It's brilliant how the brief mention of something in a blog can trigger thoughts in others' minds too, so it was really lovely to see recent posts by my dear fellow bloggers Alyson and The Swede on the subject of...
..Hats!
However, they took theirs one step further and each included a lovely photo of themselves in some very dapper headwear too. It seems only right therefore that I should take up the gauntlet thrown down by Alyson at the weekend to try and find an image of myself also wearing a rather bippity-boppity hat. Not easy!
..Hats!
However, they took theirs one step further and each included a lovely photo of themselves in some very dapper headwear too. It seems only right therefore that I should take up the gauntlet thrown down by Alyson at the weekend to try and find an image of myself also wearing a rather bippity-boppity hat. Not easy!
So the image above is from 1986 - it's a screenshot from a little DIY film, which was such a novelty at the time as we really weren't used to being in front of a camera and seeing ourselves that way. Some friends in a band* wanted to make a video about themselves, and this is from an afternoon in the rehearsal studio where Mr SDS and I were invited to watch whilst their manager mate nearly buckled under the weight of a huge, hired, shoulder-supported Camcorder. Thus I donned my finest (posey!) garb for the occasion and made a cameo appearance. I also smoked a lot of cigarettes.
How was 1986 for you? What were you listening to? The charts were full of Five Star and Simply Red, and there was very little new stuff around that was floating my boat. I was 23 and had been discovering '60s psychedelia and beat, the US 'Nuggets' and 'Pebbles' albums, all that kind of thing. I've written about my love of that '60s revival period here before, and how it seems strange looking back to be so young but getting into music that was (or seemed at the time) so old. But this music was new to my ears, and that was enough. It was so fresh and exciting to be exposed to it for the first time, and fantastic to have so much to delve into from previously unplundered archives.
Having a whole new genre of music to investigate brought with it too an interest in the fashions, attitudes and ephemera of its original era and I scoured the charity shops for dated clothes (including that hat), wishing myself back to a fantasy version of life where I might have shopped at the 'Granny Takes A Trip' boutique on the Kings Road or seen a trippy band at the UFO Club. But the reality was quite different - perhaps that's why. We were still in the midst of the Thatcher years, renting a shitty top-floor flat with peeling wallpaper in a new town well-known for the ubiquity of its concrete.
Still - I had the pleasure of working in a record shop and spending my wages on interesting vinyl. It was through this that I discovered other bands who didn't originate from the '60s but who still wanted to revive or at least borrow something from that whole era. Paisley Underground, Garage Revival, call it what you will... it ticked a lot of boxes. It meant you could do more than just stick on a twenty-year-old record and dream yourself back to some idealised version of the past, instead you could go see a band the same age as you, making similar exciting sounds in real time. Things evolved too, different elements were thrown into the mix by these new bands - not only was there the mod influence but there was a hint of the punk ethos about it too, if that makes sense. Fuzzy guitars or contemporary lyrics and more radical haircuts or over-the-top cover designs - something with a harder, brasher edge was going on which fitted in to the contemporary setting. We had bands like the Godfathers and the Prisoners here in the UK, alongside Scandinavian groups such as the Nomads and the Backdoor Men; there were the Fuzztones from New York (and many more).
Anyway, I'm waffling on but just wanted to put the above image into context. It's how I came to be watching a young new band rehearse in 1986 and yet didn't feel out-of-place in a pair of '60s style granny glasses and a bippity-boppity hat!
*Just in case they ever stumble upon this, for the sake of anonymity/privacy I've missed out the band's name. But we thought they were great.
Songs like this: Rupert's People - Hold On (1967)
Having a whole new genre of music to investigate brought with it too an interest in the fashions, attitudes and ephemera of its original era and I scoured the charity shops for dated clothes (including that hat), wishing myself back to a fantasy version of life where I might have shopped at the 'Granny Takes A Trip' boutique on the Kings Road or seen a trippy band at the UFO Club. But the reality was quite different - perhaps that's why. We were still in the midst of the Thatcher years, renting a shitty top-floor flat with peeling wallpaper in a new town well-known for the ubiquity of its concrete.
Granny Takes A Trip
Still - I had the pleasure of working in a record shop and spending my wages on interesting vinyl. It was through this that I discovered other bands who didn't originate from the '60s but who still wanted to revive or at least borrow something from that whole era. Paisley Underground, Garage Revival, call it what you will... it ticked a lot of boxes. It meant you could do more than just stick on a twenty-year-old record and dream yourself back to some idealised version of the past, instead you could go see a band the same age as you, making similar exciting sounds in real time. Things evolved too, different elements were thrown into the mix by these new bands - not only was there the mod influence but there was a hint of the punk ethos about it too, if that makes sense. Fuzzy guitars or contemporary lyrics and more radical haircuts or over-the-top cover designs - something with a harder, brasher edge was going on which fitted in to the contemporary setting. We had bands like the Godfathers and the Prisoners here in the UK, alongside Scandinavian groups such as the Nomads and the Backdoor Men; there were the Fuzztones from New York (and many more).
