It was great to have the energy ... without actually having to be punk.
June 14, 2014 5:51 PM   Subscribe

 
that dude on the right looks like Boyd Rice.
posted by boo_radley at 6:23 PM on June 14, 2014


But if, as pop theorist Simon Reynolds contends, C86 was "post-punk with its most radical elements ... purged", its sexual politics also made a mark that can still be seen. This anti-macho, chaste music made women feel welcome as musicians, not sex objects.

I've never heard the compilation itself but there was definitely a change in feeling in that genre.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:27 PM on June 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


I was just reading about this compilation in the liner notes of the Stump anthology that came out this week.
posted by cropshy at 6:45 PM on June 14, 2014


I had not one but two Close Lobsters cassettes around 1989, both bought at a mall record store in the midwestern US - I think that contra the article, quite a few of those bands had some success.
posted by Frowner at 6:47 PM on June 14, 2014


I guess I was thinking of C89.
posted by wotsac at 6:49 PM on June 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


I had not one but two Close Lobsters cassettes around 1989, both bought at a mall record store in the midwestern US - I think that contra the article, quite a few of those bands had some success.

I had the same experience and didn't understand that statement either. Other bands were formed from some of these as well--David Callahan from The Wolfhounds went on to start Moonshake, which was never a huge band, but they were around throughout the 90s.
posted by sleepy pete at 7:00 PM on June 14, 2014


Did somebody say Stump?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:02 PM on June 14, 2014


I have bought so many CDs from Stephen Pastel. He's the opposite of the snotty indie store clerk; really involved, keen to find stuff you like, and expand your experience from there.
posted by scruss at 7:14 PM on June 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


Hah! I was thinking this would be the C89 Compilation History, which is a very different thing.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:36 PM on June 14, 2014


This post reminds me of how very often I used to read interviews of bands who were before my time, but whose music I could still find, and how much I kind of miss doing that, actually. Some of these bands were a significant part of my youth after around 2003.
posted by quiet earth at 8:41 PM on June 14, 2014


Also, I highly recommend Fuzzbox. What a treasure.
posted by quiet earth at 8:50 PM on June 14, 2014


It's not to hard to find both c86 and c81. It does look like c86 is getting a 3 CD box set.
posted by Catblack at 9:43 PM on June 14, 2014


It's already out, or is supposed to be (I've got a promo copy right in front of me, in fact).
posted by mirepoix at 10:17 PM on June 14, 2014


I went to the C86 gig in London last night. It was great to finally see Yeah Yeah Noh, other highlights were an energetic set from the Wolfhounds, and the Wedding Present closing things with a clutch of old favourites.
posted by kenchie at 4:12 AM on June 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Man this is a great example of why oral histories suck sometimes. They got 150 identical quotes from people saying there was no movement, no sound, and nothing at all interesting about this compilation. But I can tell you, as someone who heard a Wedding Present tape from this era out of nowhere in the 90s, when they sounded so amazing and different from anything else, and then finding out that there was a specific time and place that birthed this gorgeous, frantic, sardonic music--this comp was like the holy grail. Just own it ffs you Scottish jerks, you were part of something glorious, a group mania for the Velvet Underground and Jesus & Mary Chain and the Smiths & romantic poetry and crunchy big muff distortion pedals that could never be replicated now where scenes are all by nature eclectic and a songwriting style isn't going to just sweep through a city making everyone under 23 form the same band.

I fuckin love this comp. Get back on my lawn you surly old dorks.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:48 AM on June 15, 2014 [12 favorites]


I dare anyone to listen to "You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends" and not want to cry in a drainage ditch under a grey sky and then weld a leather jacket and sunglasses on to your body and write 400 identical tunes and play that kind of music forever.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:55 AM on June 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


It's not to hard to find both c86 and c81. It does look like c86 is getting a 3 CD box set.

I just picked it up.

The frontman of one of the bands on the two extra discs actually sits behind me at work; his post-rock'n'roll career path went towards audio production, then audio software development and most recently mobile app development. I'm half considering asking him to autograph the disc in question, just because.
posted by acb at 8:18 AM on June 15, 2014


But if, as pop theorist Simon Reynolds contends, C86 was "post-punk with its most radical elements ... purged", its sexual politics also made a mark that can still be seen. This anti-macho, chaste music made women feel welcome as musicians, not sex objects.

I've never heard the compilation itself but there was definitely a change in feeling in that genre.


See also: Sarah Records, who took that and ran with it, to the point of getting somewhat bolshy about zines putting pictures of pretty girls on their covers and band photographers singling out the female bassist/keyboardist for the front of the photo. There's a new documentary coming out about the label (I saw it in Bristol last month) and a book titled Popkiss coming out.

For what it's worth, I wrote a piece for The Quietus about Sarah after the exhibition.
posted by acb at 8:23 AM on June 15, 2014 [4 favorites]


Metafilter: Get back on my lawn you surly old dorks.
posted by 3.2.3 at 10:41 AM on June 15, 2014


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