Entertainment
Episode 74: The Soup Dragons’ “Hotwired” (1992)
In Episode 74 of the Accelerated Culture Podcast, hosts Laurie and Scott dive deep into the Soup Dragons' 1992 album 'Hotwired.' They explore the band's history, their rise in the ...
Episode 74: The Soup Dragons’ “Hotwired” (1992)
Entertainment •
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Interactive Transcript
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Welcome to the Accelerated Culture Podcast.
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A sonic journey through the vibrant and revolutionary sounds of the 1980s and 1990s.
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And now, 2024, Webby Honorary for Best Indie Podcast.
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I'm Laurie, along with my co-host Scott Frey.
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And in this podcast, we explore how new waves storm the airwaves in the early 80s and
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gave way for the rise of alternative music in the 90s.
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Find us on the web at AcceleratedCulturePodcast.com.
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Welcome back, Accelerated Culture Vultures to another fine episode.
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I'm Laurie.
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And I am Scott Frey.
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And it's been a busy week, hasn't it, Scott?
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That it has.
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Then do a lot of things, seen a lot of stuff.
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Well, what have you seen?
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What have you done?
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Right, big week for concert going for me at least, let's see here,
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went to the House of Blues last week and saw Delta on 3030.
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It was an experimental hip hop project, including producer Dan the Automator
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and Del the Funky Homo sapien.
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And I got to tell ya, I missed almost the entirety of the show because I met up with a friend
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beforehand for drinks at the fabulous downtown Chicago Tiki Bar, three dots in a dash.
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And we got to telling stories about Burning Man and catching up after having not seen
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each other since the before times.
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And you know, I had gotten the last second super cheap ticket to the show so it didn't
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feel too bad, although I did get there just in time for the encore to see the band introducing
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a new song off a new record to the crowd.
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But they did that by asking, do you want to hear a new song from the new record and the
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crowd of course went bananas?
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So they actually pulled out a boom box, pressed play and put a microphone to the boom box.
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And that's how they debuted that song, which is hilarious.
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And then they played for their final encore to track from a different project, not Del
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Tron 3030, but the gorillas, they played the big gorillas track Clint Eastwood and that
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was freaking fantastic.
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You know the one.
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I'm happy.
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And you know, you know, I do.
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Yep.
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Then saw at the old town school of folk music, a decidedly non-folky band, a slandic, dark
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dream pop band, Moom.
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That's lowercase M. You with an accent.
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M. Moom is absolutely hauntingly beautiful, highly recommend if you don't know Moom.
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Look up.
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We have a map of the piano and tell me that that song is not just absolutely haunting.
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And the rest of their catalog kind of follows in that mode, instrumental with drum machines,
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lots of feedback.
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Clearly they've listened to some cocktail twins in their time.
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Two female lead singers and a male lead singer and just very Icelandic.
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It's difficult to describe, but it's fantastic and it was a really great show.
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Then finally, I got to see just the other night at the salt shed in Chicago garbage.
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Thanks to my co-host Laurie, who gave me a pair of tickets to the show.
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Yeah.
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Well, thank you to my friend Chuck because he gave me his tickets.
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So then glad that you were able to comment was nice to see both.
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It was a great time.
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Thank you so much.
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I'm going to share with the listeners the little text exchange that we had Monday afternoon
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before the show.
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OK.
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And I texted you, hey, any interest in seeing garbage tonight at the salt shed?
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I may have two extra GA tickets and you wrote back, maybe yeah, I was planning on working
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on this podcast I do, but that can always wait.
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Yeah.
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Well, you know, it did maybe delay recording of this episode by a day, but I'm going to say
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worth it.
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That show was a lot of fun.
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If you're not familiar with the venue and most of our listeners are not in Chicago and
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probably aren't, it used to be a giant warehouse where the Morton Salt company stored a ton
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of salt and has since been converted into one of the best concert venues in Chicago.
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The sound is so good.
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It's a big room.
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It's comfortable, new fresh.
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It's a great place.
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And another pair of shouts out to two folks at the salt shed.
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My friend Shelley and her boss, Riley, hooked us all up with VIP section upgrades.
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So we went up into the balcony off to the side of the stage with a great view of Shirley
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Manson and Butch Vig and company.
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And yeah, damn, they put on a, they put on a hell of a show.
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So slick at times.
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And it's like made me realize, well, you think of garbage, you think, okay, Shirley
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Manson, because obviously she's dreamy and outspoken and feisty and glamorous and all that.
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Yeah, it's the Butch Vig show, man.
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Like the producer is the star of that show.
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And also the drummer following in the proud tradition of Phil Collins and Genesis.
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You just had to bring Phil into this.
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You know I did.
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Oh, geez.
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But yeah, it was great show.
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It was a great show.
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I was a little disappointed because my friend Chuck is friends with the band.
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And we thought we would have an opportunity to meet with the band after the show.
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But unfortunately, we received word that the band members weren't really feeling well.
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I know Shirley mentioned her voice was a little horse.
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And so they weren't able to meet with us.
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And I was all set.
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Scott, I had my black Sharpie and I was going to have Shirley sign my skin and then go
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straight to the tattoo parlor and have it tattooed.
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But unfortunately that did not happen.
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So one day soon, no doubt you will encounter Shirley Manson and get her to sign you.
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Yeah, you know, if I have to stalk her or whatever, sure.
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Perfect.
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Yeah.
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All of you, please ignore that act like you didn't hear it when this comes up later
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at trial.
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Scott, you know as long as you've known me, Shirley Manson is like one of my heroes.
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She's amazing.
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Yeah.
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I didn't have to figure out where on my body I was going to have her sign.
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I was actually thinking about inner thigh, but that might have been a little awkward.
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Yeah, little.
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Then again, if anybody would do it, Shirley would do it.
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So Shirley, if you're listening, catch me next time you're in town.
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Although that was one of the big revelations that had been making the rounds in the music
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press before the show and they talked about it on stage is Shirley Manson outspoken about
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the economics of the music industry and the shoddy treatment that bands receive while
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on tour, particularly in the States.
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Garbage has said that they will not be doing headlining tours of the United States anymore
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that they may do a one off festival show here or there, but the days of garbage headlining
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a tour in the States are done.
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Yet another reason why I'm glad we got to go.
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Same.
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Yeah, great.
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Thank you for it and thanks to and thanks to Chuck for letting us have those tickets really,
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really made tonight.
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All right.
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Anyhow.
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Anyhow.
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What are we talking about today?
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Well, I chose the album this week and I chose the 1992 album Hot Wired by the Soup
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Dragons.
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Okay.
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So I absolutely remember this album or particularly the singles from when it came out, particularly
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the big single, which was absolutely unavoidable, ultra catchy, great pop rock dance song, but
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I did not own the album and I'm wondering why this album, what is your history with it,
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what did it mean to you?
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Okay.
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Well, it was actually my first husband that got me into the soup dragons.
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He was a really big fan.
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He was a farm boy from Fairfield, Iowa.
