Billy Reeves was the songwriter and guitarist in 90s indie band theaudience, the group that gave Sophie Ellis-Bextor a leg up to stardom. This was their crowning glory...
Billy left the group in '98 and he's had a pretty chequered history since then, including a near-fatal car accident in 2001 and a place in the Guinness Book of Records for releasing the world's first playable jigsaw puzzle with the band Sugar Coat in 2006.
Since then, he's worked as a journalist, a radio producer and a football commentator.
But he still makes music too, and this is from his lates album, Postwar, which will be out in August. And he's got the Bluebells backing him on this track, but don't let that put you off if you're George...
Last week we looked at how our addiction to digital media, in particular but not limited to social media, can have serious negative effects on our mental health. This is particularly affecting teenagers and young people, but us oldies can't really be smug or complacent about it as it's just as easy for us to fall into a similar trap.
Working in a mental health hospital, it's clear to see a drastic increase in mental health problems among teenagers - hardly surprising if up to 50% of them are addicted to their mobile phones. In recent years, the medical profession has had to respond to a serious growth in self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal ideation, and one of the many reasons for this is constant unfiltered online conversation about these subjects. Young people are no longer exposed solely to the opinions and experiences of their immediate peer group: the whole world is out there waiting to talk to them. And a lot of the world is not very nice at all...
Lockdown often gets blamed for many of the mental health problems people are facing this decade, and I'm sure our experiences during covid had some effect... but arguably the worst thing to come out of the pandemic was the way that so much of our lives was forced online. As a teacher, I'd never taught an online lesson prior to Lockdown. I had to learn how to do so very quickly, but I really thought things would go back to normal once schools and colleges opened up again. And yet, there's been a noticeable push in certain fields of education (particularly universities) to keep at least part of the curriculum online, for reasons that have nothing to do with education and far more to do with saving money. And this has been echoed in a lot of businesses too - how many meetings do people now attend via Teams rather than by sitting around a table with a coffee and looking each other in the eye? Once Pandora opened that box, the lid was never going back on.
And so our addiction and reliance on the internet in every aspect of our lives has grown stronger. Meaning more screen time for everyone. And nobody's feeling happy about this... except the tech companies. The most recent World Happiness Report suggests that under 25s, traditionally among the happiest section of the population, are now just as stressed and miserable as their middle-aged parents. (In fact, the only generation who still manage to smile are those who've reached retirement age.)
Why are young people so miserable? Why are they having a mid-life crisis in their 20s? (They're calling that The Quarter Life Crisis, in case you think I'm making it up.) The cost of living, shrinking job market (thanks, in part, to our new AI Overlords) and slim chance of getting onto the overpriced property ladder must take some of the blame... but I don't think we can underestimate the culpability of the internet.
Young people today live their lives online. Many are spending between 7 and 10 hours a day on social media. And by doing so, they are rewiring their brains. Shorter attention spans, a constant craving for dopamine highs, the inability to concentrate on anything longer than a 280 word tweet or a 30 second TikTok video. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Their whole life is affected and controlled by the internet - relationships, education, career, self-worth...
Maybe this is just evolution. Maybe their brains need to be rewired to survive in the future. I can't say. Because older generations have been prophesying doom for wreckless youth for decades, if not longer. And I'm just another doomsayer. I wouldn't mind so much if they were happy though. Only they're just as miserable as the rest of us now... and surely that's not what being young is all about?
(Not been a lot of Self Help this week, has there? I'll try to redress the balance next time.)
And you thought that the whole point of becoming a rock star was to get up on stage and feel the adulation of the crowd below you...?
Not always, it seems.
These guys would rather be in the audience!
AUDIENCE #1
We start with an Audience lacking the definite article, originating in that London back in 1969. They started out as a soul band called Lloyd Alexander Real Estate (no idea who Lloyd Alexander was - he certainly wasn't in the band) before getting a record deal and a residency at Ronnie Scott's nightclub as Audience. They drifted away from soul towards the pretensions of Art Rock, released four albums, and toured with Rod and the Faces, before it all fell apart at the end of '72. Vocalist Howard Werth was momentarily considered as a replacement for Jim Morrison in The Doors, while other band members went on to join Stackridge, The Nashville Teens and previous Namesakes, Hot Chocolate.
