Misty.Hello everyone and welcome to the Misty Music Podcast with myself Lucy and David.Hello.Hello.And this one's a wee bit special for us because we're in person.So I'm looking at David for reals.
Aye, aye, for the first time in, well, in a podcast setting, ever.
Ever.Aye, aye.So we've came nice and sleazies in Glasgow for a bit of ambience and a bit of vibe.
Aye, aye, absolutely.I think it's just a way of being able to have a drink and basically shoehorn the podcast into a drink.
A drinking session.I think that's probably... Well it's working because I'm two ciders in, so yeah, it's working.
Yeah, so last time we had the fabulous Amelia Ray on, and it was an enjoyable podcast, but at the end of the podcast I suggested X-Ray Specs, GM3 Adolescence to David.So yeah, that's my choice for this time.A big album for me.
Yeah, but before we get into that, we'll just say a wee thank you to Kev.
I think he's on our main man on our list because he's been listening to some of our latest episodes and he's been saying, I think he enjoyed the Amelia Ray one and the Bjork one, which I'm still not over the Bjork album.
It took me a wee bit, still not over it.
I think Kev is maybe still, Judy's still out maybe on that one, I think he's still figuring it out a wee bit, but do you know what, it's cool that someone's willing to give new music a chance, you know, and actually try and live with it for a wee bit.
Because that's the one thing this podcast has taught me, and doing my previous podcast as well to a degree, is that There's so many albums I've listened to once and went, that's not for me, and just left it.
Whereas when you're doing a podcast, you're forced to listen to it two, three, four, five times before you can really truly make up your mind, you know?
Changes everything as well, eh?Yeah, but if he comes to any other conclusion than that that album is excellent and an absolute masterpiece, he's wrong.
I agree.Yes, yes, yes. Although, the $25 that Kevin gave us today will help if it turns out to be like that.
It'll soften the blow a wee bit.And Kevin donated that through Ko-Fi.So if you want to be like Kevin and just give us some money just to keep the thing going, because there are some costs.
I mean, I think Lucy's bought a whole load of equipment, which has basically meant that she can't pay her heating bills for the next month.So, you know.
can help us.Yeah these ciders cost money.
Exactly so if you want to be like Kevin you can help us out on by donating through Ko-Fi buys a coffee and so that's ko-fi.com forward slash mystic music podcast and we'll put the link in the description as well.
Anything you can manage, a couple of pounds would be great, you know, if you can manage that, you know, so thank you very much.
What's it, coffee?Buy me a coffee?
It says co-fibing, it's coffee.I say co-fibing, it's coffee.I don't really know, it's all this modern stuff, you know.It's not when somebody used to just put a tenner in your hand, you know.
Yeah, nobody's put a tenner in my hand.Yeah, so we're on to the X-Ray Specs and their first, and not only album, they did have an album later on, but their first album.
So it's a 1978 classic and in the band we've got the main woman herself, Polly Styrene, Jack Airport on the guitar.
It's a good name.Paul Dean on the bass, Rudy Thompson on the sax, and BP Hurding on the drums.
So yeah, and for the tracklist then we've got, well, we've went with the Spotify set.
So yeah, so this is interesting.Before we start the recording, let's hear, inform me that the order that I've been listening to on Spotify, it's not the actual traditional original order.
Yeah, it's just mixed up a bit.So we're going for the Spotify version on this one.So we've got Gem Free Adolescence Identity.It's better to say it like that. The day the world turned dayglow.Genetic engineering.Artificial.Plastic bag.I'm a poser.
I live for you.Let's submerge.Obsessed with you.Warrior in Woolworths.I can't do anything.Age in highly inflammable.I mean... You get a vibe even just by reading the titles.
I think Dawn Letts said that even on the polystyrene documentary.In fact it wasn't Dawn Letts, it was John Cooper Clarke.
It was John Cooper Clarke because he's standing there with his cool glasses.
Yeah, just the titles alone sucked you in.
So a wee quick one on how I got into this one, so similar, I can't remember what album it was before that I said something similar but it was from being in record stores with my dad and I'm starting to find my music and what music I'm listening to in the early teenage years and my dad picked up this album and showed me it and said this is a good one.
And of course the album cover's quite, well it's quite iconic to me and it's quite striking to me.
I mean I knew it was off the punk kind of era and a punky album, but the album cover doesn't quite match up with that because it's like the test tubes and they're wearing the bright colours, kind of neon coloured.
gear and the x-ray specs but it's kind of jaggy so it definitely pulled me in more and I think I bought it at the time and it's just kind of been with me since.
I think I mentioned at the end of the Amelia Ray episode anyway that I was familiar with some X-Ray Spex songs.Certainly All Bondage Up Yours is one of the classics that you'll always hear on the radio.
But Identity and Artificial I've heard as well, but again in very recent years for the first time.Just listen to Six Music, The Drive Home and things like that, you'll hear these things. you know, but that's as far as it's went.
I've never delved deep into x-ray specs before until your suggestion, so this has been really interesting for me to do this.But before I go any further, I just want to give a wee nod to Nice and Sleazy's.
I want to tell you a wee bit about Nice and Sleazy's from my point of view.Please do that.Nice and Sleazy's is
When I was playing in really shitty bands in the 90s, you know, when I was like 18, 19, I would play in this venue downstairs, because we're upstairs in the main bar, downstairs the venue, play there, but even when, you know, I got a bit older, I played in
and other bands.I've got hip hop going on here man.DJs started early I think.So aye, this is a special place for me venue wise you know.
Yeah and this was the first place I saw you perform with your band.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.When I was in Misfits Tribute Band.
Yeah, we were in Misfits Tribute Band.The first time I'd ever been in this venue was seeing you.
Yeah, yeah.No, it's pretty special.
So yeah, back to polystyrene and x-ray specs.So that's how I got into this album.And it's obviously lived with me for a good few years now, through my teenage years and 20s and 30s. I've never fallen out of love with this.
In my opinion, this album, there's a youthfulness to it, there's just the kind of topics that are spoke about in it.
I mean, even though some of the topics are quite hard-hitting and still some things that probably this world struggles with today, I found it more observational.It wasn't preachy in any way, even for the sort of topics.
It's pretty insightful, it's fun. But like I say some of the themes haven't even been worked out today so it's still pretty relevant to me.
I can still listen to it today and even for this podcast you know I'm picking out a lot of the lyrics and things and it blows my mind that this was out in 78.
And then obviously I watched the documentary that Ardonna Celeste done on polystyrene and it gives me a whole other perspective and a whole other kind of insight into polystyrene and the band.
So yeah, that's probably the main gist of it before I get too excited about it.
Yeah, right, well... I think you've probably known me long enough now, Lucy, to know that you know I'm going to like this album.This album's fucking excellent.It is an absolutely excellent album.
A lot of what you're saying as well is what I feel... 1978, I can't believe that some of this stuff was actually getting recorded and written in 1978, especially Paula Snyder herself.Now, we're going to talk about Paula Snyder a lot.
Of course, but the whole band are fucking brilliant, you know, absolutely brilliant on this album.
And it's weird, this album, excuse me, this album has actually took me on a bit of a journey, because it's been a catalyst for a lot of my music listening for the last couple of months.
So it's took me down a bit of a rabbit hole, which I'll maybe talk about, well maybe in the middle of the podcast, maybe I'll maybe talk about that, but I can't believe how good it is, you know.