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And we did a road trip out to meet his family and we listened to this the whole way there
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and every wholesome.
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Yeah.
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Well, you know, until I met his friends in Iowa and the first thing that they said is,
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Hey, you're from Chicago and you score some heroin.
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But less wholesome.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, I mean, Fairfield, Iowa, there's not much to do there.
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There's farms and the Mahareishi International University with like Transcendental Meditation
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and all that.
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So that's like all there is in Fairfield.
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So yeah, that was a great first impression.
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Reduce Cormorants from heroin?
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No, I did not.
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I wouldn't even know.
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I wouldn't know how if I wanted to.
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Yeah.
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That's a little outside of my knowledge.
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But yeah, so they had a couple of successes prior to this album.
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This was actually their third studio album.
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Neither.
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This album sold more than 300,000 copies in its first six months.
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But it was not as popular as their previous album Love God, at least here in the States.
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I have things to say because while it did not listen to this album when it came out,
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just the singles, I had listened to Love God before it and decided to, as we do on this
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show, dive deep into the history of the band.
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And boy, did I learn a lot, including connections to other bands that I would not have put together.
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But a lot of my background information that I'll be getting into here comes from a 2017
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documentary film directed by Grant McFee called Teenage Superstars.
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And it documents the Glasgow Indy Rock scene, which eventually morphed into something
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other than Indy Rock, but at the center of which were a couple bands that this show loves,
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including the soup dragons and the Jesus and Mary chain.
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But a couple others as well.
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It's an interesting history.
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Okay.
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First, we're going to go back.
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How far back?
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Way back to the early 80s.
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Like 1982, three somewhere in there in Bills Hill, Scotland.
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This is next mining community on the outskirts of Glasgow.
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A few schoolmates, one Sean Dixon, one Douglas T Stewart and one Norman Blake, are school
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chums who goof around together, hang out in one of their grandmothers living rooms a lot,
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and make art, listen to music, trade music, play music, make goofy videos, and just our
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generally rambunctious teenagers together.
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Sean Dixon in Teenage Superstars is interviewed and talks about these early days.
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And he said, in Bills Hill, there were two things you did.
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You played football or you were a poof.
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I was a poof, so I made music.
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Okay.
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And then one of the other guys interviewed in the band, I believe it was Douglas T Stewart,
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said that he first noticed Sean Dixon.
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They didn't go to the same school.
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A couple of the guys went to a Catholic school.
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I believe Sean went to a Protestant school.
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So they didn't know each other, but he would see this guy walking down the street with a
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guitar case under his hand every Thursday night going to take guitar lessons and decided
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that he needed to get to know that guy.
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Sean also said of his guitar lessons, when I was about eight, I was taught how to play
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classical guitar because I think that's how my mother and father kind of thought, well,
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that'll keep him busy.
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So every Thursday night he's going to learn guitar and missing top of the pops and being
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all bent out of shape about it, but it helped him craft his guitar skills.
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He was the only guitar player they knew, but eventually influenced these other guys to
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pick up guitars and start making music.
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They start collaborating on all kinds of goofy projects, running around town, pretending
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to be from the BBC, interviewing people, mostly so they could pick up girls and just generally
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be in goofballs.
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But these goofballs, Sean Dixon, who goes on to be the main singer and songwriter and
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guitar player of the soup dragons, Douglas T Stewart formed a lesser-known band called
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the BMX Bandits, who are actually still active to this day, but playing very small bars
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and clubs.
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The third one, Norman Blake, went on to be the lead in Teenage Fan Club, which around
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the same time as the album we're talking about today, came out.
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Teenage Fan Club had an absolutely massive and critical darling of an album called Band
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Wagon Ask.
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I think we may have missed the boat on that one and should have talked about that in the
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context of 1991, but here we are.
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These three bands, Teenage Fan Club, BMX Bandits and the soup dragons, along with the Vaseline's,
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who were among Kurt Cobain's favorite bands, formed this Bellshill sound or this Bellshill
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scene because they didn't all have a lot in common sound wise.
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When Super Agons started out, they sounded a lot more like the Buzzcocks.
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They were going for fast, energetic, post-punk, really.
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The band started busking, going into Glasgow to play in the streets and they met Jim McCulloch,
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another busker, who ended up joining the soup dragons.
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That was all good and fine, but Sean Dixon wanted to go bigger.
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1985, they actually formed the soup dragons.
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Okay.
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You know the story about the name, right?
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I mean, I've read it, but I don't know the reference, but what do you got?
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In the 70s, there was a BBC Children's Television series called The Clangers.
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The Clanger.
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Yeah, it was a stop-motion animation series and there was a character called the Soup Dragon.
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According to the BBC's website, the Soup Dragon lives underground and provides the soup
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that is a staple for the Clangers.
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Hmm.
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That cleared that right up, didn't it?
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Yeah, I mean, we're going to gloss over what a Clanger is entirely, but I'm comfortable with it,
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and I like soup.
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So from my money, the Soup Dragon is probably the most important character in the show.
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I guess the Clangers were like mice or mouse-like creatures of some sort.
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They speak only in a whistle-blanguage and eat green soup supplied by the Soup Dragon
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and bluestring pudding.
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Makes perfect sense to me.
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You know, it was the 70s.
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It was a weird time for Children's TV.
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Right. Fast forward in 1985 when the Soup Dragon formed.
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Great quote once again from the documentary teenage superstars,
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from Sean Dixon.
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How would I describe the Soup Dragons?
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The Soup Dragons were four friends who started a band, made some bloody great singles,
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and had some great times.
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Those four friends were the aforementioned and much talked about so far.
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Sean Dixon, Jim McCleller, Sushil K. Dade, and Asian Scottish fellow who was their bass player,
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and Ross A. Sing Clare, the drummer, I believe.
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Mm-hmm.
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Correct.
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Okay.
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So as I mentioned at first, they were a Buzzcox-inspired indie pop band.
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They recorded a flexi-disc, you know, the kind of flexi-disc.
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It's a piece of flexible vinyl, oftentimes coming to magazine.
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But they recorded a flexi-disc that cost them a whopping 35 pounds to record.
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And it became the NME single of the week.
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We've talked about new music examiner, influential music magazine of the time.
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It became the single of the week.
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This 35-pound investment ended up getting them four pages of interview and article in NME,
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dedicated to them.
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And it was entitled, if you were the only girl in the world,
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it caught the eye of the legendary John Peel, who played them on his BBC radio show
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and booked them for a Peel session.
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The band played their first ever gig live show at Splash 1 in Glasgow, supporting primal
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scream, and you will recall from the Accelerated Culture podcast episode on primal screams,
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Screama Delica, that Splash 1 was a club owned by primal scream.
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So opening for them at their own club was kind of a huge deal.
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And again, their single flexi-disc cost them 35 pounds and sends them
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rocketing into the stratosphere of pop music.
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Money will spent.
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Really?
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By the way, quick plug, that episode on primal screams, Screama Delica, episode 57 from January,
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2025. Check it out.
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Man, January?
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I know it was January.
