One of the best records I ever bought was Singles Going Steady, the Buzzcock’s compilation of their 45s. On the other hand, I realized today that I played that one over and over and didn’t hear them all. Which is too bad.
This one is up third on the original SGS vinyl. I don’t mind. Great songs, great band.
https://youtu.be/MPcnXBj8Msw
Why do Brits have better taste than Americans? I mean, they’ve always liked their share of garbage too, but good songs and good bands always find an audience in England. Not so here, and it’s shameful. I just learned that Buzzcocks had seven Top 40 singles in England. That’s cool, that’s the way it should be. This one’s my fave and their biggest hit. RIP, Pete Shelley.
An incredible song.
Just found this comment on YouTube (on a clip to Harmony in My Head, which is incredible)
Buzz Fugazi
2 years ago
Saw these blokes last night at The Vic. I wasn’t able to keep up with the younger ones in the pit just sort of did my middle aged boots on the ground faux pogo with my sweetheart all done up in her fishnets and such. Still managed to have a great time. Got some kind of very deep satisfaction just watching the band rip through their set. Saw a handful of folks I used to see at the shows 30 years ago, too. Nice.
6
The answer to your question is size. And state run media.
Ooh, you’re going to have to explain the “state run media” part to me. Them’s fightin’ words;)
What I meant is that UK radio had limited choices. So cool people like John Peel had radio shows and could offer stuff to practically the whole country. Expose a lot of people to catchy music that has style cachet and you have hits.
I suppose, if the country is lucky enough to have John Peel. Not so good if Scott Muni gets the gig. It is definitely true that great radio produced great bands back in the day – Cleveland, Detroit and LA come to mind. Also, remember that the pirate station Radio Caroline and also Radio Luxumbourg had a big influence on Britain for while.
Scott Muni was a tool of capitalism, but so were all the folks at WNEW, many of whom are still slinging music at the Fordham college radio station. That’s how important slinging is.
But consider this: rocknroll was never better than when payola was blatant, so much so that when we were young the best music was the most popular music and we expected that to be so. This was also true for the better part of three decades during the jazz era. Only when the “radio consultants” rose to power did that stop being true. I suppose both are products of “capitalism” (the very word is Marxist) – but then since radio stations have always been licensed you can make a case that our radio is state-run too. In philosophies our mass media run the gamut from A to B.
It is very hard to separate what happened with how we backfill our stories.
The Payola scandals hit when we were in diapers, but the practice persisted. Did we know? I didn’t, I listened to the radio as if the gold it offered was gold.
I may have been duped. I don’t think that invalidates my feelings then. It just complicates them.
While I did listen Scott Muini would play a whole side of Yes while he was in meetings to pay for the station. I kind of like that. And he lost.
In any case, I’m sure Payola was good for Alan Freed and raised some boats, but we now know how much else was out there that was great.
We have to decide to value on the qualities, or the economic impact.
I think we’re getting better about that.