thing numerous Grebo adjacent acts were attempting at the time. Curious.
16. The Wolfgang Press - King Of Soul (4AD)
Peak position: 16
25. Johnny Thunders & Patti Palladin - She Wants To Mambo (Jungle)
Peak position: 25
26. Ultra Vivid Scene - She screamed (4AD)
Peak position: 20
Debut entry for Ultra Vivid Scene, who at this point were essentially just New York musician Kurt Ralske multi-tracking all the instruments himself and assuming a band guise.
“She Screamed” is lo-fi as hell, scraping and shuttering its way across a minimal soundscape, in places sounding like a product of industrial 1984, in others like something from a late sixties obscurities compilation. It intrigued UK music journalists, who at this time were paying very close to attention to any American college rock exotica they could get their mitts on.
Week Three
13. The Chesterfields - Blame (Household)
Peak position: 13
“Blame” marked The Chesterfields last significant release in indie chart terms – though at the risk of sounding cruel, what other terms did they have?
It actually shows a degree of progression, as the group move away from the merry-happy jangle of their recent past and towards a more aggressive, punchy sound, which in places recalls the anthemic post-punk of Pete Wylie or The Teardrop Explodes being rubbed against the alternative sounds of 1988. It was probably a case of too little, too late, however, and future singles would fail to pick up as much interest from the public.
Tragically, vocalist David Goldsworthy, aka Davy Chesterfield, would die from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run accident in Oxford in 2003.
Week Four
7. Coldcut featuring Junior Reid - Stop This Crazy Thing (Ahead Of Our Time)
Peak position: 4
Coldcut tighten the reigns and restore order with a single which no longer leaps from one sample to the next, but offers a bubbling, squelching reggae influenced track where Junior Reid makes some vague Jackson-esque dictums about global disorder and violence. "Come on everybody let's do it right/ stop the fuss!/ Stop the fight!" he demanded, but nobody really listened, and that's probably why we're in our current mess in 2026.
In common with many of the DJ collaborations which emerged in the latter half of 1988, it's hard to decide whether it's a Junior Reid track with Coldcut knobs on, or a Coldcut track with Reid guest vocals. Or, more to the point, how was the creative dynamic on this one different to Coldcut's less credited input on Yazz's "The Only Way Is Up"? It's not a rhetorical question - I'm posing the point because I really can't decide.
11. Helloween - Dr Stein (Noise UK)
Peak position: 11
German power metallers who were already selling significant quantities of records in their home country, but "Dr Stein" marks their peak moment in the UK, climbing to number 57 in the national charts.
It sounds largely as you'd expect, being powerful rifforama with a faint air of ridiculousness. The group frequently winked and gurned in their publicity shots as if to forewarn us that on the camp to serious rock spectrum, they were closer to Sweet than Gary Moore. Everything right and nothing wrong about that, in my view.
12. Baby Ford - Oochy Koochy (F.U. Baby Yeh Yeh) (Rhythm King)
Peak position: 3
While Peter Ford's labelmates The Beatmasters and Bomb The Bass were hyper and jittery, flitting from one idea to the next, Baby Ford favoured Acid squelches, deep throbbing basslines, a mere dusting of samples from sources like "The Man Who Fell To Earth", and keyboard riffs which sound as if they'll end on logical hooks, but finish deliberately flatly instead.
"Oochy Koochy" was apparently based on a rattle Peter's car had developed - which sounds ridiculous, but is actually plausible when you hear the awkward, springy juddering of the rhythm track - and is utterly superb, perhaps one of the finest singles of its kind in 1988 (and there was plenty of competition). It does occasionally threaten to become a cacophony, but resolves itself in time, bringing that chiming chorus home before you feel totally annihilated by the rumble of the rest of the track.
16. The Young Gods - L'Amourir (Play It Again Sam)
Peak position: 15
Swiss industrialists with their big UK breakthrough (in indie terms, at least). It's a rough, arse-shaking ride from start to finish, offering little reprieve, but its uncompromising jarring nature was catnip to people in the know.
19. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Deanna (Mute)
Peak position: 2
Uncle Cave returns from the complexity of "The Mercy Seat" with a straight-ahead rocker, which, with a less fussy production and the organ shifted higher in the mix, might have been comparable to a garage rock track on "Pebbles". He may rant and rave about murder here, but strangely he sounds like he's having a damn good time too - grooving, hand clapping, and shoving reverb all over his vocals so he sounds as if he's mixing his vocal magic in the bathroom while shaving for a big night out, bopping in a kinda dangerous way with a razor in one hand. It's almost like gothic bubblegum, or The Archies summoning a demon.
Number One In The Official Charts
Yazz & The Plastic Population: "The Only Way Is Up" (Big Life)
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