I expected to enjoy it, I expected to, you know, come here and say, yeah, yeah, no, no, really good album, really enjoyed it, full of energy, blah, blah, blah. For someone so young to be writing lyrics like that.21 she was when this came out.
She probably wrote them the year before, a couple of years before. So, to have that... I mean, some of the lyricism in this album is fucking staggeringly good, you know, and someone so young to come out with that stuff is just incredible.
And the power in her voice is incredible.I love the resonance of it.I've always liked her voice, like I say in the songs I heard. But really, Holman, I know that she is an incredible, incredible vocalist, you know.
But the band themselves, again, as I said, are superb.They actually play so, so fucking well on this album, you know.
I wonder if it's that you feel like you've listened to all the punk that you're going to like or if you want to call it punk at all and you think I've just missed this and it's not for me.
It's never been like that because I've heard of X-Ray Specs, it's just never... I've never just went that further.
And that's what I love about it, because I was saying to you at the end of the last pod that this is a good timing for me because I've been listening to a lot of punk in general.
But what I love about punk is kinda like, you know, I find it similar to the blues.When people say the blues, it's all the same thing and it's just, it's not.
And there's so many different ways of expressing the blues and jazz and things like that as well.And punk's the same, man.There's so many different ways that you can make the punk sound yours, you know, and make it relevant to your situation.
So to me, No, no.To find another punk band, I mean, they're all a very fleeting punk band, you know, they were together for a very short space of time.To me, it's just like gold dust right now, you know?
But where it led me to is equally... I am so thankful you suggested this album.Thank you. could possibly be the most important album so far in the podcast that you've actually suggested to me.
That's incredible because the last one you suggested, the Björk one, I felt like exactly the same.It was this is special and I know this album's special but for you, can I pick up on that?I don't know if it's just a combination of
The musicians, the saxophone makes a huge difference in this album.
Polly Sireen herself and her voice.I don't know, it's just a combination that I think makes this album as near to perfect as possible.
Yeah, absolutely.I can't wait to talk about it.Again, watching the documentary, I Am A Cliché, I would recommend it to anybody.It's a great story and it's told through the eyes of our daughter.
Yeah, I was saying to Lucy I saw about 20 minutes of it when I came in on Sky Arts when I was slightly inebriated and I caught the last 20 minutes and I thought that was really cool, that was really interesting.
But now I've watched the full thing, I've watched it twice and it's a great story and It's a sad story at the same time.
Yeah, it's a tricky one because I think I remember saying to you at the time when it first came out this is a great music documentary whether you know the band or not or you know the story or not and I think it's one for me that's still, I mean I've watched it three or four times and it's powerful and I don't know if it is because it's told from Ardott and Celeste's point of view
because it's not an easy watch at times when you know that there was real difficulties.I mean it's coming from our daughter's perspective obviously but you know there's bits that are tough to hear. But it's really well balanced.
I think it's really realistic.It's quite relatable in a lot of ways.It's an excellent, excellent documentary.It really is.In my opinion anyway.So yeah, we'll probably blather a bit about that as well.
First time I watched it I was in floods of tears by the end. Absolute floods of tears by the end, that is.
But even all the old footage in that is brilliant, because it's showing you the 70s, London in the 70s, what was all going on, the punk movement, and how they fit into that and stuff, and it's good.It's good.The title track, Gem Free Adolescence.
Catchy as anything for me.
Struggled with it the first time I heard it.
I did.I think it was because it starts off and it's not punk necessarily.
No, no, it's got that looped guitar.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because I was like, oh, this isn't what I was expecting.So it took me a while to kind of adjust to... I expected some identity to kick in, you know?And it wasn't.It was this kind of slow burning, kind of really staggery, kind of...
and it was even the way she delivered the vocal, you know, and I was like, okay, that's fucking out there, you know, so I was getting my ears attuned to what I had a vibe in my head that when I press play, I'm going to hear this.
And then it wasn't that.So it challenged me right from the off.But now that I've listened to it, I've listened to this album like 15 times easily since you suggested it.But now I love it.I think it's brilliant.Yeah, absolutely hyper catchy.
And what I love about the way she delivers the vocal is It sounds to me like it's all one take.
Because she's losing breath and her voice is breaking up.
Yeah, like my voice isn't right because I've been struggling with a cold this week but you know her voice is breaking up and she's gasping for oxygen at times.But all of that makes it, all of that makes it
fucking brilliant you know yeah yeah and even just the lyrics himself you know he's a gem free adolescent cleanliness is her obsession you know cleans her teeth ten times a day and then I always thought until
until recently that it's cleans her teeth 10 times a day, scrub away, scrub away, scrub away, the years away, but it's the SR away.SR away, that was the toothpaste that the first advert on television or what, eh?
So I like that, I liked listening to that today.But no, I love this.I mean, this is, obviously the album's named after it, and you know the cat.
It has got that rolling looped guitar that kind of... And that... And it's kind of... You know, the saxophone's quite smooth in it that comes in and she doesn't... Our voice isn't kind of all over the place or the tempo's not all over the place or anything like that.
Yeah, it's poppy and I think that's what it was.I wasn't aware of how much pop was in X-Respects in general and it was like that, but again, it's good and such a bizarre concept, the song itself as well, you know.
Do you have great adolescence?No, that scrubs her teeth ten times a day. You know, is there a lyric in when she talks about you might be allowed to touch her if you sterilise your gloves or something?
Yeah, if your gloves are sterilised.
So it's not even your hands, your gloves.
Yeah, gloves are sterilised.It's like blow disinfectant into her eyes or something like that, yeah.
But seen in Gina Berry's start of the song, It actually sounds like The Who.It goes doo-doo and it sounds like the start of Pinball Wizard a wee bit.See if you've got the doo-doo-doo-doo-doo thing going on.That's kind of almost like
a lot of what The Who did with synths and all that.To me, there's a wee nod to The Who at the start of that song, you know, and even during it as well.
Even the way the drums come in, it just reminds me of a late 60s, early 70s Who, you know what I mean?Yeah, I can get that. After getting over the initial shock of this isn't punk, I think it's great.I really love it.
That is kind of questionable whether, I don't know if they ever thought themselves of a punk band or maybe they weren't typical of that.They're definitely part of that movement but maybe it wasn't what they were all about.
No, they probably just wrote songs and some of them were punk and some of them weren't.I think that's what it was.But when they were punky, they were fucking punky.
You know, that's the thing.Yeah, yeah, yeah.Yeah, Gen 3 Adolescence is one of my... I love it.See Fire and it on and when it comes on and it... It is definitely an upbeat, kind of happy song, tinged with a, this is weird.
Aye, yeah.I mean, like you say, it's kind of, who's writing that?It's a weird take to take on a romance, you know?
Yeah, no, a really interesting way to open the album.You know, because you'd think, let's just hit them hard with maybe Identity or something, just get them right in, and then maybe Jam 3 Adolescence would come in.
I have a feeling Identity was the first song on the LP.
Right, okay.I think so.This is getting interesting now then.I think so.So do you know the reason why the Spotify thing is different?
Not a clue.It wasn't until I was writing it out from a different website, like the album tracks, and I was like, this is different.
Because it's weird, because to me it's... I mean, the sequence of songs is really important on an album, so it's kind of bizarre to think that there's actually... the one in 78 is completely different from what I've been listening to.
