Truly Up The Junction
August 25, 2017 8:03 AM Subscribe
Chris Difford of Squeeze talks about going broke and working for Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry. As a chauffeur.
I didn't know about any of this! Crazy story.
posted by freakazoid at 8:28 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by freakazoid at 8:28 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
> I got used to accompanying him about the place, dining with gold-toothed Russian billionaires on Park Lane or at the Groucho Club with his former Roxy Music bandmate Brian Eno and REM singer Michael Stipe, whose band had recently signed an $80 million record contract.
Ughhh.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:32 AM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
Ughhh.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:32 AM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
I saw them live a couple of times back in the day and they were amazing.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:33 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:33 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
I saw a doc about them not that long ago and assumed that Difford and Tilbrook were doing ok. I've always considered it a bit shocking that they didn't become even bigger considering how good their songs were both musically and lyrically. It seemed that in the late 80s every one I knew had at least a greatest hits album of theirs.
But, as ever... It's a shit business...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:40 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
But, as ever... It's a shit business...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:40 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
I saw them live a couple of times back in the day and they were amazing.
yeah, I used to have a low-quality bootleg from an early US tour, at a club in Boston; they were tight as hell and very high-energy. Nailing the vocals.
posted by thelonius at 8:45 AM on August 25, 2017
Odd to learn that Difford didn't meet Ferry until 1997 when Paul Carrack was playing keyboards with Squeeze and Roxy at the same time (East Side Story and Avalon).
posted by octobersurprise at 8:47 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 8:47 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
Ughhh.
Because hanging at the Groucho with Bry and Mike would be too outre? I'd give it a go.
The post-hit careers of the pop stars of my youth is curiously compelling, and I'm not quite sure why. It's fairy-tale stuff, but one that's intricately intertwined with one's own real-life experiences. All permutations of rags and riches are available, with lots of sex and drugs and (natch) rock and roll, that holy trinity which so enriches life and impoverishes the purse.
posted by Devonian at 8:48 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Because hanging at the Groucho with Bry and Mike would be too outre? I'd give it a go.
The post-hit careers of the pop stars of my youth is curiously compelling, and I'm not quite sure why. It's fairy-tale stuff, but one that's intricately intertwined with one's own real-life experiences. All permutations of rags and riches are available, with lots of sex and drugs and (natch) rock and roll, that holy trinity which so enriches life and impoverishes the purse.
posted by Devonian at 8:48 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
I had no idea. He owns parts of my brain. I just assumed those boys were all living comfortably on royalties.
posted by pracowity at 8:56 AM on August 25, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 8:56 AM on August 25, 2017 [10 favorites]
Bummer of a story. I've known a few people who have come close to stardom and then had go back to a mundane 9-5 life but to be someone whose album teenage me rushed out to buy and end up as someone's driver seems pretty humiliating.
posted by octothorpe at 8:58 AM on August 25, 2017
posted by octothorpe at 8:58 AM on August 25, 2017
Kind of surprised that the article didn't mention "Tempted", the song that I associate most strongly with Squeeze... but then again I was really surprised, on checking Wikipedia, that the song never broke the top 40 anywhere.
As for former pop stars that have come down in the world, the bit about Difford becoming Ferry's chauffeur (thus ferrying Ferry, ha ha) reminded me a bit of something in Bob Greene's book about Alice Cooper in the 1970s, Billion Dollar Baby, and someone talking about drummer Neal Smith's desire to hire a personal valet/chauffeur/flunky, and how, if Smith didn't mind his money, he'd end up as someone else's flunky. As it turned out, he went into real estate.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:01 AM on August 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
As for former pop stars that have come down in the world, the bit about Difford becoming Ferry's chauffeur (thus ferrying Ferry, ha ha) reminded me a bit of something in Bob Greene's book about Alice Cooper in the 1970s, Billion Dollar Baby, and someone talking about drummer Neal Smith's desire to hire a personal valet/chauffeur/flunky, and how, if Smith didn't mind his money, he'd end up as someone else's flunky. As it turned out, he went into real estate.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:01 AM on August 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
Somehow I doubt that Warner Bros got their $80m back from sales of post 1996 REM albums.
posted by octothorpe at 9:08 AM on August 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 9:08 AM on August 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
On our way up, we were supported by some great bands – The Specials, REM, The Jam, Dire Straits, U2, XTC – who’d go on to have huge success.
Boy, he might want to read up on XTC to find out how shitty things got for them. I believe Andy Partridge was working in a car rental shop in Swindon at one point, which is arguably a lot "worse" (by his metric) than driving for Bryan Ferry, especially considering he went on to become Bryan's erstwhile manager. And Squeeze scored the shit out of the charts compared to XTC.
(n.b.: Both are among my very favorite and most influential bands.)
posted by mykescipark at 9:16 AM on August 25, 2017 [13 favorites]
Boy, he might want to read up on XTC to find out how shitty things got for them. I believe Andy Partridge was working in a car rental shop in Swindon at one point, which is arguably a lot "worse" (by his metric) than driving for Bryan Ferry, especially considering he went on to become Bryan's erstwhile manager. And Squeeze scored the shit out of the charts compared to XTC.
(n.b.: Both are among my very favorite and most influential bands.)
posted by mykescipark at 9:16 AM on August 25, 2017 [13 favorites]
As it turned out, he went into real estate.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:16 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
"Now year after year Neal, AKA The Rock n' Realtor ..."Groan. Wonder if he hums a few bars of "Refrigerator Heaven" whenever he shows a kitchen?
posted by octobersurprise at 9:16 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have been to maybe 5 concerts in my life, but two of those were Squeeze. Seconding that they gave a great show.
posted by Mchelly at 9:21 AM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 9:21 AM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
Welcome to your dream home. I think you're gonna like it. I think you're buy this here duplex.
posted by pracowity at 9:24 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 9:24 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Cool, now I have the Glenn Tilbrook demo version of "If I Didn't Love You" in my head again, one of those instances where a demo has a quality about it that the final version couldn't capture. I should really try to get back to New York or Chicago to see them in November. They're truly musician's musicians—I always notice so many little things on repeat listens, and I'm probably missing a million musical hat tips even still.
posted by limeonaire at 9:29 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 9:29 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
OK, also, this band member timeline is a thing of beauty. I appreciate that someone took the time to make that.
posted by limeonaire at 9:47 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 9:47 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Wikipedia band timelines are a truly useful thing, especially when it gets really complex.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:05 AM on August 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:05 AM on August 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
I had one of those old moments a couple years ago with a young coworker who had never heard of Squeeze. I was just . . . floored. In my mind that's like never having heard of REM or the Cure. They were just so hugely formative and at the same time ubiquitous for so long, I suppose I just assumed they were all rich and doing, I don't know, oldish rich people things.
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:08 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:08 AM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
If it makes you feel better, I found out that my 20-something teammates had never heard of REM. We have standup meetings every morning at 9:30 and while herding them to the conference room last week I started singing "stand in the place where you work" and they all had no idea what that was. Me: "you guys don't know REM?" Them: Blank stares and shrugs.
posted by octothorpe at 10:25 AM on August 25, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:25 AM on August 25, 2017 [10 favorites]
Odd to learn that Difford didn't meet Ferry until 1997 when Paul Carrack was playing keyboards with Squeeze and Roxy at the same time (East Side Story and Avalon).
Paul Carrack is to popular music what Kevin Bacon is to American movies. He was a member of Squeeze (he replaced the departed Jules Holland) and sang lead on "Tempted," which as with Halloween Jack above, I think of as the quintessential Squeeze song. He is also the guy singing Ace's one hit "How Long" and Mike and the Mechanics' "In The Living Years" and has played with everyone from B. B. King to Nick Lowe to the Eagles to Elton John to Eric Clapton to Diana Ross to the Smiths to the Pretenders. Dude gets around.