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Seems like yesterday.
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Okay, they signed to the subway organization in 1986.
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The first record, the first single they recorded, they didn't even want released.
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Sean Dixon didn't like the sound quality, but it was released anyways, which caused
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animosity between the band and that label.
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They broke through with their second single on that label, whole wide world.
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They made a video for 200 pounds.
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And Sean describes it.
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It was a video of someone fumbling daffy duck through a box with the band playing superimposed over it.
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What?
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I know. It's a bizarre.
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Yep, duck toys in a box, pair of hands reaching through, just like grabbing, playing with the toy.
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And then the band is superimposed over it.
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It is one of the crappiest videos you would ever hope to see.
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200 pounds seems maybe a lot for that video.
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Unless they spend it on beer.
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Right.
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It took an hour to make and yeah, a video show called The Chart Show played it.
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That caught the eye of jazz summers, a music manager who had just recently gotten done
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managing WAM.
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This was the guy who had taken WAM to tour in China, which was kind of a huge moment in pop music.
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You remember?
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Oh, yeah.
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I do.
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I remember the video for Freedom.
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He asked to manage the band.
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He gave them their own offshoot record label called Raw TV.
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And then in July of 1986,
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boy, we keep coming back to this moment in British rock history.
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The soup dragons, single, pleasantly surprised, made the cut and was included on new music examiners
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NMEC86 cassette.
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Huge influential cassette that was a turning point and broke several bands that we love
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into the big time, including primal screen, the mighty lemon drops,
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McCarthy, who we talked about just last episode, McCarthy was the band that gave rise to stereo lab.
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This then gave rise to a couple indie hits in UK singles success.
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And this was the point at which the band first started to change their sound.
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They went from this sort of buzzcock's pop punk situation and then veered into psychedelia,
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which shaped the sound of their debut album.
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This is our art, which got released on Sire Records.
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They got into acid house, again a common story in the UK in the late 80s.
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And then they lost their drummer.
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The drummer quit.
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They go back to Raw TV Records in their own label.
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And they started changing their sound and getting much, much more electronic.
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Another article that I will be referencing occasionally here from the quietest.com.
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An article, slash interview, entitled His Art, Sean Dixon of the Soup Dragons
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Interviewed from August 29, 2023, interview by Michael Han.
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So on backwards dog, this was a single.
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They were trying to sound like both the stooges and the happy Mondays simultaneously,
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which is quite a feat.
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That was where I started to write a song in a different way.
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I would come up with concepts before I wrote the song.
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So I thought if I could have the drumbeat of salt and peppers push it, merge it with the
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kinks and a stooges vocal, I might come up with something interesting.
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Again, they had lost their drummer, but they're pressing on,
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so they get really into drum machines and samplers.
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After Ross and Claire left, right before Love God, Paul Quinn came aboard as their replacement drummer.
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There we go.
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You can definitely hear that there is drum programming throughout on Love God and for sure on HotWired,
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but there is also clearly some live drumming, although it also seems like a lot of the time
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that live drumming is then sampled and looped and it's all a sonic pastiche.
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What comes out of this sonic experiment with the drum programs and with samplers,
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a jam session where all the guys are just sitting around, playing their guitars over this drum loop,
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it gets bigger and bigger.
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They start taking those guitars and sampling them.
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Suschille K. Dade, their bass player, could not even play the very complex bass parts that they
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had come up with for this track, so they sampled his bass and then they played on a keyboard.
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The result after a two day editing session to get this eight minute track down to a workable single
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is, I'm free. If you were alive in 1990, you absolutely remember that monstrous single.
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It was a sort of cover, although again, Suschille K. Dade said, it isn't a cover, it's a meditation
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on the Rolling Stones song I'm Free. It had this very cool sampled bass but played on a keyboard.
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It had this rousing chorus. It had junior read doing sort of dancehall reggae vocals over it,
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almost wrapping really, but in a rubbing of reggae style. At one point, because they had gotten
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some success as we've already talked about, they had a budget and they had spare recording time.
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They're like, you know what this needs? It needs a gospel choir. So they go to the yellow pages,
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look up gospel choirs, hire one, have to run their lyrics past the pastor in charge and change the
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written lyrics to try to get them past him. Not that they were particularly racy, but he wanted
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to choir to be singing about God. And they're like, oh yeah, we're singing about God, not just about
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freedom and partying. The resultant single was absolutely monstrous and made the album that it
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was a part of, Love God, just absolutely huge, inescapably huge in 1990. Yeah, so Love God went to
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number 88 here in the States. I know it went a lot higher in the UK. And I remember at the time
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that that really got lumped in with the madchester sound. For sure. The same way primal scream did.
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I guess you'd consider it baggy rather than madchester. They were from Scotland, not England and not
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from madchester at all. So yeah, not madchester per se, but I mean, you listen to that track and you
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listen to the happy Mondays and you're like, okay, there is a definite kinship there. Even if they
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didn't actually know each other, it's kind of in the same vein. Sean said about this, the people
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had said that the soup dragons had jumped on this indie dance bandwagon thing. We were still there
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little C 86 band and they turned against us. You know, it was huge on MTV. It hit number five in
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the UK and it gave rise to an American tour, but they also in the process got shunned in the UK.
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And it's one of those things, you know, talked about this in the past, but like it's so common and
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it was I was guilty of this in college, not with this band in particular, but we're a band that you
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loved when they were coming up and they were scrappy underdogs. And then they get huge commercial
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success and people would be like, they sold out and they dropped them. And apparently that really
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happened to them back home. They got shunned in the UK and the way I put it is they got too big.
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It's like that yogi beara quote, but modified for bands. Nobody listens to them. They're too popular.
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Right. Yep. They turned against us. So the best thing that we did is we just thought,
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sawdue, we'll go to America. So it was really refreshing to get away from it and go to a country
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that just took us for what we were. And it seems like they really did embrace the popularity that
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they were enjoying in the States because if you look at the cover art of the album that we are
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talking about today, 1992's Hot Wired, it's a cartoony hand throwing up a piece sign, but that hand
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is fully made up in stars and stripes. Like it's an American piece sign. But all of this set the stage
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for huge US success. And that is what we're talking about today. The album that really went big
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in the States, 1992's Hot Wired. Yes. So Hot Wired peaked at number 97 on the billboard 200.
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Not as popular as the previous album Love God, which went to number 88. However, the singles.
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Yes. The singles actually were their biggest to date. So I don't know quite how that works.
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I guess people are buying the singles and not the album or something. I don't know.
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I mean, it's 1992. People were buying CD singles. People were buying vinyl singles.
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We're buying 12 inches, cussingles, plus radio airplay, figured into those ratings. And yeah, true.
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Hot Wired sold 300,000 copies in its first six months, which is nothing to sneeze at. A criticism
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not just from listeners, but actually from the band members themselves. Is it still doesn't
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really capture the live sound? The band are really known for their live shows. This kind of
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frenetic energy to their music. And it doesn't really come across in the albums. At least that
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this album. Yeah. I think that would probably put them in the same class as we were talking about,
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say with Jesus Jones. And Neds Autonic Dustbin, but like where their live show is this storm of energy.