Yeah, absolutely, because I think it was a reissue CD I got at the time when I was younger.Right, okay, right, right. yeah it's different, it's different to, of course it's got different, it's got live versions and things like that on it as well.
I mean it's a bit of an anthem for them as well.It's a bit of an anthem.And then it goes straight into Identity that you're talking about at the second.
Which I was familiar with, but again, like I say, only in recent years.
Hearing it on Six Music and things like that.But fuck me, what a tune, man.What a tune.You know, it's... And what I love is when it's like... It's like... That big guitar thing that comes in just to answer.I fucking love that, man.
But the absolute pinpoint accuracy and the fucking sharpness of her voice. I-D-E-N-T-I-T-I-T!Just cuts right through, you know?
What a singer, man.You know?
Honestly, this is one where you can say about the way she sings or what.Because it's really... I mean, it's cutting-like, eh?But the melody in it as well, it's like... It's proper... Like...
There's a couple of Patti Smith songs where it's almost wailing, but still in kind of... And this is done ten times better, where it's similar, where it's that kind of wailing, fucking...
hard-hitting, I mean that was so new for like the time as well, like a woman being able to do that.But the way she even sings like Identity when she is kind of wailing at the end, the kind of melody of it, oh it can kill me.
Yeah, yeah.And I think what I really like about it is Do you see yourself in the magazines?Do you see yourself on the TV screen?Do you actually see yourself represented in society?She's a singer of colour, singing punk.
you know with a unique style and all that.I don't see people that look like me.
In a twin set with braces and whatever it's like and we're still talking about that about representation and you hear it more now or what.I mean even just I jotted down some of the couple themes or what that I was thinking.
So ageism, identity, consumerism, technology, society, science, culture, race.That's the kind of shit she was singing.I know.At that age?At that age.
But not even just in Akina, because You know, with bands, they'll record stuff in their teens, they'll look back and go, yeah, that was some naive little kid stuff that I wrote back then, but now I'm mature.
She was like, it's always nice to come out of the womb mature, and a mature idea of the world, you know?And this is what I found really disappointing.
And in the documentary, when you look at the footage, when the interviewer asks her, did a publicist give you your name?
If you actually know anything about how she writes lyrics, you would know she's a highly intelligent person who can be ironic and everything else, and be quite... I find it so cheap.
So cheap.There's not much, but a couple of old footage, it's almost just like a novelty, ain't it?Like in that scene or what?I mean, she is like a young woman when this came out, but...
I mean, it makes more sense when you know the full story, just her personality and what she was like.It makes sense that she was writing these sort of things at that time.
And to write it in such a way that's not preachy or opinionated, not opinionated because obviously it is, but that's not... I'm trying to think of it, you know.
Well, I mean, I think she said, somebody said that about her in the documentary, whether it was Polly herself or Marianne, you know, that she's an observationalist, she observes things rather than passes judgement on them.Yeah.You know what I mean?
So that was interesting.It does come, you do see that in this album, even though it's talking about some pretty hard-hitting stuff. and stuff we still were trying to work out as a world.Our opinions on it and our observations on it are mind-blowing.
Yeah, yeah.I mean honestly some of the lines, especially because it was today, there was some ones that passed me by and I probably even forgot to write them down but I was like reading over them like three, four, five times and going Wow.
Yeah, and they're not complicated.It's not like really like integral lyrics or really, I think it is. In some ways, it's really easy.In some ways, it's really easy to understand or to interpret.
It's the same with consumerism and stuff.Anyway, I'm going to end up talking about songs that we're going to come to, so I better shut up.
Yeah, yeah.I'm trying to think of some of the footage on the documentary.You see Haywarer singing with a helmet on.
Yeah, I love that look.That's one of my favourite looks, with the helmet and the goggles on the helmet. And the army green kind of like... Tabard!Yeah, with the orange kind of like... Oh, brilliant.Some amazing looks.
and then it goes on to the day the world turned bay-glow.The best thing I love in this single is all the references in the lyrics.She's got nylon curtains, perspex window panes, the polypropylene.
The Wimpy bar, she mentions the Wimpy.
That's right, go to the Wimpy.
I loved going to a Wimpy.Latex, she's got latex, synthetic, and then it finishes off with a synthetic fibre, see-through leaves, fell from the rayon trees.It's just, I love all these references to... You had a rayon eye, I know, it's nice.
I love all these references to almost everyday stuff that you can, you know, but the way it's worked, it's... It's a weird mix.She was good at calling out the bullshit.
Fucking amazed at it.Yeah, you know, without saying it's bullshit.The documentary I mentioned, obviously, when she goes to the States, goes to New York, and they're playing gigs there, and she saw the Consumer Act.
Yeah, going crazy.And she was pretty much a sponge and very sensitive, so she's... soaking these things up you know.
And drugs I think as well and amongst that bit so yeah I mean she was kind of on that up in London and getting kind of noticed and what and then they had their residency in CBGB's where it just messed with eh?
You know I think she was really sensitive and
affected by that sort of stuff and when you see where our life went and how this album and in the next few years went you can see how much, you can see how she wrote the lyrics she did basically and then how it became too much.
Yeah, there's one particular song where she's always predicting her own future, I think.There's a song on this album where she's basically, you know.But this is one of my favourite songs in the album, we'll come to that.
Yeah, so the day the world turned big, though.It's got a big sax in it as well, eh?
The sax is fucking, the sax is superb on this arm, you know, at points where it's like almost like big stadium Bruce Springsteen.Honestly, yes.But it's so fucking good.
Clarence Clements, is it?I don't know.
But the rhythm section on this song, on Dayglo, the rhythm section is so fucking locked in, man.It's amazing, honestly. but it's kind of like, you're talking about the lyrics, the rayon stuff, it's quite abstract but it's kind of dystopian as well.
It's talking about almost like a future where everything's so fucked up, you know, we're heading down this route.
Because the guys in the band were pretty regular, eh?Pretty regular, and it was her that put out the the ad for a band and to put together a band.
So she obviously had like dreams making the band work, like being a front figure and being somebody like that.
And again that's what I really liked about finding that out because I wasn't sure if it was a situation where, you know, band seek singer situation where, but it wasn't, it was she orchestrated the entire thing.
Yeah. Yeah, so it has come from her to start this band in that direction, or what it was, eh?And I think seeing the Sex Pistols had a big impact on them.
Because some of her delivery is very John Lydon, you know, in certain songs is very like Lydon High, which goes really monotone, you know, and up there it's kind of similar. but she's a fucking far better fucking vocalist than John Lydon is.
Yeah, I mean, I think as well that even just in this, I mean, you'll maybe listen to different punk stuff, but in that kind of scene that a lot of it was about at that time, X-Respects definitely stood out, eh?It was just, just, just different.
You can see why.I mean, because I think It wasn't just, she was the full package in polystyrene.I think even visually obviously when you had Laura as a punk band but as a saxophone player, there's two women up front.
It would have looked really striking, but here's the big thing on this is, it wasn't just style over substance.It was, they had the tunes, they had the talent, they had everything.
So they had the style and the talent and everything, they had the full thing.It wasn't just that she wore outfits that were interesting and- That was just her as well.Exactly.But yeah, she did that.