Here they are at the height of their powers in 1971...
THE AUDIENCE #2
British post-punkers, verging on goths if you ask me, from 1982. The only tracks listed on discogs were on compilations, so I was surprised to find some audio...
THEAUDIENCE #3
The Audience for whom I have the most time arrived on the scene in 1996, differentiating themselves with a portmanteau name (or perhaps their space bar was broken). Lead singer Sophie Ellis Bextor was the daughter of former Blue Peter presenter Janet Green, and there were slight mumblings of nepotism from certain corners of the Britpop community. However, Theaudience were a far more interesting prospect than Menswear or The Ordinary Boys or any number of lesser Britpop lights, so stuff 'em all.
Sophie went on to solo fame in the pop world, reinventing herself during lockdown with her Kitchen Disco performances. Her career got a further boost recently when her track Murder On The Dancefloor was featured in the soundtrack of controversial movie Saltburn... and as a result, you'll have a hell of a job finding a decent priced copy of Theaudience's sole album from 1998 right now. They were going for 10p a copy 6 months ago... such is the fickle world of pop.
Here's a song I knew I was going to love as soon as I saw the title...
THE AUDIENCE #4
From Santa Cruz in 1997 came another The Audience - or Das Audience - though they'd soon change their name to Vue, like the cinema chain. The song titles on their sole album sound promising... Doctor Huh, Painless Dentistry and Love A Doorframe - but I think they may have set the bar too high.
AUDIENCE #5
A Spanish Audience who got together in 2002 and may still be kicking around. Could be worthy of further investigation...
THE AUDIENCE #6
German indie types led by guitarist Sebastian Wild and singer Bernd Pflaum, active between 2005 and 2012.
THEE AUDIENCE #7
New York power-poppers with an extra E from about a decade ago...
THA AUDIENCE #8
Finally, I want you to close your eyes and imagine you're in a particularly noisy video game arcade back in 2014...
Which Audience is deserving of your applause... and which would you boot out into the street?
Kris Kristofferson was a talented amateur boxer who took part in The National Golden Gloves boxing tournament. He never fought Ali professionally, but he did star alongside him in the TV mini series Freedom Road back in 1979. He had a way with an eye-catching song title too...
Anyway, as I've been down with the lurgy this week, I don't have much to say for myself beyond throwing a few more songs with interesting titles your way. Interesting images too, like this one...
This is Bobb Trimble, "psychedelic folk/outsider musician" from Massachusetts. Bobb self-released two albums in the early 80s (above is the cover of his debut record, Iron Curtain Innocence) before packing the psychedelic folk / outsider shit in and going off to do something more respectable with his life. Like not having a backing band made up of 12 year old kids that resulted in them getting barred from venues scared of losing their liquor licences. The albums were re-issued in the early noughties after second hand copies started going for silly money on eBay and taste-makers like Thurston Moore began dropping Bobb's name.
Next up, a couple I owe to Ernie. Firstly, African-American country singer Howdy Glenn. I'd never heard of him until Ernie pointed me in his direction a couple of weeks back, but he's a welcome discovery. In the copious notes I make while preparing this feature, I scribbled the following...
Ernie also responded to Khayem's recent 1000th post and they got into a bit of banter about reggae singer John Holt. Ernie wondered if any others wanted to take up the John Holt baton. I'll admit, I didn't have a lot from Mr. Holt in the hard-drive, but this one caught my eye.
I've no idea why John wants brushing. Please tell me it's not a euphemism.
And now, I bring you "the driving force behind 'The New Wave of Swedish Celtic Punk'", described by one critic as pioneers of "Celtic Social Realism". Swedish Celtic Social Realism, that is. They're also the only Swedish band ever to have performed for two consecutive years at the Woodstock Festival. The Woodstock Festival in Poland, that is.
Full disclosure, Finnegan's Hell didn't come up with the song title below... they just stole it from Oscar Wilde. Still, you know what Picasso said...
Finally, I'd just like to point out that the current Number One on the UK Singles Chart is a song I first wrote about back on the 18th of August 2022. Look at me, the taste-maker! Woo hoo! It's not got the greatest title in the world, but given that I am now clearly an Influencer, I can make up my own rules.
Meanwhile, at #8 in the aforementioned Completely Irrelevant Streaming Aggregate still known as the "Official Singles Chart" (surely it's time they dropped the word "Singles"?), it's a re-entry for the lovely Sophie Ellis-Bextor's 23 year old Number 2 hit, Murder On The Dancefloor. This is largely due to the Irish actor Barry Keoghan dancing naked (and I do mean: naked) to it at the end of the recent movie Saltburn.
Now I've always had a lot of time for the daughter of Blue Peter's Janet Ellis. I even saw her play live a couple of times in the late 90s with theaudience, a band who certainly knew their way around a song title. To whit...
Welcome back to the Hot 100 as we come of age - backwards - with only 17 more weeks to go before I get to have a lie down. As has become customary in recent weeks, there's a ton of songs to get through... so let's get cracking.
Fascinating facts about Pete Wingfield (I bought "18 With A Bullet" in 1975 - fantastically fun lyrics): He produced Searching for the Young Soul Rebels the first album by Dexys Midnight Runners - and also produced The Proclaimers "Sunshine on Leith". He's played keyboards for Van Morrison, The Everly Brothers, The Housemartins and many more. Sadly however, he did play piano for The Alan Parsons Project, but nobody's perfect.
In the blue corner, here's... erm... Lynchie...
...and then there's the great Alice Cooper song: "I'm Eighteen".
I definitely second FBCB's suggestion of Alice Cooper's 'I'm Eighteen'. A few years ago Mr SDS did his best Alice Cooper impression at a fancy dress party (it was so hot his eyeliner ran and the great thing was that it didn't matter...) Somewhere out there now there's a priceless photo of Alice, Slash and Ozzy together in a scout hut in Essex.
And this week's winner...?
Well, it's obvious really, isn't it?
Well done, Lynchie.
Next week - 17. Off the top of my head, there can be only one winner. You may seek to persuade me otherwise...
I think I beat you on a couple of these this week: at least identifying the song, anyway. Which is good, because I don't like them to be too easy. That said, the clues in question were particularly obscure. And on one, I didn't give you enough info...
10. This reluctant replacement is more suited to a crown than a flat cap...
7. Don't pay the ferryman: being seen coming out of one of their gigs takes the biscuit.
Damn it: I edited the original clue down and dropped the bit that referred to the actual song so both clues only refer to the band. In which case, you all get 10 bonus points for my stupidity.
The clue originally began: Please believe that it's true...
(Second mistake in two weeks. Must try harder in future.)
Yes, Charon was Ferryman of the river Styx into Hades. A coin was placed in your dead mouth to pay him.
1. In pop's parallel universe...they were desperately seeking a home.
Mark 'E' Everett's dad, Hugh Everett II, was the American physicist who came up with the notion of parallel universes, the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics.
Desperately Seeking Susan, of course.
A combined effort from C & The Swede: teamwork pays off.
Back in the late 90s, I was very much taken with the debut album of pop-indie act theaudience (sic), fronted by Sophie Ellis Bextor: Janet's daughter, who would go on enjoy to a chequered, sometimes interesting career in the mainstream pop world. This was one of their best songs.
This post, however, is not about that band.
Instead it's about a "British art rock" combo from the early 70s who released four albums, the last of these being Lunch, from where today's track hails.
I wish I could tell you I knew more about this band or had heard any more of their music. Sadly, today time only permits me to write a post about the one song of theirs I do know, Seven Sore Bruises.
I came across this song via the blogosphere a few years back and stuck it on one of the random in-car compilations I create to help me discover new tracks that are hiding in my collection. I liked it a lot - enough to feature it here - although I honestly thought it was a lost Northern Soul anthem rather than a "British art rock" nugget. So we all learned something new today.
No video today as the song isn't on yotube. You can listen to it at the link below...