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Yes, it's got the samplers. Yes, it's got the sequencers and the drum programming, but you need
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the live energy to get you the full picture. It's em right? Yeah. Yeah, that's a fair assessment.
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They're enough. I don't have anything else to add. I think that's plenty.
spk_0
Well, Scott, that brings us to the track by track. Let's get into it.
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All right, track one is one of the big hits off the album. This is called Pleasure.
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All right. So, listeners, there's a very good chance you've probably heard that song before,
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because it was the second single off of the album released in October of 92.
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You know, I'm embarrassed to say, as many times as I've listened to this album,
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I never picked up on where that sample at the very beginning comes from. Oh, dude, I have
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things to say. Okay. All right. All right. I'm not sure where the vocal sample at the beginning comes
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from, but I'm know I'm supposed to know it from somewhere. Is everybody ready? Well, all right.
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One, two, three, like starts off strong with Sean Dixon at his sampler going through old records.
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And I'm supposed to know that one. I don't, but what follows immediately after that is an
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unmistakable drum machine program of like the early, I want to say it's an 808 that yeah, it's one
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of those. You hear it. It's sped up from the original, but it just it's just that thing in your brain,
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where you're just like, I know that. And it just takes a little bit of processing. And it's like,
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that is the weird drum machine opening of blondies heart of glass. Yeah. It's like such canned
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programmed beat with that weird little high hat that doesn't sound anything like a real high hat.
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It's purely synthetic. Yeah, it's 100% hard to glass. And then this one I didn't know what follows
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is the beat, the big drum program. And it's a kick ass drum program is from the jam by Graham
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central station in 1975. And I went down that rabbit hole and listened to that original track,
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the jam. And they were not just boasting that song is a goddamn funk jam par excellence.
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Nice. So good. And then you just get this big crunchy, but clearly sampled and then looped guitar riff.
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You know, this is the formula like already in the first 30 seconds of this album, you have the
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formula. And it can be a little formulaic. We'll find. But the formula that is why the big singles
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were huge singles. You've got the vocals that are alternating between Sean singing a line. And
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then that huge guitar riff, it's just well crafted dance floor ready pop rock. And then the very
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sing alongable chorus where clearly they learned their lessons from that jam session that got them
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where they're like, let's get a gospel choir. Yeah, they learned that lesson and they're like,
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you know, we could use a couple backup singers, but you know, it would be cooler is like 20 backup
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singers. And it's just super sing alongable. And then plus not to get too crisp for walking about it,
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cowbell, you're not gonna be mad about the cowbell man. All right.
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To be noted, I don't love the chorus. It's sing alongable, but I don't love the lyrics.
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There's just something really awkward about that because we all need to get a little bit of some
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pleasure like the little bit and of some and that like, medically, it's emphasizing the filler words
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of some pleasure and like, I know it's nitpicking, but we're doing a deep dive on a pop song. So
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there's going to be nitpicking. Whatever, it's sing alongable, it's fun. I keep seeing the words
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sing alongable, which is not really a word, but it is now. That's going to say, yeah, it is now.
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That would be my contribution to the to the English language. You're welcome, everybody.
spk_0
Now, you know, what you pointed out about how the emphasis is maybe on nonessential words in the
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meter, you clearly have never listened to anything that Stevie Nix has written because she's
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notorious for that. Yeah, I'm too busy being fixated on that weird warble she has, but yeah,
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no, I guess I've never picked it. Yeah, I will say some of the lyrics on some of these songs are
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a little simplistic and I think that this is an example, but as you say, you know, it's easy to
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sing along too. And it really fits in with the whole acid house ecstasy, peace and love kind of
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vibe that we were seeing in the early 90s rock music for the dance club where we're singing about
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good times and love, but let's also make it feel lofty, right? Here you go.
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Yeah, a lot about it, but we're going to use words that make it seem deep or rather high.
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And I think that's an important distinction. Okay, all right. And you know, later in the song,
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I'm going to call it a guitar solo comes in, but it's not a guitar solo. Like Sean Dixon is a fine
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guitar player, but he's not trying to be Jimmy Hendrix, if he ever was. He's just making riffs,
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like really crunchy, big, simple riffs. So a new riff comes in later and you can tell listening to
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this song, they love T-Rex. They love Mark Bowling. They love T-Rex and particularly with the second
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riff that comes in later. And then those backup singers, just two or three female voices doing the
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in harmonies, it's textbook T-Rex. And I am here for it because I freaking love me some T-Rex.
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Okay, that's fair. Yeah, it's a good representative tune of not just the soup dragon's catalog,
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but I think kind of what the music scene was in summer and fall in 92. Yes, accurate. I'm not going
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to change your world, but it is going to get you to shake your ass on a dance floor. A little bit of
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some pleasure. A little bit of some pleasure. It's just awkward. Yeah, I know. Well, that's all I
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got on that one. That's plenty. That gets us to track two, which is the big one, the monster hit.
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Track two is Divine Thing.
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Sweet, sweet, divine thing.
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But I should have known that you were the devil.
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Just like a sweet, sweet, sweet divine thing.
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This is pretty much a perfect pop song. And it follows the same formula as Track One pleasure
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before it, but anything that was awkward there, nope, ironed out, and it's perfect here.
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But all right, so you've got your big simple guitar riff. A very simple vocal line, very sing along
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a ball that drum program. Once again, it's got that kind of cowbill thing going. It's fast. It's
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danceable. And then that chorus. Once again, clearly the lessons from I'm free stuck. It's not a
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full-on gospel choir, but it's close enough. It's a huge choir of backup singers, gives it some
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soul. And once again, echoes of T-Rex. And then there's just like the little touches.
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Like at the end of the chorus, a lot of the instrumentation drops out and there's just this
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crowd noise. And then there's breaks slamming. Wow, wow, oh man, like brings the dance floor to
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a momentary halt. And then busts out again. Like this track is just pure freaking fun, right?
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Oh yeah, absolutely. Also, like for that matter, another piece of instrumentation that's
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keep coming up throughout the album, this western slide guitar bend. Like again, they're really
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embracing Americana on this album. It fled to America, or at least they're chilling in America.
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And they're embracing American root-seer sounds while still putting it in this British
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indie dance rave scene. And it's a great combination.
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You know, it's funny. One of our listeners I've mentioned before on the show, my friend Mike,
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who's in that band, 45 souls. Nice. He commented to me the other day. He gave me one of his band's
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CDs, but he said, you're not going to like it. I said, why not? He says, because it's got
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slide guitar. And I know you don't like slide guitar. And you got that from listening to our podcasts.
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So, but here it doesn't have that kind of country vibe to it. It's a slide guitar, but I don't hate
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it. It's not steel pedal guitar where it's wailing and singing. It's just bending the chords. And,
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you know, it feels like a road trip through the American West, but like still party, right? Yeah.