But she had, it wasn't just like that, but she couldn't write a song to save her life, so I got away with it.She did.It's because she was fucking brilliant, you know, at music as well and at her craft.
Because I think she was always into fashion and she made her own stuff, she did her own artwork and all that as well. I think, I mean, she'd seen her in her twin sets on the stage and whatever.
I know you were mentioning that we were talking about the helmet and the kind of tabard thing as well.But, I mean, you know, she had in her twin sets and in her braces and, you know, her, you know, her pleated hair and stuff like that.
I don't know how much that was just her and that was just what she liked. So, you know, saying it about style or being intentional or trying to be outlandish or anything like that?
It wasn't to me.To me, I see it and I go, you know what?That's exactly, I suppose that's maybe me trying to make the point, but in a really clunky way.She did it because she wanted to, but what I'm saying is, it could be perceived.
If you didn't have the talent, it would be perceived as, oh let's just do this because we're not really that good and we might get somewhere.It wasn't about that, it was like, this is who I am and also, I'm fucking brilliant.
And that's fucking punk, isn't it?Yeah, totally.That attitude, whatever it's made to be. Whatever it worked out to be as, or what people perceive it as now, that's punk attitude man, innit?And that's Lasteeds, which I love.
Yeah, so it then goes on, I always go Artificial.I want to go Artificial.I love that.
Oh, I've got Genetic Engineering next.
Oh, you've got Genetic Engineering.Oh no, so you do.It is Genetic Engineering.
Yeah, you're right.It's me.It's me.
Sorry, I know that the order's all fucked up anyway, but...
Yeah, I mean, the only note I've wrote for this is she wasn't wrong.
I don't have a lot of notes for this either.But the lyrics are fucking stunning.They're actually stunning, the lyrics.You know, to create a perfect race and all this kind of stuff. And obviously even her counting in German.
That whole thing about, you know, create the perfect race and all that.Also the Nazi thing.Okay, it's controversial because German isn't Nazi, I get that.
But to me it's a suggestion of, you know, what the Nazis were trying to do, you know, create the perfect race and, you know.
It's a nod to that.But again, her delivery, her vocal delivery is just laser-sharp.
Yeah, you've got to remember as well even I know they're kind of talking about the race stuff but she was like the first kind of generation like I mean it's not that long after the war that you know like I think it was 57 she was born it's not that long after the war.
I think the points made in the documentary, which always kind of hits me, is the fact that single parents were really frowned upon, but single parents were like... Mixed-race children.Yeah, mixed-race children is even worse.
And I know, from speaking to family, my gran and gran did split up, and I know the stigma even around that with my mum.So... So I can only imagine what it would have been like with a mixed race.
And then even seeing some of the footage of the National Front in London and everything like that, it's so interesting to place it where we are now.
Her growing up with that, you know, I think one of her poems that she mentioned was, it's like half-caste it's called, and then it's talking about you're not white enough for the white people, you're not black enough for the black people, so that kind of... And I'm infiltrating, can't you see?
Yeah, I mean, it mixed up with that genetic engineering, that race thing, that you can see how identity, belonging, like finding all that sort of stuff was such a I don't know, magnetic force for her or what, eh?
To try and find that, to try and understand that or what, eh?It's a bit of searching.You can see her kind of searching for peace, I think, already in this album, you know?But yeah, genetic engineering, yeah.
It's the biologist, isn't it, that's going to make that happen. But when he becomes the creator, see our English inflections on some of this stuff, man.
Ah yes, so it's now become the guy that the biologists are going to resist.
Yeah, can he really resist?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.But again, 20 year old, whatever. blows my mind that someone could come out with this at that age.
I'd have been writing about hair bands and puppies or something like that.It's incredible, you know, to have lived enough to comment like this on society, on the world.
Aye, absolutely incredible.
Then it goes on to, now it goes on to Artificial.
Aye, yeah, yeah.This has fucked with my head for Still to this point.Is it?The timing of the chorus.
It's fucking so, so good.But, N.A.Consumer Society, and it goes, hey, hey, hey, come on, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it.
And there's this kind of rhythm, and it's, fuck, I don't even know what timing it is, but it blows my mind that they were able to get that locked in. The timing of it, I just think it's fucking amazing.I'm trying to play it in my head.
I love the whole fact that it's not my fault.I've been raised on this whole consumerism and appliances and all that.Yeah, I love that.It's the anger and the frustration in her voice.It just, again,
To the point where it's actually a song later on in the album, where she sings it.I could always be another singer.You know what I mean?It's weird how she's able to channel different emotions in her voice.Because we're punk.
I mean, currently I'm singing in a hardcore punk band, right?
But it's pretty much me just going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You know, whereas her singing punk is, she can take it so many different directions.It can be subtle, it can be sweet, it can be, you know what I mean?
Yeah, the second half of the album definitely goes into it a wee bit more, eh?
But in this song, I feel her, I feel her frustration, her anger, her kinda, just fuck this, you know?
Yeah, when you were saying about don't put the blame on me, I was reared with applause, yeah.Because that's the way the girls should be in a consumer society, putting on the makeup.I mean, even...
Even that, when I put on my makeup, the pretty little mask, not me, because that's the way the girls should be in a consumer society.
I know I'm going to just keep repeating this, but fuck me, that's... Aye, yeah, yeah.
I think this is it, you know.Listen, I've got notes, but I feel... It's beyond that.Won't they talk about some of this stuff, to be honest?Yeah.
I love in the film as well, where there's a poster on the wall, or there's a poster and it's, in a world full of Kardashians, be a polystyrene.I'm like, fucking yes. you know?
Because I was chatting to my dad about this because I was telling him that we were doing the podcast on this and I was asking him if he'd seen them live and he hadn't seen them, they hadn't come to Edinburgh but he mentioned that line, he says, in a world of Kardashians be a polystyrene and he got a bit cynical of the world and he was like, what good did it do?
You need to be more like, people need to be more like Pauly Styrone than Kardashians.And he's like, but you look at popular music now and, you know, he was getting kind of old man-y cynical about it or what, eh?
And I think, to me, to me, I mean, to me, it's so easy to say, I think every generation does it.Every generation gets to a point where they look back and go, that was better than what's happening now.
It's happened to Zendora a time probably, you know.
but I think increasingly what's happening is the actual, there's somebody, there's somebody just, there's somebody 17 year old right now that's an incredible musician, an incredible lyricist that nobody knows about.
So my belief is there's still people creating really good, unique music now.
but it's so more diluted now because it's about chasing... it's Ticketmasters taking over the world and, you know, it's... See, if you listen to the whole story and the band and everything like that, and I know it's not... we'll probably get on to the kind of troubles that Paulie Styrene did have, but I don't know if you could get
a better kind of role model.She's a fucking good... And I'm not meaning that in a patronising way because really she was a mess through a lot of her life and obviously the documentaries from her daughter's perspective and there was neglect in there.
But for the importance of what she had with this album, It's huge.
Like a bloke and a girl from central Scotland are fucking still listening to it, blathering about it, it's still relevant, it's still, you know, special, special, you know?
Yeah, and like I say, I've listened to it through my teens, twenties and thirties, you know?
But I was, what was cool was I was listening to I was listening to the album today on my TV actually through Spotify, just as I was going to get myself ready to come out.
And I had picked my sons up from school and had it on and my youngest was sat and watching the TV screen and looked at all the lyrics as it was playing away and just locked into it.
