2 to Be Somebody: Ambition and the Desire to Be Different
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2 To Be Somebody: Ambition and the Desire to Be Different The context for difference This chapter aims to identify some of the bands that enjoyed chart success during the late 1970s and ’80s and identify their artistic traits by means of conversations with band members and those close to the bands. This chapter does not claim to be a definitive account or an inclusive list of innovative bands but merely a viewpoint from some of the individuals who were present at the time and involved in music, creativity and youth culture. Some of these individuals were in the eye of the storm while others were more on the periphery. However, common themes emerge and testify to the Scouse resilience identified in the previous chapter. Also, identifying objective truth is a difficult task, as one band member will often have a view of his band’s history that conflicts with that of other members of the same band. As such, it is acknowledged that this chapter presents only selective viewpoints. Trying something new: In what ways were the Liverpool bands creative and different? ‘Liverpool has always made me brave, choice-wise. It was never a city that criticized anyone for taking a chance.’ David Morrissey1 In terms of creativity, the theory underpinning this book which was stated in Chapter 1 is that successful Liverpool bands in the 1980s were different from each other and did not attempt to follow the latest local or national pop music trends. None of the bands interviewed falls into the categories of punk, disco or New Romantic, which were popular trends at the time. Whether they could be truly considered unique is open to debate. The bands’ styles are examined in terms of originality using a creativity map designed by Norman Jackson (2011), TO BE SOMEBODY 29 a writer on creativity. The bands featured are by no means an exhaustive list: many others demonstrated similar traits of innovation and difference. Types of creativity In his article “Developing personal creativity through lifewide education” (2011), Norman Jackson offers the following general definition of creativity: “Being inventive with someone else’s ideas and involved with re-creation, re-construction, re-contextualization, re-definition by adapting things that have been done before and doing things that have been done before but differently”. Jackson then breaks down the notion of creativity into four broad themes: (1) ways of thinking, (2) attitudes, (3) effects and (4) feelings. The bands featured in this chapter have been grouped in order to exemplify these four particular strands of creativity. Their origins are discussed to offer context for their individuality, and interviews were conducted to explore their notions of creativity and difference. Roger Hill speculates on difference in Liverpool bands One of the most authoritative voices on Liverpool music is BBC Radio Merseyside broadcaster Roger Hill. He acknowledges that the bands of the Scouse Pop era (late 1970s and 1980s) differed from one another and that some were musical innovators: “There were some bands which were quite unique in their approach. These bands did influence future developments either by the way they looked or the way they sounded.”2 Roger recognized that something unique was happening in Liverpool and he would feature these innovative and unusual bands on his Radio Merseyside show. He goes on to qualify the notion of uniqueness by arguing that, although there were some groundbreaking bands, not all were true innovators as they were drawing their music from a variety of well-established influences. Roger argues that uniqueness was often accompanied by a forcefulness of personality among the bands’ members, driving them to success. These individuals tried to act differently, look different and sound different from national music trends. They also had personalities that were uniquely Liverpudlian. From this localized oddness came a sense of something different, fresh and exciting. Roger explains: It’s a personal view, but if you take the core bands of Teardrops, Bunnymen, Jayne Casey, Dead or Alive and Wah!, what made them distinctive were the personalities involved. They were very much of Liverpool. The peculiar quirks of those individuals produced individual music which is sui generis: it does not follow form or fashion.3 30 SCOUSE POP Roger believes that the bond with Liverpool was empowering but also held them back from developing their music beyond the initial establishment of their sound: The environment at the time suited those individuals. They were always going to be in seminal bands or in the public eye. However, they were not driven by musical development per se or about what they could sound like next. If I think about bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen, they developed and got more grandiose but their musical style has not shifted much from their early days. I think that some bands were able to thrive in the micro-environment of Liverpool but they were also limited in Darwinian terms because they were anchored to the city and so did not progress much further in musical terms.4 His view is that the time and the place contributed to a difference in styles between the bands but that only a few of the bands were in fact unique. 1. New ways of thinking Andy McCluskey’s upside-down bass and the future of pop. Half Man Half Biscuit carried aloft through provincial towns. Tommy Scott gets cold feet with the Bride of Frankenstein. Why members of China Crisis do not wear frilly shirts. Jackson’s first strand of creativity, ways of thinking, involves having new ideas and an open mind to develop music that differs from the mainstream. The bands in this section were developing their art with energizing ideas, and adapted and refined genres rather than being revolutionary. In this respect they were connecting new approaches and new ways of engaging with pop music. The very nature of popular music is that it must be accessible and so the bands developed their strands of creativity within the parameters of the pop song. This section will examine four seminal Scouse Pop bands who demon- strated originality and uniqueness setting them apart as innovators or musical auteurs: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Half Man Half Biscuit, Space and China Crisis. Each created a style that was original at the time; and each was credible, creative and accessible. OMD embraced new forms of instrumentation and were generally considered groundbreaking. They shaped the future and are in many ways a reference point for the subsequent development of popular music. Roger Hill acknowledges their innovativeness: “OMD were precursors of dance. They produced music based on synthetic beats. In 1980/81/82, they were predicting music which would happen in the ’90s.”5 While comparisons with German synthesizer pioneers Kraftwerk will always be made, OMD took TO BE SOMEBODY 31 synthesizers into the world of pop music in a way that other bands did not. The mixture of conventional drums and bass with synthesizer overtones, the absence of guitars and the unconventional lyrics gave them a unique sound. This was complemented by strong melodies. The songs were memorable and instantly appealing in the true sense of pop. Half Man Half Biscuit were never part of the Eric’s scene and were fiercely Birkonian rather than Liverpudlian. Their strand of observational comedy contained acerbic lyrics combined with a wide variety of musical styles. They displayed the absurdities of modern life in a random and unique manner. One could argue that they have roots in the folk tradition, which can include songs about the vagaries of life. DJ Andy Kershaw described them on his BBC Radio 3 show as “The most complete and authentic British group since the Clash”.6 However, the variety of musical and lyrical references from punk to folk passing through rock and country make them bewildering to absorb. The sound of the music is amusing even before a word has been sung. According to Roger Hill: Half Man Half Biscuit are completely unique. Their songs are of themselves and have a distinct and amazing character and it is that which we must celebrate. [Founder and writer] Nigel Blackwell is not aloof from the music scene, he is extremely well informed. He comments on the music scene either in the content or the style of everything he does.7 Although Space achieved international success during the Britpop era of the mid-1990s, their musical origins are in the 1980s. Britpop itself was arguably the last great trend in British popular music and spawned many bands who acknowledged the prodigious British bands of the 1960s such as the Beatles, the Who and the Rolling Stones. While being associated with Britpop, the music Space produced bore little similarity to bands such as Blur, Oasis or Pulp. Their music was difficult to categorize; while some songs reflected the Britpop genre, most did not. Writer, producer and label manager Dave Balfe acknowledges his own part in the Britpop movement and argues that it was not a unique genre, being too closely aligned to previous styles: “The problem with Britpop, which I take some responsibility for, was that it legitimized the past and now a band is considered innovative if they are ripping off a band that hasn’t been ripped off before.”8 What made Space unique during the Britpop era was the sheer variety of styles they embraced, such as pop, rock and Latin American, while the lyrics covered a broad range of subjects including horror movies. In the words of Jennifer Blake: Space are from Liverpool, but any attempts to cast the band under the somewhat meaningless title of “Britpop” should be quickly 32 SCOUSE POP dismissed.