The Fuzztones: Bad News Travels Fast
Anyway, I'm waffling on but just wanted to put the above image into context. It's how I came to be watching a young new band rehearse in 1986 and yet didn't feel out-of-place in a pair of '60s style granny glasses and a bippity-boppity hat!
*Just in case they ever stumble upon this, for the sake of anonymity/privacy I've missed out the band's name. But we thought they were great.
Did you know there's a 1967 song called "Granny Takes A Trip" by The Purple Gang? The BBC banned it cos they thought it was about drugs!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0u1iRkN1ro
Ah thanks FBCB. Seems the BBC were quite hung up about those suspected drug references in songs. Granny was just popping down to Hollywood Town, surely!
DeleteSo glad you picked up the gauntlet C, and wow, what a cool picture. I can just imagine how it would have segued into the short film, a bit like the girls in the some of those late 60s film clips we sometimes share around here, so very apt.
ReplyDeleteIn 1986 I remember wearing a lot of white and definitely had a pair of earrings like the ones you're wearing. Love your bippity boppity hat and glasses.
I've never had a problem with foraging for second hand clothes in charity shops as you can pick up some great pieces and create quirky outfits. After this crisis I think I'll be resorting to charity shop clothes for ever more, but you know what, I'm fine with that as I've been really uncomfortable with the concept of disposable fashion for a long time now. As we keep saying a lot will change post-crisis and much of it for the better.
Thanks for sharing the songs, new to me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't listening to a lot of mainstream pop in 1986 (thus the white clothes) but I also made a new friend that year who had an amazing record collection and my ears were opened to previously undiscovered gems (mentioned in my Awesome Mix post).
Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks Alyson - hard one as at first I couldn't think of any images of me in hats apart from when I was a baby! Dunno about cool, more just posey!
DeleteI remember too that those mid-80s were full of pastel colours and a lot of white but the charity shops were still selling some great 'vintage' clothes without charging extortionate prices. I found some fab things in them which I wish I'd kept - not just dresses and boots (and that hat) but also 1960s annuals, magazines, lamps, even a couple of psychedelic mugs. Now the shops would probaby list them on eBay instead. I agree about the disposable fashion too and hope I can still get good items second-hand. Just before this virus really took hold I bought a great top from France (eBay, but not expensive). I've quarantined it for now!
It's great, isn't it, when you come across music that you haven't heard before thanks to friends - and also to blogs!
Wow. You're all so sophisticated and bohemian. A picture of me in a hat (if one existed) would look like Jed Clampett in comparison.
ReplyDeleteJed Clampett! One for the teenagers Rol!
DeleteAll my cultural references are at least 30 years out of date... though I dug further back for that one. I was mocked last week for making a reference to 90s comedian Phil Cool. Admittedly, he only sticks in my memory because he's mentioned in a Half Man Half Biscuit song.
DeleteHaha that made me laugh about Jed Clampett too, I had to go and remind myself. But didn't realise he's referenced in a HMHB song, that's brilliant.
DeleteHonestly not very sophisticated or bohemian here Rol. Just wanted to be!
Oh hang on, is it Jed Clampett or Phil Cool who's in HMHB lyrics?!
DeleteNational Shite Day references the "rubber-faced irritant, Phil Cool"...
Deletehttps://youtu.be/1FR842KUaOw
And with one grainy old screenshot, C effortlessly out-cools the lot of us! What a marvellous picture.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, significant portions of your 1986 soundtrack appear to have overlapped my own. Funny that.
Something of a young Barbara Streisand to that pose too, I think.
DeleteThanks both - can't agree about cool coz I know how I really am!
DeleteYes a lot of cross-overs in our 1986 soundtracks, TS!
Bit Babs could carry off hats so much better than I ever could, Rol.
*but* not bit.
DeleteWhat a fantastic photo - very louche! My musical palette was all over the place in '86. Although I was a Sounds reader (and just beginning to get into a new publication - Q), this is where the NME were coming from; these are great Playlists btw - this guy has been banging 'em out on Twitter for a while now.
ReplyDeleteMmm, I like that word 'louche' John - if only!
DeleteThanks for that link, just had a quick glance now but it looks really interesting and will trigger a lot of lost memories I'm sure - will return to that asap, cheers.
Love that photo, C. Contrary to what you see in old Hollywood movies, we just don't do hats over here like you do in the old country. Damn shame. Our musical tastes overlap, but my timing is quite a bit off. I did listen to the Paisley Underground (and some of the stuff those bands had been influenced by) near its peak, but I didn't really dig deep into the Nuggets and Pebbles stuff until the mammoth CD box sets started coming out in the late '90s. Love it. As for '86, it won't surprise you that was a big year for me. For me, that's the UK's golden age for indie pop.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian - shame about the lack of hatwear over there though, I was hoping otherwise! I wonder why they have gone so out of fashion generally - 'twas a time when someone wasn't properly dressed if they didn't have their hat, coat and gloves on every time they went out (even, it seems from old photos in the middle of Summer).
DeleteGreat that we cross over too in our tastes from that time, albeit if at slightly different times, but yes of course UK indie-pop was your thing and you have a great knack for reminding me of names that I had long forgotten but then remember the singles coming in to the shop. Wish you could have been a customer!