I've got no idea what he's thinking or what he... because I try not to intrude on his... just leave him to it, you know what I mean?Oh, do you like it?I don't like it.
You just absorb it the way you want to absorb it, but there was something in it that was sucking him in, you know what I mean?So, yeah.
I love that.It reminds me of my dad playing Venus and Furs.He's not explaining the lyrics to me.Like, what are they singing about, Rod, or what?But it's like, I love that and that consuming of whatever it was, the lyrics, before you got it.
So I like that.That it's maybe infiltrated him a little.Yeah, totally.Yeah, then it goes on to Plastic Bag. I love this fucking song.
It's one of my favourites on the album.It could actually be my favourite.
It sways.I've got a favourite at the now, but I love this song.
To me, this is the one that's almost predicting what was happening to it.She was maybe already feeling it.Already.I think she's probably been through it already, but I think
Yeah, I find it funny or interesting that, you know, she had a bit of a breakdown after the CBGBs and from the kind of seeing New York, the seedy sides, everything 24 hours, seven days a week, the intensity of it.
But she was talking about this stuff anyway.
So it's obviously been in her mind and then affected her more. Yeah, I mean, the Kleenex for breakfast and, am I on the right?I mean, it's like a plastic bag, eh?Kleenex for breakfast, Weetabix to dry my tears and that, eh?
So everything's all mixed up and, you know.
Yeah, but it's like the advertising as well, like our name and brand names and stuff.There's almost an irony.That consumerism thing again.Aye, there's an irony in it, eh?That she's mentioned all these adverts and Yeah, apathy's a drag.It's so good.
I love the way when she sings, apathy's a drag.You see the way the drums go.
You know, just like that.Yeah.Again, simple things but when they're locked in together.That's what I'm saying coming back to the band, because we've talked about Paulie signing a lot, but the band are fucking great as well.
Just anticipation and knowing where to play and where not to play.
And it mixes well between the kind of smooth verses that she sings, and then, you know, the kind of power choruses in this, like when you were saying about their singing, you know, about Apathy's a Dragon, and it kind of comes right down, and it's kind of quiet, and then it wraps up to these kind of power choruses, eh?
And I know I've said it before, but the sax makes a lot on this album.It makes a lot of it.
Not palatable, because... But listen, some of this, some of this, and I, you know, you take certain parts of these songs, they could be, like, top five hits, you know what I mean?
In terms of pop, you know, a late 70s pop kind of song or whatever, you know, so there is that accessibility, absolutely.But I think that's just what makes it even more intriguing, you know what I mean?
It's just like... Cos I think if the sax wasn't in here, I think they would still have been a very cool, again we're talking about the lyrics, we're talking about politicised vocal delivery, that would all have still been there.
but it might have musically made it a bit more ordinary, whereas I think with the saxophone in there just takes it.
Because okay, you did get, you know, with the ska bands you had the sax anyway and things like that, you know, I get that, but to me this seems like more direct punk with saxophones as opposed to
Scar with Scar had the saxophones, but Scar with Scar, you know what I mean?This feels like punk with saxophones.
Yeah, I get that.I just love that, Matt, you know, about my mind's a plastic bag and then filling up with all the adverts and stuff like that.Just that image that that creates.It's just like your head is full of shite.
The line that just sticks with me all the time is It's the operator's job, not my job.The operator in your head is like, as if there's someone operating, pulling the strings in your head, you know.
If I'm losing it, it's not because of me, it's because of the operator, you know.
You know, that's something, and it's probably from this song that I think about a lot, so that's not a new kind of concept to me because I've probably listened to this song for however long, and then I'm, because I'll use the phrases like,
Like my operator's doing a shit job.My operator's like filing her nails and pissing about, no answering the phone.Like an office kind of environment or what, eh?So yeah, I love that.
I do like that, the concept myself, that it's not my fault, it's like the person that's driving this thing, eh?
When CeeCee, obviously the verse is 1977 and da da da da da, you know, and it's when, I think it's the second last time she comes in there, and she comes in too early, like way too early, it's like 1977 and it's like just out of time.
But I fucking love that, I love that they left that and it's out of time and it's just a total urgency and they're kind of like, she's almost like, just ready to go. It just goes and I fucking love it.
Yeah, towards the end it's just noise all at once.Superb.
The performance, even because I dreamt I was Hitler and ruler of the seas and all that bit. And then she goes really quiet and her voice goes really subtle and it's almost to the point where she starts a bit of a daydream.
It gets kind of wispy at the end.Just the performance. Yeah, because even when she says, you know, I dreamt that I was Hitler, it's still a bit strange to hear that, eh?You know?And then what's it, ruler of the sea?
And then it's ruler of the supermarket.It's fucking brilliant.So it's funny, eh?There is lightness in it, even though it is talking about really serious, you know, there is a lightness to it where it's fun, ruler of the supermarket.
It's brilliant, you know?And then it goes on, I am a poser.But it's like exhibitionism, isn't it?That's all it is.
And I find that, with the contrast to, you know, pretty, like, I don't know this for definite, but I've always had the kind of feeling, or I've always put this feeling on, that the guys are kind of regular blokes and whatever, and, you know, there was, Polly Styrene was quite shy and,
timid at some points then it's like this alter ego or this outlet for this kind of music.But this is all about like what's it want to be seen walking down the street.I'm opposed to it eh?
The saxophone in this, where it's kind of... It's kind of really fast.It's like a chugging riff.
You hear my guitar normally doing that.The guitar is doing that, but the saxophone's doing it as well. Yeah, I just love that, you know, different way of playing the sax, you know.
Yeah, and then it's got that kind of, yeah, this is punk to me, eh?It's that quickness, it's that speedy, it's that... I think even she mentions like voyeurism and all that in it as well, eh?So it is that exhibitionist...
Yeah, like quick punk, kind of more classic or what.
So, obviously you know on Spotify when you listen to an album and it finishes it'll send you other places.This is where it sent me down a few different rabbit holes to be honest.It sent me down a lot of Riot Grrrls.
I've fucking obsessed with Right Girl now.Have you?Obviously I've got Bikini Kill, fucking great.I've now bought a ticket to go see Bikini Kill in June.
There was another band called, who I'd heard the name of but didn't really know anything about, called The Gits.The Gits, okay.So The Gits were a band, they were based in Seattle. Right about the time of the grunge scene.
So they had an album out called Fredging the Bully in 1992.And fuck me, I think the voice on the singer, her name is Mia Zapata.When I heard her voice, I was like, her voice is fucking amazing.
So it was one song, you know, you've got a playlist, you go, no, no, I'm going to home in on that band and see what they're all about, you know.
And that's what happened, and this album's fucking excellent, you know, like a punky, really punky, you know, and her voice is just so, so fucking good.
So I've been doing that, and then I found out she was murdered, like, the year after that album came out.Right.And there's a documentary about the Gits, and about her murder, and they tried to solve it.
It was 10 years later they actually found the guy.So there's a whole thing, even with Nirvana and Pedal Jam and Soundgarden all putting money up for a private investigator to try. Solve the Crime and all that.
And it was that, and I was like, you know, so I went down that kind of rabbit hole.And then Bikini Kill.
I've got a DVD with a documentary about Kathleen Hanna and stuff, and I'm watching that about the feminist kind of punk movement in the early 90s and all that.I'm like, that's just fucking amazing, you know.So I went down this whole...