Likewise, I had no idea about Difford's financial slump. I didn't think Squeeze ever garnered the sort of mad stacks that would allow Difford and Tillbrook to sit around wearing solid gold hats or anything, but this is much more mundane than I would have forecast. Playing pubs, writing new songs, no label deal, signing the occasional autographs: this is what I imagine mid-range rock stars doing when out of the limelight. Sharpening Bryan Ferry's pencils? Geez.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:36 AM on August 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
Paul Carrack is to popular music what Kevin Bacon is to American movies. He was a member of Squeeze (he replaced the departed Jules Holland) and sang lead on "Tempted," which as with Halloween Jack above, I think of as the quintessential Squeeze song. He is also the guy singing Ace's one hit "How Long" and Mike and the Mechanics' "In The Living Years" and has played with everyone from B. B. King to Nick Lowe to the Eagles to Elton John to Eric Clapton to Diana Ross to the Smiths to the Pretenders. Dude gets around.
Likewise, I had no idea about Difford's financial slump. I didn't think Squeeze ever garnered the sort of mad stacks that would allow Difford and Tillbrook to sit around wearing solid gold hats or anything, but this is much more mundane than I would have forecast. Playing pubs, writing new songs, no label deal, signing the occasional autographs: this is what I imagine mid-range rock stars doing when out of the limelight. Sharpening Bryan Ferry's pencils? Geez.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:36 AM on August 25, 2017 [9 favorites]
If it makes you feel better, I found out that my 20-something teammates had never heard of REM.
Coming from Georgia and being the right age, I always was shocked when I'd talk to R.E.M. fans who didn't know any of their records before Document or Green.
$80 million
R.E.M. had crazy good luck with timing; their IRS Records contract expired just when they had radio hits and arena rock potential from Document, and there was an enormous bidding war, among all the major labels, to sign them to a new contract. And I got the impression they were always good at business.
posted by thelonius at 10:41 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Coming from Georgia and being the right age, I always was shocked when I'd talk to R.E.M. fans who didn't know any of their records before Document or Green.
$80 million
R.E.M. had crazy good luck with timing; their IRS Records contract expired just when they had radio hits and arena rock potential from Document, and there was an enormous bidding war, among all the major labels, to sign them to a new contract. And I got the impression they were always good at business.
posted by thelonius at 10:41 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Still better than pulling mussels from a shell.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:02 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by MartinWisse at 11:02 AM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
I called in sick for a few days; then when I returned to work, I was let go. Bryan wrote me a letter, which remains unopened to this day.
How odd.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 11:06 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
How odd.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 11:06 AM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Squeeze was meant to play at Taste of Chicago in 1992, and as the band took the stage, Tilbrook apologized for the absence of Difford, saying the latter had "had some bad fish." My friends and I raised eyebrows at each other at the euphemism and proceeded to nickname the group on stage as "Squ" (pronounced "Skwuh.") It was still a good time - they shared a triple header with They Might Be Giants and Robert Cray.
What a time he's had of it. Wow.
posted by wells at 12:04 PM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
What a time he's had of it. Wow.
posted by wells at 12:04 PM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Somebody made a joke once--maybe here somewhere?--about Singles, 45's and Under being issued to every college freshman in 1983, and, having been a college freshman in 1983, it rang very true to me.
I have a friend who was lost his job in local public radio when the station went under. Now he works as a hospital janitor. When I think about it, I feel really proud of him. I have known too many people who won't take work they think is beneath them, but there should be no shame in any honest labor, no matter what one did before.
It does make me sad when really excellent music is under-rated, though.
posted by Orlop at 12:08 PM on August 25, 2017 [12 favorites]
I have a friend who was lost his job in local public radio when the station went under. Now he works as a hospital janitor. When I think about it, I feel really proud of him. I have known too many people who won't take work they think is beneath them, but there should be no shame in any honest labor, no matter what one did before.
It does make me sad when really excellent music is under-rated, though.
posted by Orlop at 12:08 PM on August 25, 2017 [12 favorites]
I think I'd heard Tempted and probably Mussels from a Shell and Cool for Cats on KNRK in Portland, but I really got interested in Squeeze acting as a general flunkie/teenage help for a local band. I remember us piling into a VW bus and heading.. I don't remember where their gig was, maybe a small local airport or something. The lead vocal (woman, British, probably 10-ish years older than me, had a major crush on for a bit) put on a Best Of cassette and the band & self rocked out to that the whole ride out. It's the memory that comes up whenever I listen to them now, and it's a pretty good one.
posted by curious nu at 12:12 PM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 12:12 PM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
OK, also, this band member timeline is a thing of beauty. I appreciate that someone took the time to make that.