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You're not crying to it. You're dancing to it. And it works. As many times as I've heard this
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Scott, I was today, years old. Okay, this week, years old. When I finally learned that that
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from the guitar, right? Like, it's a huge major part of the song. And it's energy in the UK. I
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don't know how I never caught that before. Blue my freaking mind as well. I've been hearing this
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track since it came out and it dominated the airwaves that summer. And like, what? First of all,
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that's a sample. And okay, you can listen to the song and you can be like, okay, these are not
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guitar riffs that are being played live. They were recorded. They were found the perfect take. They
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looped it. They use it over and over and over again. But like that secondary guitar riff, I just assumed
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that was another one of theirs. And like, no, that's literally anarchy in the UK by the sex pistols.
spk_0
What? Yeah, Steve Jones. Mind blown. So for those of you who think we know everything,
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we definitely don't because we're still learning things all the time. Wait, do people say that?
spk_0
Well, they say it about me. Oh, no doubt. Well, you're the professor.
spk_0
Oh, okay. All right. I'll accept that. So I actually have two different associations with this song.
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Our listeners know I've talked about this before. 92 93. I was the assistant manager of a
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super trendy women's clothing store. And every morning in this sort of 93, every morning when I
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open the glass doors to invite customers in, this was always the song that I played.
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Nice. It just as you're opening the doors, there's something about that.
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And then here come the doors. Yeah. So that's like my opening song.
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I'm going to assume that working in a trendy retail women's clothing store that you
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dressed for the job you both wanted and had. Oh, hell yes. Is there photographic evidence?
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I imagine there probably is somewhere. All right. Because you know, they wanted you to wear the
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clothes that they sold. You're their best animal, right? Yeah. I mean, I had black hot pants and
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thigh high boots and well, yeah, I still enjoy dressing more as a costume rather than a
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my students will tell you I still kind of get a little weird with my clothing for time to time.
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But I'll see if I can dig out some pictures. There are. But then do you remember Hellraiser 3?
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Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I had cable in the 90s. A lot of it takes place in like a dance club.
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And this song actually is in the soundtrack. And I think it's being played at one of the dance clubs.
spk_0
Nice. Yeah. Those were the two associations you had with it. Anything in them?
spk_0
Just that this was the first single off the album. It was released on June 1st of 1992.
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And it became their highest charting single in the US. It reached number 35 on the Billboard Top 40.
spk_0
Yeah. And it was regular rotation on MTV. And it's it's a great song. Like here's the thing.
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Sean Dixon is at times, not always, but at times a pure pop genius. And this is a pure pop single
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just as good as they get. Is it going to change your life? No. Is it fun to dance to? Oh, hell yes.
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And is it catchy? Oh, for sure. Like what else do you want?
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Here's the thing. I had mentioned that the band had experienced a bit of a backlash back home.
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That predated this album, but it continued. And I might say that if this divine thing was the
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first single, and that the second single was pleasure, track one, these songs are kind of very similar.
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Are they not? Yeah. Yeah. Like they are following the same formula, and they are just plain
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similar, not just in the pattern that they follow, but in the individual pieces that form that pattern.
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And I feel like that might explain why, as we'll talk about a little later,
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things didn't go super smooth for the band after this.
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All right. I do want to talk a little bit about the lyrics because this is a killer opening to the song.
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You are the one supreme being just dressed to kill and fulfill just any dream.
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That is great for opening your retail clothing store. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you are the one
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heart's desire. All hips and lips made to trick just any fool.
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Knights. Now we get to the second verse and we're starting to find that I'm assuming if it's all
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hips and lips that it's it's a gal, but you know, you can't really assume, but we get to the second
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verse. And you lack the one thing that is devotion, not always there in your hair in a days.
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Just two mixed up in your own emotions. Your vanity will always be your greatest thing.
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So maybe this person is a little bit self-absorbed. I like it.
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Well, I mean, but that makes sense then with the big chorus. Yeah.
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I could have sworn that you're an angel because you're a sweet, sweet, divine thing.
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But I should have known that you are the devil dressed like a sweet, sweet, divine thing.
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Like, yeah, she looks good, but she's kind of a nightmare. The old wolf and sheep's clothing kind of thing.
spk_0
They are. Yeah. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I think this video for this song was actually nominated
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for an MTV Music Video Award. It did not win. 92 was a good year for videos.
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Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So that's all I got to say about that.
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I feel like that's plenty. It brings us to track three. This one is called Running Wild.
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I love it.
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Child things you say.
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Running wild every day.
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And I love it.
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Living.
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Love is when you're running wild.
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Another banger. Three in a row here. Yeah. No, this is a good one.
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We didn't get this in the short sample. Thank you very much copyright law.
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But the song opens with a like, rousing marimba intro.
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Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.
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Sorry. Yeah. Which is of course.
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Viva Las Vegas by the king.
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All right. And then there's haunting, creaking, string thing that happens.
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And then which you can hear in the sample you did here, this Adam and the Ants style
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Burundi drumming. Yes. It's really just Burundi drumming we probably shouldn't give Stewart
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Leslie Goddard too much credit there for his musical colonialism.
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That's Adam Ants real names to it was a Goddard. But like controversial that, you know,
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Adam and the Ants as well as Bawa Wow and others around that time picked up this African drumming
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style and people were like, oh my god, they're amazing musicians. It's like by the kind of ripped
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that off guys. But still this is a decade later Sean Dixon taking that lesson that Adam
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and to a lesser extent the ants learned and making it new, making it ready for contemporary dance
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floors. And yeah, it's a banger. And then also later the harmonica because I don't have this album.
spk_0
So I don't have the liner notes. So I could not see the credits for this one. Whoever is playing
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that harmonica is just absolutely tearing it up, man. And it's like it's not listed on the liner
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notes. I almost wonder if it's a sample. I would not be at all surprised, but like,
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man, does it fit? Yeah. And it's a long sample. And you know, these three songs I think,
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well at first I think they kind of front loaded the album with like the three strongest songs.
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Yep. As we've talked about in the podcast before, a lot of times bands would do that knowing that
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radio A&R people would get past the first two or three tracks anyway. They all do have a very
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similar sound, especially in the chorus. Yeah. And again, it's that big, simple, crunchy guitar riff.
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Like we're not going to do anything too complicated with a guitar. It's going to be a few big chords
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and it's going to be a compelling rhythm. But that's it. Sampler, loop it, call it good.