Yes, a Bikini Kill American.And Kathleen Hannah actually talks on I Am A Cliché, a wee bit of her talking on it.
So that's where I end up going and it was because of this and I've been just listening to like, and even Sleater Kinney and things like that and I've been listening to all these kind of right girl bands from the 90s and
and bands that I know the names but I don't know if I've went deep into them.And I've just been listening to that shit for the last couple of months now because of this album.
Somebody listening to this might say, well, that's right girl, that's no right girl.I don't really care.It's just led me down to like, oh, that's new music.
So not only is this album fucking amazing and excellent, you suggesting this has actually led me down to I'm actually buying music from bands that I never... And all women as well.
Because I know you were a bit like, you like your women's music but it was man heavy.
I don't have women in my collection and now that's now expanding now.And it's not because, oh I must get more women in my collection.
This is fucking great.You know, that's what it is.
It's just trying to find the right stuff and then that's it. So, aye.So you're looking forward to June?Is it June?Aye, aye.So did it recommend that through this?Through the recommendations?
Aye, that's always... Aye, they're connected in some way or what?
Especially with me, Kiri Callum.Firstly, I'm thinking lyric-wise, I'm like... I say stuff Lucy will definitely be into lyric-wise, you know, just, you know...
No, no, I'm glad it's took you down there.No, no, it's not at all.No, I'm glad it's took you down there.
So the women are ruling now?
Aye, good.Good.Not that I'm... I never realised that was my gender.I don't think it was your gender.
It's no more different for me.You're just presenting guy after guy after guy.So you're presenting women, so what's the difference?
Yeah, true.And then I think it's just kind of happened naturally where I'm like, oh, well, I know you've not listened to a lot of women, so what about this?What about this man?Keep it coming, man. We've had a wee comfort break.
We've had a comfort break.We've had a comfort break, yeah.
We've done some lines of coke and have... Don't give me ideas.
We're in a bar.There's like strangers.
We both had a nice lolly outside.
Yeah, we had a wee break.And we're back into the tracks.So we're at track number eight, which is I Live Off You.This is a banger.I mean,
It's just foot to the floor stuff, isn't it?Foot to the floor.
It's like, I live off you, you live off me, we all live off everyone.You're going to be exploited.I've been listening to this the last couple of weeks and being like... I'm just repeating myself, but I'm like, fucking relevant.
This is, this is like, we do, we do live off everyone, eh?
Yeah, from, from... Right, okay, let's say Polly Snyder came up with that concept for the first time ever, right?Well, she didn't, but let's say she did, right? from 1978 to the end of time.It's true.Everybody's going to be exploited at some point.
OK, that's not that profound, I get that.But it's focused on what you think, oh, no, no, I'm my own person, I'm that.I don't let people, no, no, you're going to be exploited.Everybody will be exploited to some degree.
Yeah, I mean it's quite, it's an interesting take on it as well because it's like, it's not like poor me, I've been exploited.I'm a product, I mean she could have done that with the background.
It's just almost acceptance of it.
Yeah, it's like no, no, I need you, you need me, our companies need us, companies need the, we need company, you know, it's, there's so many walks of life or like you say, every single scenario where you can think of, it's like no, we all just,
use each other.There's good bits to it as well, of course, like as in we don't all just, but for the essence of this song it's just like, it's hot, you know?It's hotter now, eh?
I mean it was the line, it was the line, the pimp beats the whore, you know?I heard that one right away, I was like, wow!
Yeah, because it's the cat eats the rat.
The cat eats the rat and then the pimp beats the whore.
The pimp beats the whore or something.
Wow, it's just like straight to, you know, and she cries out for more and more.
Yeah, it's like, no, I need you, but you need me at a high.
But again, I can't just say this enough, getting back to the age of polystyrene at that time and Marianne, you know, so.
It's a proper rock intro as well.And the saxophone's like so lush in it.Oh, it is.
I think that's what I've said.But that's what I'm saying, it's like some fucking E Street band stuff.I've got my notes here.Bruce Springsteen is totally like... It sounds so chirpy and cheery.
Yeah, and the way the sax follows our vocals as well, so it's like the...
You hear the glockenspiel in the background as well.It's so, it sounds, I mean the lyrics are pretty dark at times, but it sounds so fucking upbeat.
Because it's true, it's like... And then it's like, oh no.And then it fires in, let's submerge. I mean, the urgency in this song, eh?Ah, yeah, yeah.
To me, it's about the scene, innit?To me, it's about just going into the dingy clubs and just, you know, hanging about, because Richard Hale's mentioned in there and things like that, you know?So, obviously, the experiences of playing the clubs and
Yeah, I mean, it's quick, it's that... Like that constant kind of... Yeah, I mean... That's pretty punk as well, that kind of more... It's more typical kind of the punk sound, I would think, or that British punk of that time.
But yeah, I mean, I've just got the urgency and... Yeah, down to the underground, that's what they sing, eh?
I mean he was like going down to the underground.You know the saxophone?It's just like on his saxophone it's all the hooks.
I know and even the percussion in it as well because it's just that bit that you're singing where it's like down and then it's like bam to the underground.
Must have been fun.Must have been fun to put together eh? Yeah, then it rattles on to obsessed with you, which when I first
was listening to it, I thought it would be, or kind of early doors, I think my interpretation of it was like a romance, like I'm obsessed with you, like that obsession, but it's not, it's obsession in a different way.
People are obsessed with you, the scene's obsessed with you, it's that kind of, I suppose it kind of goes.
Well, it's when you see the footage where they're finished the set and the documentary you know the I am a cliche documentary when they're finished the set and all these guys get up and gives a kiss.
Yeah like practically forcing themselves on us.
How the fuck do you think you've got the right Do you know what I mean, to go up and do that?
I wonder if that was ever acceptable, or if that was just... Because that is something that we should probably touch on, is the fact that it was a male scene, of course it is, right?
And then, you know, she's coming in... So you always give the male audience, that time in the 70s, respect for the fact that they were giving a female vocalist a chance.So you give them that much, but then to fucking undermine it by
Yeah.You know what I mean?Yeah, it's a weird one because the whole punk scene as well is about outsiders and people finding their place.Ah, yeah, yeah.That's how a lot of the racism and things went kind of hand in hand and they kind of hated
the National Front like that, you know?They can accept it a lot more, eh?Exactly.But with the same hand it was still... I mean, I think even in the documentary they tell the story about when Paulie Styrie went to... Was it Sid Vicious' house?
Was it Johnny Rotten's house?Sid Vicious locked her in the toilet.
She was looking for the toilet and she locked her in the cupboard.
And this was obviously before she went to New York, I think.Or it might have been after because she came out, she'd locked herself in and she'd shaved her hair.And then, I don't know if it was Don Letts that says we weren't sympathetic at the time.
It was Don Letts that said we just You could imagine she came downstairs and they probably just laughed at her.
Yeah, and then she was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia, but it was a misdiagnosis.You can imagine, Christ, that girl was going through some stuff, that young girl, and obviously there was probably not much understanding
A bit of a boys club, they had their own things going on probably.
The mental health stuff as well, to some degree I could probably forgive because there was so much in the 70s that people just didn't understand. That person's mental, you know.