I noticed they had two members both called Wilkinson in the band at the same time and I googled to see if they were brothers or something but they were unrelated. Sadly the drummer Kevin, who was also in The Water Boys and China Crisis, died back in 99
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2017
I noticed they had two members both called Wilkinson in the band at the same time and I googled to see if they were brothers or something but they were unrelated. Sadly the drummer Kevin, who was also in The Water Boys and China Crisis, died back in 99
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2017
Squeeze is in my top 5 bands list, so this was a welcome read. I love how Difford's stories call to mind the storytelling nature of his lyrics. And the best news of all is they're releasing a new album?!? This click made my day.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 12:46 PM on August 25, 2017
posted by DrAstroZoom at 12:46 PM on August 25, 2017
We were honoured to have Mr Tilbrook in attendance at one of our gigs a few months ago. And even more honoured to have his teenage son play an impromptu support set (there is some schooling crossover between band members' offspring). Very impressive he was too.
posted by srednivashtar at 12:53 PM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by srednivashtar at 12:53 PM on August 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
I found out that my 20-something teammates had never heard of REM.
Well, they haven't done a lot in the last 20 years (I guess it's arguable if an album every 4 years is "a lot") and what they have done hasn't exactly taken the world by storm. Your 25 year old was 19 when the last album came out; your 20 year old might not have been buying their own music yet—and if they were, they probably weren't buying REM. My guess is, for most people in their mid-twenties or younger, they're going to have to be indie rock fans or the children of fans to have more than a vague idea of who REM was.
there should be no shame in any honest labor, no matter what one did before.
"I'm not afraid to bend my back
I'm not afraid of dirt
But how I fear the things I do
For lack of honest work."
posted by octobersurprise at 12:55 PM on August 25, 2017
Well, they haven't done a lot in the last 20 years (I guess it's arguable if an album every 4 years is "a lot") and what they have done hasn't exactly taken the world by storm. Your 25 year old was 19 when the last album came out; your 20 year old might not have been buying their own music yet—and if they were, they probably weren't buying REM. My guess is, for most people in their mid-twenties or younger, they're going to have to be indie rock fans or the children of fans to have more than a vague idea of who REM was.
there should be no shame in any honest labor, no matter what one did before.
"I'm not afraid to bend my back
I'm not afraid of dirt
But how I fear the things I do
For lack of honest work."
posted by octobersurprise at 12:55 PM on August 25, 2017
I'm a huge fan but Chris and Glenn have broken up and reunited so many times now I've lost track.
Like I didn't even know until recently that they reunited again and released an album two years ago....and another one coming soon?
I'm gonna play Argybargy on the way home tonight and remember the good 'ol days.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Like I didn't even know until recently that they reunited again and released an album two years ago....and another one coming soon?
I'm gonna play Argybargy on the way home tonight and remember the good 'ol days.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
> Kind of surprised that the article didn't mention "Tempted", the song that I associate most strongly with Squeeze... but then again I was really surprised, on checking Wikipedia, that the song never broke the top 40 anywhere.
Yeah, I am also surprised to see that their commercial popularity was apparently less than what I thought. Squeeze is actually a bit before my time. I am pretty sure I was introduced to them via "Babylon and On", which came out when was about 13...at which point I found "Singles – 45's and Under" and slurped it up as enthusiastically as I do mussels (which is to say VERY, INSATIABLY.)
posted by desuetude at 1:42 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I am also surprised to see that their commercial popularity was apparently less than what I thought. Squeeze is actually a bit before my time. I am pretty sure I was introduced to them via "Babylon and On", which came out when was about 13...at which point I found "Singles – 45's and Under" and slurped it up as enthusiastically as I do mussels (which is to say VERY, INSATIABLY.)
posted by desuetude at 1:42 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I just bought tickets for their Australian tour next year. I was beside myself with excitement when I saw they were coming. I hope they are making bags of money with the tour. Must buy lots of merch so Chris doesn't have to chauffeur again.
posted by drnick at 2:18 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by drnick at 2:18 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Likewise, I had no idea about Difford's financial slump. I didn't think Squeeze ever garnered the sort of mad stacks that would allow Difford and Tillbrook to sit around wearing solid gold hats or anything, but this is much more mundane than I would have forecast."
