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These Animal Men: (Come On, Join) The High Society
Little did we know that a revolution was about to take place. Something had been brewing for the last few months. The NME had been writing about this "New Wave of New Wave" thing y'see, and in those days it was always a race between you and your mates to get to the newsagents first. After all, you didn't want to hear 2nd hand gossip in the common room about this new band from Brighton.
What new band from Brighton, I hear you ask? Why, THESE ANIMAL MEN, of course.
See, along with energetic Londoners S*M*A*S*H, These Animal Men were regarded as being the leaders of this NWONW scene, four stick thin lads from the South East coast reared on a mish mash of sixties mod chic, seventies terrace culture and pre-'Gold Against The Soul' Manics' riffs, whose agenda included their own version of the 10 commandments, one of which (Commandment no. 8 - 'Amphetamines are where it's at') inspired their debut single 'Speeed King', and attire of skinnyfit retro Adidas and Fred Perry clobber laid the foundations for Britpop some 12 months later.
During that summer of 1994, it seemed like the world was theirs for the taking.
My all time favourite 'Top Of The Pops' moment ever came during a hot Thursday evening in June 1994 when S*M*A*S*H performed 'Shame' followed by TAM with the aforementioned 'Speeed King'.
And then along came Oasis and I guess the rest is history...
'(Come On, Join) The High Society' was released a matter of weeks after 'Definitely Maybe', and was all but ignored by most of those hacks who'd built them up in the first place, yet the three minute swagger of 'This Is The Sound Of Youth' or the sardonic wit of 'You're Always Right' matched anything the Gallagher brothers did then or indeed have done since, while stop-start punchdrunk anthems like 'Sharp Kid' and 'Too Sussed?' defined their generation more succinctly than 'Parklife' and gave people like Elastica a platform on which to kickstart their career.
Sadly, after a handful of singles and a concept style second album ('Accident And Emergency'), These Animal Men split almost unnoticed at the tail end of 1997.
These days, one time vocalist/guitarist Boag and fellow guitar man Hooligan (aka Julian Hewings) can now be seen in Mo Solid Gold.
If you ever see '(Come On, Join) The High Society' down your local CD & Vinyl Exchange, don't think twice about spending your hard earned pennies.
The Libertines obviously didn't and look where it's got them...
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the apocalypse was about to end?
ex-squeeze me? -
These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
The album was a joke then, and its a joke now. I remember seeing literally dozens of unsold copies in a shop i worked in less than 12 months after it came out, and in the year I was there, not one copy was sold. its a record that novelty punka revivalist rubbish that wants to be 1977 again, but ignores the fact its 1994. And that the clash already said everything this bunch of Xerox'd wannabee's couldn;t articulate anyway.
Whatever next in the classics column?? How about "my beauty" by Phil Rowland??!!!!
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Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
("How about "my beauty" by Phil Rowland" - KEVIN Rowland, dammit. Not a bad idea, either)
These Animal Men barely make it to the status of 'joke'. Even taking into account that New Wave Of New Wave was one of Melody Maker's (or was NWONW NME?) many many quickly forgotten attempts at creating a 'scene' in the hiatus between grunge and Britpop, TAM failed to make any impression. I saw them at Pheonix Festival '94, I think it was, The small but curious crowd were getting pissed off with their rank ineptitude - songs constantly stopping, starting, stopping etc - and 'Hooligan' or Julian or Little Lord Flauntleroy or whatever the fuck his name was, was swaggering about the stage like a spoilt posh twat. Some girl heckled him and he immediately threw his beer can at her head. Most of the people left after that. That's my only real memory of them.
They never mattered.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
grahambreed / David M.
You say that '(Come On Join)...' never mattered yet you feel so compelled to write about it...
Bands like These Animal Men were written out due to the fact a couple of brothers from Manchester appeared on the scene. Oh and of course the real press darlings of that era Blur found another bandwagon to jump on.
Like it or not, the current music scene is crying out for another TAM to inject some life into it's stale corpse.
Still, you've always got your Strokes boys..?-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
I thought The Libertines were the new TAM.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
Just a teeny bit below the belt there me thinks.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
"Oh and of course the real press darlings of that era Blur found another bandwagon to jump on"
Er, but TAM were press darlings themselves. They failed because nobody outside the music press actually liked them (also see Terris, Campeg Velocet etc), if people actually bought their albums they would have had a career. No-one did so they didn't. Simple as that, really.
I would have actually preferred to read about what it was about them that was special to you rather then you making spurious claims for their blatently non-existant influence.
But anyway...-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
David M.
What was so special about These Animal Men?
The clothes, the hair, THE TUNES...need I go on?
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Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
In terms of hype and being part of a 'scene', I mean.
They've maybe sold more records though.
Hey, I LIKED T.A.M.!
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Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
TAM weren't written out of the music press becuase of the Gallagher brothers. They were written out of it because they were crap...
P.S. Can't stand the bloody strokes anyway.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
"grahambreed"
I think the phrase 'right place wrong time' sums up These Animal Men's exclusion from the bible of influence they so richly deserved.
And the fickle b*s*a*ds at IPC of course.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
Its Graham Reed. I use grahambreed becuase thats the email address I had for the past few years (until about a month ago, when i changed it). If by definition of "wrong time" you meant "not 1977" , then you're probably right...and you might wanna look at this:
http://www.drownedinsound.com/author.php?id=14
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Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
graham
You don't like These Animal Men.
You've been writing for Dis longer than I have.
Big Deal.
When I throw the party to celebrate I'll put your invite in the post first.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
hey no worries, Dom. I ain't writing for DIS any longer.....!-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
HURRAH!
Dom, i'm having a party to celebrate this, wanna come?-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
Only if you're bringing free booze, free crisps and a selection of pastel coloured tupperware containers to take me leftovers home in.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
ooh! a party! can I come? :-D-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
The more the merrier
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Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
So selling records is a measure of ability is it? Gareth Gates etc must be really good then because they always seem to be at the top of the charts. Making good music is about evoking emotion, judging by the time you've spent writing about them I'd say they were a success.-
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
I'd just like to add GRAHAM NO LONGER IS INVOLVED IN DIS IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM. For some of the reasons you stated above.
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these animal men
One the best bands of the 90s. T.A.M could teach jet, the libs etc etc a thing or two about music, most of these wanky bands cant even play. have a real listen to this band and you'll see they where way ahead of their time. i wonder where the libs got there image from????/ -
Re: These Animal Men - (Come On, Join) The High Society
were you at the same gig as me or had you fallen off your perch after your 2 halves of shandy, everyone left, bollocks they did.
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