There wasn't a real understanding that we have now of, for fuck's sake, this person, are you okay?That didn't exist necessarily back then.Well, not openly, you know. the touchy-feely, the sexism stuff and all that.
To me, that's a bit less forgivable, you know what I mean?It's like, you know, but aye, you know.
It is a really uncomfortable clip to watch when she jumps off the stage and there's like a guy proper, like, forcing, you know?And nobody kind of bats an eyelid or anything.
Aye, and they have to pull her away.
They have to pull her away, I thought, but it's just like, that must have just been, it wasn't shocking to them. So aye, aye.Aye, it's interesting.
But back to this song, right.Right, listen, see... See that guitar tone at the start of it?Yeah.That is fucking fierce.Right, that is hardcore punk.Right, we're talking about Discharge, one of my favourite punk bands.
They came... I think their first stuff was out in 1981. And that's their kind of tone, that's a kind of, and that was happening like, to me that is really heavy and really kind of fucking aggressive.
And I was like, it took me by surprise, because that's my world.You know, the hardcore side, I like punk.I mean, I go punk, it's great, don't get me wrong, but I just like my hardcore stuff, you know, but.
Fuck me, it just, it's like, man, that is a tone.The guitar tone is fucking superb, you know.
There's a bit even when the guitar sounds like a wild horse.
It almost sounds like... Well, I've been doing the unison bends, so that's when you finger the note and then the string above it, and then you bend the string above it and play them, and you go... And it's like... Love that.
Tony Iommi, am I dead paranoid?Tony Iommi is like king of unison bends.He does that... all the time.That's one of his things.
Yeah, it sounds like a wild animal, eh?It's awesome.
Yeah, even just the obsession talk, the, you'll be a casualty, like, you'll be, they'll be obsessed with you, then you'll be a casualty, and then there's mention of the regime and everything like that.It's just, I always find these kind of,
societal observations kind of fascinating yeah yeah yeah yeah you know you'll be in and then you'll be out or whatever it is yeah and then kind of comparing that with the regime that's awesome you know yeah yeah yeah then it rattles on to this is a change Warrior and Woolworths yeah this is the one where to me it sounds like almost it was recorded a year before or something and it kind of sticks out um because
the sound of it but also the way she sings it.She sounds so young and innocent and youthful but I suppose the song itself is kind of about youth and you know to me I hear it's some guy, what, the Woolworths?
It's handy with a flick knife, but he's really, you know, that's his day job, but he kind of hangs his away, though, at night or something, I don't know.
Because I talk about hanging about, you know, what is it, Stockwell, too.Weapons ruin their life, you know.
I've got the same bit written down, eh?It's, yeah, youth meets at Stockwell, tube weapons rule their youth, yeah, yeah, rule their lives, aye.So it is, I think it is that, because the second line's something like he plots and he schemes, isn't it?
It's like this idea or ideology of what he thinks he is or what, eh?And it is almost like a church voice she sings in.It's like that kind of sweet voice that you would probably sing at church.
And this was the other one. Along with the title track that I was like, I'm not sure.
I don't know.I get it.But no, I do.I really like it now.I look forward to it coming on.But what I was thinking, do you have any Woolworths stories?
Because I know you're 10 years younger than me, aren't you? I used to go to Woolworths and Partick.So the ones at Woolworths and Govan, right, where I grew up.So I had to get the subway over.One stop on the subway to Partick.
I used to buy tapes from there, tapes, and there was always these books I was after, it was ghost stories, like a collection of ghost stories.So I must have been about like 10 or 11 or something, I used to go on.
So that's my really boring, worst story.I bought tapes of ghosts.
No, no, I would have brought similar stuff probably from Woolworths or what, eh?I mean, it was a go-to place, eh?It was, aye, aye.And I think I got my Goosebump books there.
So you've got a store there?
Pick and Mix probably, eh?
It's always Pick and Mix, isn't it?It's one of these ones, like, it's like department stores, eh, that just don't happen anymore.It's like, because you don't go to a shop to get It did anything and everything, eh?You don't need that anymore.
You've got Amazon for that.
The fact that this is called Warrior and Woolworths, because I know how important Woolworths was to the youth in the 70s.Getting seven-inch singles and things like that, you know, so it's so iconic, you know.
I love that Woolworths and Wimpies.It's fucking brilliant, eh? Yeah, I mean, it's a different sound.There's a wee bit of change up from this, eh?
And I think, I mentioned Tony Iommi there, my note here was like, because I remember we talked about in the Paranoid episode, you might maybe not remember, but a lot of the time how Ozzy will follow the riff.Yeah.You know, sing along with the riff.
This is like this as well, you know.But I love that.But it works to me, you know.
Yeah, because it's something I pick up in music if I ever hear it.I love that.Yeah. Yeah, I forgot that.Yeah, then it rattles on.One of my mother favourites, I Can't Do Anything.
No, I don't think I like it that much.Really?Yeah.There's times I listen to it and I'll go, ah, whatever.And there's other times I listen and I just go, I just don't feel this at all.I think it's the whole, you know, Freddie trying to strangle me.
I'm back with my pet rat.It probably makes sense to her and it probably describes something, but to me I just can't.I don't know.But seeing the way it starts, I quite like the way it starts.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,
It is, but I think it's funny, but to me it's just no, probably it's just no that funny to me.It's meant to be funny, I get it, it's kind of quirky or whatever you want to call it, but It just doesn't work for me, humour-wise.
I get it.I mean, the whole thing is, like, I can't walk and I can't speak.I can't do anything.I can't write.I can't even get to hell, which is quite funny.And then my other favourite bit is I can't even be fit.That's pretty good.
You know, and it kind of breaks down to a kind of clapping bit, doesn't it?
It is Freddy trying to strangle me, innit?
Freddy tried to strangle me with my plastic beads or something.
Aye, you see on Spotify it says Freedom tries to strangle me.
And I'm like, no, it's Freddy.
Thank you, mate.And I love the way she went and she was like, so I, what is it, give it back.
With my pet bits, rats.Rats, aye.I do like all these wee English inflections, like, eh? I get it, I get it.
It's my least favourite on the album.
But it's getting better, there's a couple, there's still got two left.Oh aye.So yeah, we go on to Age.What a rolling guitar intro.Aye, aye. I mean, there we go.Darling, am I looking old?Tell me, dear, I must be told.
You know it's a million dollar fear if lines creep in over here.Age, she's so afraid.Age, she's not the rage, you know.Age, she's so afraid.Age, she's not the rage.Alienation is the thing.Tell me, dear, do I look thin?Is my physique holding up?
Tell me, darling, I'm still a pup. And then it goes on, you know, the shivering silhouette, 34 in a minuet or something.But my favourite bit in this is the bit about the celluloid, but he never dies.Yeah, I'm trying to... the cellulite.
But yeah, I mean for a 21 year old as well to be thinking... Unbelievable.Thinking about that and thinking about age and you know... Ageism and being too old and not in your body or what.Yeah, exactly.
That defines you somehow, you know.It's not how you, you know, how you are as a person, what your integrity is, it's how you look and how you... Again, it's back to what you said at the start about
This album is about so many, there's like maybe three or four strands through it, you know, it's about identity and how you look and consumerism and, you know, mental health in there and things like that.