Indeed. And I also never thought Bryan Ferry would've achieved so much success that he would have had offices and a staff of several people, including one whose job was to help him with lyrics. I don't recall any of Roxy Music's or his output being popular enough to generate what seems like a lot of cash.
Also, "Tempted" is one of the fine pop songs ever. From the writing to the performance to the production, it doesn't get any better.
posted by jonathanhughes at 2:40 PM on August 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
Indeed. And I also never thought Bryan Ferry would've achieved so much success that he would have had offices and a staff of several people, including one whose job was to help him with lyrics. I don't recall any of Roxy Music's or his output being popular enough to generate what seems like a lot of cash.
Also, "Tempted" is one of the fine pop songs ever. From the writing to the performance to the production, it doesn't get any better.
posted by jonathanhughes at 2:40 PM on August 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
Never thought they had much mainstream success, but were huge in the new wave/pop circles.
And Up the Junction will never not make me cry.
And agree on the Brian Ferry head scratch.
posted by Windopaene at 4:09 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
And Up the Junction will never not make me cry.
And agree on the Brian Ferry head scratch.
posted by Windopaene at 4:09 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Turns out this is extracted from his book coming out soon. Might be an interesting read.
posted by freakazoid at 5:03 PM on August 25, 2017
posted by freakazoid at 5:03 PM on August 25, 2017
I laughed out loud at Orlop's comment - my senior year in college in the mod-1980s we played "Singles – 45's and Under" so often I think the disc fell apart into a perfect vinyl spiral.
posted by twsf at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by twsf at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
And related to the idea of musicians - or anyone - doing other honest labor when their music is no longer supporting them, I can't recommend highly enough the documentary about Anvil, which I found unexpectedly insightful and touching.
posted by twsf at 5:13 PM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by twsf at 5:13 PM on August 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Funny. Squeeze played my college I think '93 for peanuts. Apparently that was near his low point of addiction. Grim.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:01 PM on August 25, 2017
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:01 PM on August 25, 2017
I saw them live a couple of times back in the day and they were amazing.
One thing I noticed from a classic-era live show was that bassist John Bently was an impressive dancer. He could glide across the stage in an suave manner.
posted by ovvl at 7:27 PM on August 25, 2017
One thing I noticed from a classic-era live show was that bassist John Bently was an impressive dancer. He could glide across the stage in an suave manner.
posted by ovvl at 7:27 PM on August 25, 2017
I was employed at first to help him write songs. ‘Lyric doctor’ was my full title.
Many people have made the comment, like Andy Mackay, that "Bryan was the best lyricist in Britain at that time [1973] without any doubt."
Did all the cocaine that came a few years later destroy his lyric-producing brain cells, necessitating the hiring of a lyric doctor, 24 years on?
posted by tenderly at 11:46 PM on August 25, 2017
Many people have made the comment, like Andy Mackay, that "Bryan was the best lyricist in Britain at that time [1973] without any doubt."
Did all the cocaine that came a few years later destroy his lyric-producing brain cells, necessitating the hiring of a lyric doctor, 24 years on?
posted by tenderly at 11:46 PM on August 25, 2017
Well, Wikipedia says Ferry's sold (as Roxy Music and solo) some 30 million albums, which does buy you an office and an entourage for a while. Although there's no way on the green earth I'd have lived his life over that of his slaphead erstwhile bandmate.
posted by Devonian at 4:25 AM on August 26, 2017
posted by Devonian at 4:25 AM on August 26, 2017
During their later, smooth period (and I think this goes for Bryan Ferry's solo stuff as well), Roxy were astonishingly successful in lots of places around the world outside the U.S. Looking at their discography, I'm shocked that Squeeze only had three top ten hits (Cool For Cats, Up the Junction and Labelled with Love - numbers two, two and four respectively), as their records seemed omnipresent on the radio around that time. Equally surprised that they had records just getting into the top forty or just outside it up to 1996. Personally I'd have reckoned them at about the same stature as Madness (who had, by my reckoning, fourteen top ten singles, though all their singles up to their first split were top forty, only a couple outside the twenty), which goes to show how little I actually know.