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I really enjoy this one. And I really appreciate the way that they move seamlessly from
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Viva Las Vegas to that tribal kind of drumming sound. And then into the meat of this song. And it's
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seamless, which is not easy to do. Yeah. And again, they're embracing the Americana between the
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slide guitar bends between harmonica and all that. Like they're going for an American sound,
spk_0
but filtered through Glasgow. And it really works. Lyrix, Lyrix are not going to change your life.
spk_0
Again, unless maybe they inspire you to go on to a debauch or a crime spree. But I gotta say
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the musical elements are compelling enough that I am considering either a debauch or a crime spree.
spk_0
But I'm, you know, I've always mere seconds away from that anyways.
spk_0
One of both. Yeah, no, it was a great idea. You see this afternoon?
spk_0
You know, one last thing, you know, you pointed out how they were really kind of embracing American
spk_0
music and the Americana sound. I never realized that they were Scottish until maybe 10 years ago.
spk_0
You knew UK for sure. Yeah, I did, but I didn't realize and they don't really sound British either.
spk_0
You know, some bands like Oasis. I mean, God, they sound so British. You know, but
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yeah, these guys not so much. Not to me. Yeah, fair enough. On those Lyrix that aren't going to
spk_0
change your life, these are simplistic pop lyrics. Let's not kid ourselves. You're running wild in
spk_0
my dreams. You're running wild. You know, it seems that I need you. I want you. I'll take you.
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I'll have you. I love it. Live it. Love it when you're running wild. That's most of the song right
spk_0
there. And you know what? It's pop. You're looking for deep meaning in this one. It's a song called
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Running Wild. You're not going to find it. Yeah, but it's a fun one. I like this one.
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I think it's every bit as good a track as divine thing is only I have not heard it 10,000 times.
spk_0
So it's fresh. And I'm like, I'm kind of liking this one better. And again, the Adam and the
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Ansper into drumming sound thing. I had a sucker for that. Even if it was musical colonialism.
spk_0
And I'm a sucker for Elvis. Something I bet you did not know about the Scott. I am an Elvis
spk_0
fan. I the same. And it doesn't surprise me. I got to tell you it fits. Yeah. You're probably more
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motorcycle and blue who I Elvis than white jumpsuit biggest Elvis. Although
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people as Vegas is the track he's sampling here. So shut my mouth. Yeah, how I talk to myself out of it.
spk_0
That'll do it for that. It brings us to track four. Getting down.
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Everywhere you move.
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Everything you chew.
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Has a certain special flavor. That's a pound by your hand.
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Maybe this is true. There's no one just like you.
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Oh,
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turning on.
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Turning on.
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Again.
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Okay. So you've got to give Sean Dixon credit. He knows how to craft a drum program and sample-based
spk_0
sonic collage into a compelling song intro. And again, the sample that you accelerated culture
spk_0
warriors got is in the meat of the song later. The song opens with this sort of opening rush
spk_0
and this cool complex rock beat that almost borders on hip hop. These little bleeps and bloops.
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And then all of a sudden are we on the bridge of the fricking USS Enterprise?
spk_0
Like a bit very distinct noise from Star Trek the original series with that.
spk_0
Yep. Like it's awesome. I don't know what it's doing in there, but I am totally here for it.
spk_0
Soccer for a Star Trek reference. Well, and the ex-husband that introduced me to this band was a member
spk_0
of Klingon Armada International. So. Fascinating.
spk_0
Yes. So we used to go, I actually had a Bajoran costume and we used to go to events.
spk_0
And then- That actually worked. I could see that working for you.
spk_0
Why Bajoran? Why not? I mean, is there something about the Bajoran mysticism that does it for you
spk_0
or are there two words? Michelle Forbes. Well, that'll do. Yeah.
spk_0
And I'm sure listeners are probably like, I don't understand.
spk_0
No, it ends. I think this one, the guitar riff reminds me of a blur song. And that's not a bad thing.
spk_0
But I don't know which blur song. I think there is also a specific pixie song that it is it.
spk_0
Oh, did for fire. Yeah, it's got some of that too, right?
spk_0
Yeah, I could see that. And that would have been 80, no, 90, 91, anyone, something like that. Yeah.
spk_0
I mean, Sean Dixon's influences were wildly diverse. They tended to be older than that. He was
spk_0
digging through stacks or records more than anything else. But, you know, it's not outside the realm
spk_0
of possibility. In general, this song does not go as hard as the previous three. And it's more melodic.
spk_0
It has less of that. Let's go call and response thing. But melodic works in this case.
spk_0
It's still a party track. Oh, absolutely. And once again, just this kind of elevated chorus where you
spk_0
have, it sounds like a choir. Oh, you know, and that really brings it, I think, to the next level.
spk_0
But other than those choruses, it's just really kind of a chill mellow vibe. You know, this is
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maybe coming down after the previous three songs, you know, you were dancing your shoes off. And now
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you're just kind of, yeah. And you know, it that's actually what it's about. Oh, is it?
spk_0
As well, and we dig into the lyrics, you're a disco queen. Do you know what I mean? You get real
spk_0
attention just with a single mention. And baby, there's no one just like you keep getting down.
spk_0
This is fluff. But it's enjoyable fluff. It's about dancing. It's for dancing. What else do you want?
spk_0
Right. So that brings us to track five forever yesterday.
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What do you love and keep? Why don't you stop?
spk_0
You will see. You always want it to be forever yesterday.
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Forever yesterday.
spk_0
Okay. So if the last track in its Sonic collage intro just hooked me,
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antichled me with the Star Trek USS Enterprise Bridge sounds, this one doubles down on it,
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and then baffles me because there's just a little bit of something going on in the beginning,
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and then all of a sudden, like Star Trek Battle stations red alert, that siren.
spk_0
And then what follows is a chill, meditative, relaxing, practically spa techno track.
spk_0
And it's a very jarring juxtaposition. Or rather, it goes from put you at battle stations,
spk_0
and then lull you with tranquil sounds to get a facial to. But I like the way it ties into the
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Star Trek sounds from the previous song. Oh, once again, yeah, Star Trek sounds. I'm going to be like,
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yes, I'm in, even if I'm a little confused as to what they're doing there in this case.
spk_0
It kind of reminds me, obviously, it's maybe five years or so early, but it reminds me a lot of
spk_0
bittersweet symphony. Who was it? Was that the verve or the verpe? I always get those two bands confused.
spk_0
That was the verve. Okay. And yeah, I'm like, there are a lot of strings in this song. And it does
spk_0
not sound like just keyboard synth strings. And the same way that for I'm free, they're like,
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we got to hire a gospel choir, and they went out and got one. Like, by this point, they had the money
spk_0
and the production time to do that. Did they hire a string section? I don't know. Again,
spk_0
there's nothing listed in the liner notes that reference any strings. So I was thinking, perhaps a sample.
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This is a slower, less rocking song. And in a context of this, where he's singing these longer,
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more extended notes, rather than the sort of rousing pump up the crowd, rocker vocal deliveries.
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Here, it's more melodic, almost cruning. His voice is good. It's not classically strong. He's
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given it that English pop delivery, you know, I think his strengths are in the maybe more
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energetic and lyrics with a bit of a push to him, you know. It's good. It's not great. And that's,
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I'm sorry, Sean, I do very much enjoy your work. I love you, man.
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Oh, and then there's that it's hidden in the background, but you can hear it if you listen.
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It's like, it's like an old satellite type sound. You know, like they used to do on the evening
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news and stuff like that, but it's like you're receiving a signal, right? The groove. Yeah, and then
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you're also receiving a signal, but with very specifically guided meditation instructions.
