The 1981 Listening Post - Television Personalities - And Don't the Kids Just Love It

 Television Personalities - And Don't the Kids Just Love It

#35

By Brian San Marco

January 1981

Television Personalities

And Don’t the Kids Just Love It

Genre: 4 track punk pop

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Brian’s Rating: 3.5/5 stars – for the simple songs and because it takes me back to garage days

Highlights: 

This Angry Silence

Geoffrey Ingram

Jackanory Stories

The Crying Room (an instrumental on a punk record?!)

For this review, I’ve decided not to research the band.  I wanted to be unjaded by finding out that these guys are super influential and responsible for something cool that I really liked.  This time, I’m gonna keep it as simple as this record.  Simple may be an understatement.

I’ve never heard of Television Personalities before this nor have I heard any of their music at all and I wonder if all their records sound like this. 

Remember back in the day when your band recorded a demo on a 4-track cassette?  The quality of cassettes (and one’s own mixing skills) notwithstanding, there is a basic awesomeness to this.  Essentially guitar – a Tele or Strat through a naturally overdriven Deluxe or Twin Amp, bass, and drums.  They probably didn’t even use all 4 tracks for most of this, yet it’s remarkably full and enjoyable.  At the same time, it’s hard to get past the overall sonically inferior record.  It’s raw, it’s messy, it’s subtle, and most importantly it’s simple.

Simply put, “simple” is a virtue.  Many great songs seem rather simple in design and approach.  The story is in the words and melody without further need for overly complicated guitar riffs and drum fills.  That is not to say the music is simple, but rather the understanding is simple and it’s simple to relate to – even if you don’t understand a word.  Songwriters have this gift, and in many ways, I am in awe.  

Television Personalities represent the beginnings of punk pop, and whether I or we know it or not, this sound influences generations.  Substitute the Strat/Deluxe with a Les Paul/Marshall.  Add a helping of drums and polish, you have Green Day.  I prefer this.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7n0jbzngXElnxdbQz2XibT?si=w8pnMNsWTQCvlvDqji_0CQ