posted by Grangousier at 4:44 AM on August 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Grangousier at 4:44 AM on August 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
That's interesting because here in the US, Squeeze was many times more popular than Madness who were basically a one hit wonder with Our House.
posted by octothorpe at 4:57 AM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:57 AM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
There are numerous multipliers to going sufficiently mainstream - you open up your demographics, home and abroad, and you become much more desirable to licensing deals with advertisers, Hollywood and the like. I don't know to what extent the works of the latter-day Roxy and lounge-lizard Ferry benefited from that, nor who got the lion's share, but it has seen many more mediocre entities than Oor Bry ushered into lives of tasteless freedom.
posted by Devonian at 5:28 AM on August 26, 2017
posted by Devonian at 5:28 AM on August 26, 2017
He's not the only member of Squeeze to have documented the humiliations of his later career - I could never bring myself to watch the documentary Glenn Tilbrook: On the Road, which follows him driving himself around the US alone in an RV on a solo tour in 2001, because it just sounded too sad:
I was late to Squeeze, became bizarrely obsessed by them c.1990/91 having seen Jools Holland play live when I was about 16, been madly starstruck by his piano-playing, and reverse-engineered that into also loving Squeeze. I think I then went back and bought every single and album they'd ever released on vinyl, over the course of a few years, hung out at stage doors for autographs, plastered my bedroom wall with posters. But they're one of the few bands that I think I've genuinely listened to too much. When I hear their songs now, they're just too imprinted into my brain for me to enjoy them. But whenever I see their names pop up, it feels like bumping into old friends.
posted by penguin pie at 12:29 PM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
"Tilbrook finds himself squeezed in before the Pet of the Week segment on a TV chat show, bedding down in campsites after playing to 100 souls in tiny bars and signing autographs at an RV dealership for a salesman who isn't quite sure who the jocular Limey is. Pickard is unstinting, recording the myriad indignities."
I was late to Squeeze, became bizarrely obsessed by them c.1990/91 having seen Jools Holland play live when I was about 16, been madly starstruck by his piano-playing, and reverse-engineered that into also loving Squeeze. I think I then went back and bought every single and album they'd ever released on vinyl, over the course of a few years, hung out at stage doors for autographs, plastered my bedroom wall with posters. But they're one of the few bands that I think I've genuinely listened to too much. When I hear their songs now, they're just too imprinted into my brain for me to enjoy them. But whenever I see their names pop up, it feels like bumping into old friends.
posted by penguin pie at 12:29 PM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
Listening to Singles 45 and Under right now and suddenly I'm a 16 year old again listening to WNEW-FM and wishing I was old enough to go to clubs in New York.
posted by octothorpe at 1:05 PM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 1:05 PM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
A while back I listening to a biz/IT podcast and one of the guys happened have been in a boy back in the day (I'd never heard of them, so not Take That level) - they made a bit of money but it didn't last more than a couple years after they broke up. So he went and got a regular job (he doe alright for himself ending up at managerial level). I get a long-running music/gossip email and they do occasional 'where are they now' on members of minor bands and it's probably not all that surprising that fair few end up music teacher.
But he was saying unless you make it mega-big the money always runs out. (He mentioned even Take That got back together ten years later)
He didn't say you could always go on the nostalgia tour, or invest your money in a business - Keith from the Prodigy bought a country pub, you have to pub money in the charity box if you mention 'fire starter' re the open fire
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:17 PM on August 26, 2017
But he was saying unless you make it mega-big the money always runs out. (He mentioned even Take That got back together ten years later)
He didn't say you could always go on the nostalgia tour, or invest your money in a business - Keith from the Prodigy bought a country pub, you have to pub money in the charity box if you mention 'fire starter' re the open fire
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:17 PM on August 26, 2017
Weren't songs from Avalon in "Lost In Translation"? I guess that would be after the period Difford worked for Ferry, but I'm sure that was lucrative.
posted by thelonius at 4:42 PM on August 26, 2017
posted by thelonius at 4:42 PM on August 26, 2017
I think in the US, Squeeze ended up being one of those bands that didn't have top 40 hits, but ended up being played a lot on the radio in the late 70s into the 80s. The first song I knew by them was "Tempted", but I didn't know who they were as individuals (so I thought for a while that "How Long", "Tempted", and "Living Years" were all by the same band).