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Let the sound vibrations you now hear resonate through your body, breathing deeply and slowly.
spk_0
Like what I said earlier, that this is practically spa techno. It's not a bust. Like, it's guided
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meditation. And yeah, we've talked in the past about the whole Medchester scene with the Hacienda,
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primal screams, club splash one, that yes, whether it was acid house or baggy or actual Medchester,
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but where you've got these chemical fuel dance floors with people really going full on raving,
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there was also then the companion room smaller, but the chill out room. And this is good chill out room
spk_0
music, man. Yeah, much the same that primal scream had some orb influence in there that was good for
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I need a break from the magnus out on the dance floor, hang out in the dark with trippy lights and
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drink some water and collect yourself. This is a good track for that vibe. Although it does have that
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Americana sounding guitar riff, which kind of I think brings it slightly away from that, you know.
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I mean, I don't know. I've primal scream with the orb did that bit where they were on the road trip
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and would actually have American AM radio sampled in the tracks. And I don't know. I think it works.
spk_0
It's still it's still still. Oh yeah. Now the track red alert significantly less chill, but you know,
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the deep they can start 20 seconds in. You really don't like that. Do you?
spk_0
Oh, I love it. I just don't know what it's doing there. Sean doesn't have to explain his art to you.
spk_0
He does not. I who am I? I'm just some guy who co-hosts a podcast. Yeah. All right.
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Next up is track six. No more understanding.
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Yeah.
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You know, I think maybe this is the one that reminds me of blur. I can see that.
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It's definitely got that kind of psychedelic feel to it.
spk_0
Well, yeah, as we have firmly established at this point in the year and a half, I've been on this
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podcast. I Scott free Emma sucker for some Wawa guitar. And the whole Manchester and Baggy scenes were
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very reliable Wawa delivery systems. And no more understanding this song is a fine. If crunchier
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offering Wawa delivery systems. Okay. I like that. That's a great name for an album. Yeah. Or a band.
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That's copyrighted. Nobody take that. Yeah. This track wouldn't be out of place. Speaking of
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Madchester, this wouldn't be out of place on a stone roses record. Although it would be more
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off of second coming more than the self-titled debut album. And this record predates that 1994
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album by a full two years and change. But since time, at least as we experience it, is
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relatively linear. This probably wasn't inspired by the stone roses second coming.
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I think this song would be right at home at Woodstock. I mean, obviously not this band,
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but I could see, you know, one of the old Woodstock bands playing this. It would have just fit in
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just as nicely in 69 as in 92. For me, it's a yes-bott. I would put the clock forward a few years,
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more likely at least in my mind, Sean Dixon is drawing on his love of Alex Chilton's big star.
spk_0
Okay. Yeah. Obviously the crunchier power popier stuff rather than the softer,
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smoother pop stuff. But like, yeah, especially again, that big guitar riff, it's well documented that
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Sean Dixon did love big star. And that Alex Chilton eventually ended up hanging out a lot in
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Glasgow. So there was a lot of love there between those scenes. But yeah, I have failures,
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some influence there for sure. Well, I didn't know that about Alex Chilton.
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Yeah. And the bass on this one is really strong. I feel like, you know, I know I talk about bass a lot,
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and I haven't really talked about it on the salibum. But the bass line on this one really kind of,
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it does it for me. Yeah, respect to, uh, Suschil Paye-Dade. He was in, I think I mentioned briefly,
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Asian Scottish musician. And it was the previous album, I'm going to say, Love God,
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that actually put him on the map as the first Asian Scottish musician to hit.
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Yeah. That's part of a group certainly, but like this was a big deal. And apparently he got a lot
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of love from and provided a lot of inspiration to other Asian Scottish musicians who were like,
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oh, it's possible. That brings us to track seven, Dream on Solid Gone.
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Last part ever, Dream on.
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In turn on love, it's never enough, Dream on.
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So I know, Scott, we've said that some of the songs on this album are kind of formulaic,
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and this song is no exception, but when the formula works, it really, really works.
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And yeah, it's a pretty straightforward but solid formula. Take a simple classic rock or
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glam rock style guitar riff, a straightforward but not too simple drum pattern that you can dance to,
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fun lyrics that are about love and partying on a simple melody that you can sing along to,
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throw in some T-Rex style backup singers and bobs your aunties live in lover. You've got a good pop song.
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Who is it that used to say that? Was that Phil?
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I was Phil James. Yeah. I love it.
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The first time he said that to me, bobs your aunties live in lover. And I'm like, it took me a second.
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Bob's your uncle. That's right. Lyrically, as I mentioned, about love and partying, but also
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make it elevated or like, you know, it's got to have some next level hook to make it seem like
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we're not just partying, but we're partying with like spiritual purpose or something. So like,
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I heard you came from a planet on a starship just for me. That's when I closed my eyes,
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just solid gone, last forever. Eternal love is never enough, just dream on.
spk_0
And it's like, dude, I don't even know what you're talking about, but it doesn't matter because
spk_0
it's fun and it's love and it's like next level spiritual outer space love. Okay. Sure. Great.
spk_0
Fun. Yeah, you're not going to find the meaning of life in every pop song.
spk_0
That's what stereo lab is for. Definitely not going to find the meaning of life in a suit dragon song.
spk_0
Probably not going to do that. No, no, not what it's for. And if it is, it's because of the MDMA
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that you took on the dance floor and don't do drugs, kids stay in school.
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You know, I want to make up some buttons that say don't do drugs, kids stay in school and then
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next track is yours. All right. That track is track eight ever lasting.
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This could be like nothing else.
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This could be forever, this will always be forever now.
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Yeah.
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If there was any doubt about the influence that Big Star had on Sean Dixon and on the suit dragons,
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let's put that to rest because huge big big star vibes here for sure.
spk_0
Well, you know, that guitar intro definitely reminds me a lot of C-Racks or possibly the rolling stilts.
spk_0
Sure. I'm willing to go with any of those. All right. You know, it's straightforward. Once again,
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lyrics simple. This could be some everlasting and this could be like nothing else. And this could be
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in Seventh Heaven. This could always be forever now. Like it's simultaneously,
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meaningless and aspirational. And you know, who doesn't want everlasting love forever now in Seventh Heaven?
spk_0
Who doesn't want that? Yeah. Now, on this song, I think you can start to hear the limitations
spk_0
of Sean's vocal range. It's unkind, but not untrue.
spk_0
Well, I mean, that's not disparaging him at all. I mean, when we look at a lot of the other
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bands that were really big around this time, I mean Sean Ryder, Happy Mondays. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
spk_0
Back, I can't say. But his music is fucking brilliant, right? Yeah. And I think that that falls
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into this category. And I think that some of this may be originated in the late 70s, early 80s with
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that whole DIY ethos that came up with punk movement. And you didn't have to be a good singer
spk_0
to succeed on the scene. And I think that that kind of continued a little bit into the 90s dance
spk_0
rock scene. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. That's it. That's it. All right. So next up, Scott, we have
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Absolute Heaven.