Yeah, belonging, kind of.Yeah, exactly.And then, and this is just a kind of strand tip, which I think,
if you know if you've listened to the full album and you've maybe learned read a wee bit about the band or what you can see you can see how it all connects so yeah yeah you know and it's not like i mean you could write one up you could write an album on consumerism probably oh yeah yeah yeah stuff that would like impact that but this is
This is like a perfect moment in time and just what was going on all around them and all around her and how she's kind of observed that, eh?Being the woman she is in a world that she's in, you know?It's fascinating.Fascinating.
And it's interesting because the way she delivers the chorus reminds me of a boy. age, she's so afraid, it's almost like she's hating on Bowie a wee bit, you know.It's interesting, aye.Good tune, man, I like it.
Yeah, you've got it in my head now.And then, Finally, this is my favourite at the moment, this last song.Is this your favourite at the moment?
At the moment, you know, because I was thinking obviously for coming and speaking to you, I've got, I drift in and out of different favourite ones but for now this is my favourite that I'm listening to now.I think there's a sound in it that there's
there's a sound in it that could be a number one hit.And I almost can't pinpoint it, whether it's just the tone of her voice and the music or what, but it's just, there's wee bits in it where I'm like, that's a hit, man.
There is, man.You're right, because even the bit I always think of Elle and You Were Peter Pan, that bit is so sweet sounding, you know. And what's interesting about it is, I don't even hear a guitar in this song.
It says we do sax, a synth, and the bass and drums, but I can't... If it's there, it's really subtle.
Because there's a kind of scat sound as well, isn't there?
Yeah, yeah, ah, yeah, yeah.Ah, yeah, so... But the line... If it ain't... The line, if you ain't... Was it as if you ain't retro or something? Oh, you're pseudo-quasi-intellectual?
It ain't hip, but if you're retro, you're a pseudo-quasi-intellectual, yeah.
I mean, that line!Wow!And I think it's a bit retro as well.I thought that was a pretty modern term to describe an image or whatever, you know?
Yeah, I know.I'm wondering, because I'm thinking of her and her pearls and her twin sets and whatever, and thinking, is that retro?
I think it is.It's almost like she had a Thatcher look at times.Do you know what I mean?With the twin set and the pearls and all that.
Yeah, the style of the time.
Bet she looked fucking far cooler on Thatcher in the early days.
Yeah, she did.Yeah, but even for a young girl to be dressing like that.
Yeah, exactly.Totally, you know.
Yeah, I mean a couple of other bits of love in this is, yeah, the right to decide is denied to the sheep.That's so cool.
But that, I thought I was a woman, thought you were a man, I was Tinkerbell and you were Peter Pan, influenced by the fashion pages, influenced by other spaces.That's, I mean, there's a,
a universal kind of feel to that, like every kind of maybe teenager, early 20s or whatever, that being influenced by other people, you know, there's a connection, like a human connection beyond time, if that makes sense with this album.
I mean, this obviously spoke to me and my teenage years in Central Scotland.So there is a universal thing that connects and that is, I don't know, maybe an outsider kind of looking in or that kind of feeling or what.
But yeah, I'm enjoying this one now, absolutely. Yeah, influenced by the fashion pages, influenced by other spaces.That's awesome.That's awesome.And a bit of a banger out to... And is this how the album ends?
On the vinyl, do you know?
On the... The original release?No.
Oh, I'd be interested... Could you find the track listing for the original and just... If you could just speak it out, I'd actually be quite interested to hear. Because I've been hovering about eBay for the vinyl.
It's been going up and down in price, so I'm just gonna... On Wikipedia it goes, Artificial, Obsessed with you, Warrior and Will Wurst, Let's Submerge, I can't do anything, and then Side A finishes with Identity.
And then it goes on to side B, which is Genetic Engineering, I Live Off You, I'm a Poser, Gem Free Adolescence, Plastic Bag, and then it ends with The Day The World Turned Day Glow.
That's so, I would love to hear it in that order, just to see what kind of album it sounds like, because to me, that is so important to how an album is.
Yeah, I mean, I understand the track listing,
when I listened to it on Spotify but I mean if it starts with artificial that's a totally different way and then for it to go and obsess with you then Warrior and Woolworths I mean that's it bringing it down and then ending on a banger with Identity you know.
But yeah an absolutely fantastic choice Lucy and
So, sorry to interrupt, but that's like 12 tracks, so it's missing, it's missing, Age is one of them.
And I can't see off the top of my head which one, what other one's missing.Yeah, so that's, yeah, it's a bit different to that.
But yeah, sorry, I interrupted you.I know.I'm glad I took you down that.
No, but see, this album is really, this is,
The suggestion you've made is actually just, it's the one that's stayed with me the longest, in terms of, I've been getting back to it a lot, and like I said, it's actually forced me, not forced me, but it's actually led me down other directions to check out other bands and things like that, you know, so, this has been massive for me.
Massive.Yeah, no, I'm glad, I'm glad, and I'm glad that I know this might sound a wee bit like naff or what, but I'm glad I can be a wee part and give you the album that Paulie Styrie's legacy fucking lives on, because it absolutely deserves it, man.
Well, the quote on the documentary was, the world has still catched up with Paulie Styrie. There you are, because I'm catching up.Do you know what I mean?So, not that I'm the world, like, but I'm not saying I'm the world.
But you know what I mean, it's like, so it's quite apt actually from my point of view that I'm catching up, you know.
Yeah, I get that.I get that, absolutely.So, yeah, if I can spread it to one person and you've loved it, that's amazing.
Superb, man.Love it.Absolutely love it.
So, yeah, have you got one for me?
Do you want another pint?
Well, this battery in the laptop's about to go, so I'll probably be on the side now.
Because I'm tempted to keep it similar, given what we've talked about.But I'm not going in, right?I'm going to shake it up a wee bit. And eh, I was always going to do this at some point.But I'm going to go to Queen.
The Game.The album The Game.I want you to listen to that.
Did I listen to any of their tracks?
There is one that you listened to on that playlist way back that's on that album.And there's songs on it that you'll know, absolutely know.1980, their first, two number one, American number ones on it.
No One Bites The Dust is on it, Crazy Little Thing Called Love's on it.So it's quite an accessible album, Queen album, but I think it's very, it's probably the last album that they released before they hit the 80s and got kinda, they lost it.
It was the album, the last album that they made before they kinda lost the pot.
In terms of... But then brought it back.
Then brought it back.Before Freddie died, they brought it back in one album.But that was that.But through the 80s, it was very patchy.So it's an interesting period. So yeah, check that out.
Yeah, I will enjoy that.I'll enjoy it so we can get our Queen on.
And can I wear my Lap of the Pods t-shirt when we next record?
You can, yes, yes.I insist.And do you know what, I've just realised Lucy's wearing a Slayer top.
It's got a dog on it, so it's a griffin.It's a griffin, but it's got the Slayer logo.
I don't know that.I've just got a griffin on it.I've got two griffins, Elmo and Chucky.I've got two dogs, two griffins.And that's a griffin.Yeah.With a slayer.I didn't know that.I've learned something new as well.
I feel really embarrassed now that it's a fucking dog on it.
Yeah, so that was X-Respects Gem Free Adolescents and next time we'll be going for Queen's The Game.
1980.1980, 1980 my bad.That's the second side they're talking about.So yeah, thank you very much everyone for listening.
Good night, nice and sleazy.We love you.
Yeah, I'm nice, you're sleazy.
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