In 1987, we had MTV in my freshman dorm, and I saw "Hourglass" and learnt that Squeeze was definitely not Paul Carrack's band. I have their first few albums now. That year I also got Singles... because that, The Queen Is Dead, The Beatles' red and blue greatest hits albums, and Legend were standard issue CDs in my dorm. Almost everyone had them. I'm going to check my piggy bank to see if I can't go see Squeeze at The Beacon. I've never seen them live.
Any money Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music made in the US had to mostly be from licensing for movies. Very few friends in my same-age cohort knows Roxy Music aside from "Avalon", which in fairness was a pretty big hit here.
I hope Chris is doing all right now financially. Ferry seems insufferable, but this isn't the first I've heard of him being that sort of person.
posted by droplet at 6:29 PM on August 26, 2017
In 1987, we had MTV in my freshman dorm, and I saw "Hourglass" and learnt that Squeeze was definitely not Paul Carrack's band. I have their first few albums now. That year I also got Singles... because that, The Queen Is Dead, The Beatles' red and blue greatest hits albums, and Legend were standard issue CDs in my dorm. Almost everyone had them. I'm going to check my piggy bank to see if I can't go see Squeeze at The Beacon. I've never seen them live.
Any money Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music made in the US had to mostly be from licensing for movies. Very few friends in my same-age cohort knows Roxy Music aside from "Avalon", which in fairness was a pretty big hit here.
I hope Chris is doing all right now financially. Ferry seems insufferable, but this isn't the first I've heard of him being that sort of person.
posted by droplet at 6:29 PM on August 26, 2017
Somebody made a joke once--maybe here somewhere?--about Singles, 45's and Under being issued to every college freshman in 1983, and, having been a college freshman in 1983, it rang very true to me.
Same here. In fact, I drew the Singles cover on my college dorm room door with Sharpies in the same colors with my name done vertically just like on the album cover. This was 1984. Good times.
Is it still a thing to draw/paint elaborate designs on dorm room doors anymore?
posted by sundrop at 11:20 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Same here. In fact, I drew the Singles cover on my college dorm room door with Sharpies in the same colors with my name done vertically just like on the album cover. This was 1984. Good times.
Is it still a thing to draw/paint elaborate designs on dorm room doors anymore?
posted by sundrop at 11:20 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Now I'm obsessed with "If I Didn't Love You I'd Hate You". Learned how to play it over the weekend. F#m7b5 and all!
“A soap-sud stickleback navy/A scrubbing brush landing craft”
Now. A stickleback is a kind of fish, right? Assuming that Glenn Tillbrook's girlfriend didn't bring fish into the bath, to play with, what is he on about? Do stickleback fish resemble soap suds at all? Maybe it just scanned, like "Coconuts sit side by side" does.
posted by thelonius at 11:25 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
“A soap-sud stickleback navy/A scrubbing brush landing craft”
Now. A stickleback is a kind of fish, right? Assuming that Glenn Tillbrook's girlfriend didn't bring fish into the bath, to play with, what is he on about? Do stickleback fish resemble soap suds at all? Maybe it just scanned, like "Coconuts sit side by side" does.
posted by thelonius at 11:25 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
You can get a nice clear look at the guitar chords here if you don't believe me! There's Am, there's an F# in the bass, at "...tonight it's love by the fire".
posted by thelonius at 11:34 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 11:34 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
An informant elsewhere says: "The Stickleback class submarines were midget submarines of the Royal Navy initially ordered as improved versions of the older XE class submarines. They were designed to allow British defences to practice defending against midget submarines since it was theorised that the Soviets had or could develop such craft."
that's probably the reference
posted by thelonius at 1:59 PM on August 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
that's probably the reference
posted by thelonius at 1:59 PM on August 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
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I knew that Difford got sober, but not that Elton John was his sponsor!
posted by thelonius at 8:16 AM on August 25, 2017 [6 favorites]