Monday 5 December 2011

Putting the FUN into Fundamentalism

A chance conversation reminded me of the Lost Age of non-commercial indie music, which died out when Britpop became chart fodder. One scene was 'grebo': defiantly uncool West Midlanders in big shorts, para boots and churning out sometimes quite catchy club-influenced hits. Ned's Atomic Dustbin (2 bass guitars!), Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff: good serviceable student music.

This is Ned's' biggest hit: Kill Your Television:



And you need some PWEI: gritty yet wittily postmodern forward thinkers: rap, rock and funk mixed together to provide such gems as this, and frankly odd paean of praise to football and a porn-star turned rightwing politician 'Touched By The Hand of Cicciolina'.



Even better was the occasional crossover with the UK hip-hop scene. Who, pre-9/11, couldn't fail to love Fun Da Mental: politically-conscious angry Muslim metal-rappers? Happy days…

No comments: