Look at this beautiful young girl, brimming with promise and talent at the start of her career. If only you could go back in time and warn her.
Of course we don’t know what killed her yet but we can guess. A lot of people have been saying they saw this coming but I’m with Davy, it was still a big shock as I thought she’d get her shit together in the end, that the daughter of a London cabbie would be tougher and more sensible. So I’m stunned and sad and, I have to say, a little angry with her for pissing so much promise away — but that’s just me being selfish. What a tragic bloody waste.
Christ, they’re dropping like flies at the moment, now it’s producer Martin Rushent who’s popped his clogs. In case you’re thinking “Martin who?” and wondering why the hell is a producer so important. Well, he produced all these brilliant gems.
But his biggest claim to immortality was producing The Human League’s classic album Dare and changing the sound of pop music as we knew it.
Maybe not one of the “greats” but someone who had a big impact on British pop culture and on every man in the country of a certain age. Even though the routines were sometimes a bit silly, Flick and the girls only had the time between the Tuesday when the new chart came out and the Thursday when TOTP was filmed to pick a song and work out a dance routine so they did a pretty great job considering. She probably didn’t need to work so hard though, most of us would have been happy to have watched them standing there opening tins of baked beans as long as they wiggled a little bit while they were doing it.
Before she went behind the scenes Flick was also a member of Pan’s People herself, she’s the blond wearing the orange hot pants in this routine (I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed typing the words “orange hot pants.”)
I had tickets to see him at the Town & Country Club back in the 80s but the concert was canceled at the last minute because of “illness.” At the time I had no idea that the man who wrote songs like “The Bottle” and “Angel Dust” had addiction problems of his own and shows often didn’t happen as a result. His death is doubly sad because it seemed like he had put his troubles behind him and was making a comeback.
A lot of obits have been referring to him as the “Godfather of Rap” which seems very reductive and not true to the real depth of his talent, to me he was a brilliant songwriter and a really wonderful soul singer with a gorgeous, smoky voice. And judging by this track he was storming live too, pity I’ll never get the chance to see for myself now.
I’m speechless at the news that Poly Styrene has died of breast cancer. Calling her an “original” seems like faint praise for such a singular talent. It wasn’t so much that they broke the mould when they made her, more that the mould hadn’t even been invented before she came along.
Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard
But I think…
Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
I’m absolutely stunned to find out that Trish Keenan of Broadcast has died. It’s bad enough when old rock and soul troopers pass away but when it happens to someone so young in such a modern and vital band it really gobsmacks you.
Broadcast made a lot of my favourite records of the last 10 years and I’m going to miss her voice terribly. Awful, awful news.
In 24 Hour Party People one of the running jokes was that designer Peter Saville was always late getting jobs finished (eg: delivering the invites for The Hacienda’s opening party on the night itself) so there’s something nicely fitting about it taking him three years to do Tony Wilson’s headstone. And what a beautiful thing it is.
A Certain Ratio were also treated as a bit of a joke in the movie (though not as much as poor Vini Reilly) but I loved them and think this might be my favourite record ever released on Factory.
The sentimental musings of an ageing expat in words, music, and pictures. Mp3 files are up for a limited time so drink them while they're hot.
Contact me: lee at londonlee dot com
