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At the peak of the Brit-pop fad, there was a school of "mod-rockers" that
followed in the footsteps of the Jam.
Turning up the amp and speeding up the tempo, they revived the wild rock and
roll of the Who, albeit with a Brit-pop spin that made it appealing to the
charts.
The Wildhearts, led by vocalist and songwriter David "Ginger" Walls and featuring bassist Danny McCormack, were among the
most energetic and blasphemous of the pack.
Greetings From Shitville led the debut album
Earth Vs The Wildhearts (East West, 1993). The brisk melodies of
Caffeine Bomb, Georgie In A Wonderland and especially
I Wanna Go Where The People Go, from the sophomore
P.H.U.Q. (1995), established them among the few angry young men
of Brit-pop.
Fishing For Luckies (Round, 1996), featuring new guitarist
Jeff Streatfield, is equally wild and irreverent, with standout tracks like
Sick Of Drugs,
but the songs that were not included in the album (due to an argument
with the label)
and instead released as singles,
If Life Is LIke A Love Bank and Geordie In Wonderland,
are the ones that would have made it worth the money.
Inglorious, Schitzophonic, Do The Channel Bop and
Sky Babies indulge in lengthy showcases of heavy-metal jamming
that has only one problem: it is terribly derivative of every hard-rock
classic from AC/DC to Metallica.
Endless Nameless (Mushroom, 1997) was a swansong of sort, a loud and
distorted album that often sounds like a cross between Sonic Youth and
Ministry (Junkenstein, Pissjoy, Thunderfuck).
The band had just turned serious when they dissolved.
McCormack hooked up with guitarists Tom Spencer and Neil Phillips and formed
the Yo-Yo's, who debuted with the singles
Out of My Mind (Rebound) and Rumble (Rebound) and the album
Uppers And Downers (Subpop, 2000).
When magazines like Kerrang and Melody Maker announce a "next big thing",
we already know that we are going to get some lame, derivative, second-rate,
radio-friendly pop from a band whose name will be forgotten in a matter of
months.
The Yo-Yo's may fare better than their predecessor, because their songs spin
madly like in the best rock and roll tradition. No MC5s and no Stooges here,
as Yo-Yo's focus is on catchy tunes and not on barricades of distorted guitars.
1000 Miles and Head Over Heels
administer doses of a loud and noisy, but ultimately
innocuous, power-pop. The band has crafted its own sound, at the same time raw
and melodic, but their debt to the classics is obvious in the
mid-tempo Who rockers (Champagne And Nakedness) and the
Rolling Stones and Faces fanfares (Out Of My Mind)
that punctuate the album.
Where the band transcends its limits and its idols is in the
wild romp of Rumble, in the
anthemic choruses and uptempo beat of Hanging Up and
Time Of Your Life, and especially
in the glorious, frantic rave-up of Keepin' On Keepin' On.
The Wildhearts returned with Riff After Riff (Gearhead, 2004),
which was as good as the early ones, but the British press had already
moved on to other "next big things"
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Walter Consonni)
All'apice dell'entusiasmo per il Brit-pop, c'era una scuola di
"mod-rockers" che seguiva le orme dei
Jam. Alzando il volume dell'amplificazione ed accelerando i ritmi,
erano in grado di far rivivere il rock and roll selvaggio degli Who,
per quanto con un influsso Brit-pop che lo rendeva adatto alle
classifiche di vendita. I Wildhearts, guidati dal bassista e cantante
Danny McCormack, erano tra i più energetici ed irriverenti del
mucchio. Greetings >From Shitville ha trainato l'album
d'esordio Earth Vs The Wildhearts (East West, 1993). Le melodie
frizzanti Caffeine Bomb, Georgie In A Wonderland e
soprattutto I Wanna Go Where The People Go, dal successivo
P.H.U.Q. (1995), hanno permesso di annoverarli tra i pochi veri
angry young men del Brit-pop. Endless Nameless (Mushroom, 1997)
è stato un mediocre canto del cigno, un album fragoroso e
distorto che spesso suona come una via di mezzo tra Sonic Youth ed i
Ministry (Junkenstein, Pissjoy, Thunderfuck).
Appena la band si è presa troppo sul serio ha finito con lo
sciogliersi.
McCormack ha coinvolto i chitarristi Tom Spencer e Neil Phillips e ha
formato gli Yo-Yo's, che hanno esordito con i singoli Out of My
Mind (Rebound) e Rumble (Rebound) e con l'album Uppers
And Downers (Subpop, 2000). Nel momento in cui riviste come
Kerrang e Melody Maker annunciano una "next big thing", sappiamo
già che stiamo andando incontro ad un pop radiofonico
convenzionale, non originale e di seconda mano proposto da una band il
cui nome sarà dimenticato nel giro di qualche mese. Gli Yo-Yo's
possono funzionare meglio dei loro predecessori, grazie alle loro
canzoni che si srotolano furiosamente secondo la migliore tradizione
del rock and roll. Niente MC5s e Stooges qui, dato che gli Yo-Yo's si
focalizzano su melodie orecchiabili piuttosto che su barriere di
chitarre distorte. 1000 Miles e Head Over Heels
somministrano dosi di fragore e di noisy, che in ultima analisi
rappresentano solo un innocuo power-pop. La band ha plasmato il
proprio sound, allo stesso tempo grezzo e melodico, ma il loro debito
verso i classici è evidente nei mid-tempo rockers derivati
dagli Who (Champagne And Nakedness) e nelle fanfare alla
maniera dei Rolling Stones e dei Faces (Out Of My Mind) che
ricorrono nell'album. La band trascende i propri limiti ed i propri
idoli nel fragoroso scherzo di Rumble, nei cori antifonici e
nei ritmi uptempo di Hanging Up e Time Of Your Life, e
soprattutto nello splendido e frenetico rave-up di Keepin' On
Keepin' On.
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