1980 Housekeeping
The Piranhas
The Piranhas
Genre: Ska/New Wave That Madness and Ian Dury could be proud of)
3.5 our of 5
Highlights:
Getting Beaten Up
Tom Hark
Tension
Green Don’t Suit Me
I was recently chided for lack of knowledge of a certain Power Pop classic. The band in question was called The Real Kids and, well, the reason I didn’t know them was that they put out their album 1977 and that predated this project by one year.
But, since I heard about them in the very very very excellent music series by Patrick Hicks on TikTok (He is now a member of this group and if you only follow ONE person on social media, make it him. And his podcast, Good Measure, is just as good. The guy is a musicology star waiting to explode.
So, yeah. I didn’t know about The Real Kids.
And I’m now on the hunt for their record. And I found one. A reissue. And, because if I buy something from someone on Discogs or start a crat, I want to see what else they have that would pique my interest. And save on shipping. ;)
So, there’s a guy who has The Real Kids. And I went searching. Narrowing it to “New Wave” this record caught my eye. When I clicked on it, lo and behold, it’s another album from 1980.
Another. Album. From. 1980.
It’s a hoot. In a very Toy Dolls kind of way you get the absolute sense that these guys, in their devotion to jerky jerky Oi Ska, are not really taking anything seriously. “Think about anything that turns you, think about your favorite fantasy. Have you got one?” They sing on “Do You (Solo Sex for Two)” and, yeah, that’s the burgeoning libidinousness creeping out in 1980. Along with, say, Human Sexual Response and the not so subtle but we all missed it, lyrics of Doug Fieger (“And it hurts!”) this group seems devoted to as much cheekiness as they can muster.
And they had a hit!!! The covered an instrumental South African song, added lyrics and, boom, “Tom Hark” landed in the British Top 10! Which you could have told me that it was Madness and I would have no reason to dispute you.
Want more arcane stuff? The guitarist Johnny Helmer went on to become a lyricist for Marillion. Yes. THAT Marillion! He was the post Fish lyricist. After all that he went on to a career in marketing. Which, honestly, seems to be the route for more musicians than I expected in my travels. But, really shouldn’t be all that surprising. After all, isn’t all pop music an attempt at marketing a product and selling it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NesxPhJk_T8&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtUJUjFGYC7F-JEFbrK1RPl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXZNuyPy5-0&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtUJUjFGYC7F-JEFbrK1RPl&index=2
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