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I love your mind
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Oh baby, baby, there ain't nothing that I can't find
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I can't find
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I can't find
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I can't find
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Alright, so it's a sadder, slightly slower one
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but still in a big, inspiring gospel choir sort of way
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and it's another one in the slower groove with Sean doing a less
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swaggering, more cruning melodic mode which again, two in a row here, not necessarily a
spk_0
strong suit, but he's doing yeoman work, it's in service of the song
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and the chorus comes in and the whole thing goes bigger, um, choir adds a lot
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Yeah, that I've been looking for something to take you out of your mind
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but baby, there ain't nothing I can find
spk_0
You're right that this song maybe takes a little bit of a darker turn
spk_0
You're crying for so long, it looks like you'll always be
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and you've been lying for so long in a sea of a thousand tears
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So it's an interesting juxtaposition I think between the lyrical content and the tone of the music
spk_0
where it it's a little bit happier
spk_0
Well yeah, I mean it's less partying and what are you going to do when your river runs dry
spk_0
and why do you want to be in heaven with me?
spk_0
Like this is less the I love you baby, I love his cosmic and it's gonna, we're gonna conquer
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everything together here on the dance floor thing and this is more questioning and darker
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and goes with the slower pace song and it's a sadder song but still
spk_0
Again that choir really lifts it up and makes it feel like oh no it's great
spk_0
Yeah, if there's despair
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Yeah, I agree
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I feel like we don't have a lot to say about these last few tracks
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Okay, here's the thing and I think you touched on it where we had the album really front-loaded
spk_0
with three full-on bangers whether it was to get the A&R reps and radio folks to take notice of
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these songs and make them the big singles and there is some of the formula that we were talking about
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I'm not saying we're in the filler section of the album but I am saying this is not always
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the strongest work with the most to dig into
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Yeah
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Yeah, yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, I think I read somewhere that they had actually written
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most of these songs before they went into the studio to record unlike the previous albums where
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a lot of their writing was done in the studio. I'm willing to believe it
spk_0
Okay, you're willing to believe a lot that I say yeah, you seem credible to me
spk_0
Okay, well then let's move on to track 10 everything
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You are everything
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You're all evading a special way
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You're turning night into day you are everything
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You are everything
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And there was
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I
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She is a hopeless case
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But the one
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I mean do you just played the chorus and the lyrics to it are
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uh
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hilarious to me
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Okay, how so and there was I and there was she
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She is a hopeless case of insanity
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But the wonderful most wonderful thing that ever will be
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No, I'm pretty sure I dated her
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I don't think I'm pretty sure I dated her too
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They're typical pop lyrics about love and about the ladies
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But like you know again kind of lofty
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Going for deep, but you don't want to analyze them too hard
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And this one even though he's still kind of
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Following the formula that he's established
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Some of the other tracks seem like they're very cookie cutter to me and this one
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Not so much this one. I think he's kind of
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Exploring a little bit with like different phrasing and stuff like that
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So it's a little bit different. I mean I I enjoy this one. This is uh
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Yeah, this is a good one fine track
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Yeah
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And that's all we have to say about it
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Maybe we're really making short work of this, but I write you know, I think
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The strongest work was front loaded on the first half of the album and that it's good
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This is a fine track, but
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Once again if
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These are pop songs and the lyrics aren't given us a whole lot to dig into and
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Okay, this deviates a bit from the formula or at least as a twist on it on the more mid tempo
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Faster mid tempo song, but
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You know
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What can we say that we haven't already said? I don't know. Let's say it on
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This next track
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Okay
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The next song is called sweet layabout
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Oh
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Why do you sit there in your chair
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Got you ain't nothing
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But the devil's clown tail
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Always things that you see that you do
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You
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From the opening guitar riff my notes are wait, did we take a turn into a spin doctor's record?
spk_0
Like it's kind of a little miscamp you're wrong and I'm not saying it cribbed it, but you know there's something in the air in the early 90s
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I guess
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Again, this is pretty much the
spk_0
Pop dance rock formula that we've been hearing throughout with some deviations from it
spk_0
I think this one's a little bit harder than some of the other tracks. I think the guitar in particular
spk_0
Sure, but then there's also a big horn thing
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Yeah, the trumpets and yeah, you know for me it's that the big hook
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Lyrically
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Do do do do do do do do yeah
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This go for the do-do-do-do it's and uh, you know
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It's pop record. What do you want
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Cuz you ain't nothing but a no good layabout
spk_0
All the things that you say and all the things that you do
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Do do do do do do do do do do all right? That's funny
spk_0
That is actually fun. I mean normally I'd raise an eyebrow at the you know
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a big hook in the chorus,
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lyrically being do do do do do do do do.
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But he came by honestly,
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it was repetition of the things you do do do do do do do do do do do do.
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So count it.
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I'm giving it clever.
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All right.
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You're right.
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It's got the structural formula that we've been talking about,
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but there is a deviation in this one that I really enjoy.
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There is a breakdown at the two minute and 34 second mark,
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and it is hot stuff.
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All of the guitars and the horns drop out.
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It's just a big beat and everybody,
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Sean and then the backup singers chanting,
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how the hell you get around,
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you're just a sweet layabout.
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And yeah, the song takes a turn.
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It's a great little breakdown.
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And I enjoy the hell out of it.
spk_0
And that word lay about that is such a British word.
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True indeed.
spk_0
Yes, you don't really hear American saying lay about very much.
spk_0
Yeah, no.
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Then like towards the end,
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the song actually ends with a fade out.
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We've talked about how sometimes I have issues with fade out.
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Sometimes they make sense, but whatever.
spk_0
The song has a fade out, but during the fade out,
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a female vocalist really starts going for it.
spk_0
And like she's really wailing.
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And you know, I'm not saying pink Floyd dark side of the moon
spk_0
that level, but like you can tell there's a real vocal performance
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happening in there.
spk_0
And it fades out on her justice.
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She's getting going and it's just like,
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No, don't fade out.
spk_0
I want to see where this is going.
spk_0
Yeah. Yeah.
spk_0
There's also a guitar riff later in the song that I put in my notes.
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Reminiscent of, there's no other way by Blur.
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Sure.
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Blur, whose debut album, Leisure, we talked about in accelerated
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culture podcast episode.
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63.
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Almost got that 63.
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Yeah.
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All right.
spk_0
Good episode worth a listen.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Well, Scott, we got one track left.
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That brings us to the final track, track 12 mindless.
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Now into your door and I love the way you take me to places
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I don't know when you're kissing me.
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Kissing me.
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Kissing me.
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Kissing me.
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And I'm mindless over you.
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My mindless over you.
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Jesus.
spk_0
This song is not going to win any awards, but I think by the time that you've reached track 12,
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you're so stone that you don't really care.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
So we've had some tracks on this album that features some supplemental slide guitar, right?
spk_0
And you already said historically you have not particularly cared for slide guitar,
spk_0
but within the context of the rock here in the Americana and it's more party and less
spk_0
wailing country that you were allowing it to enjoying it somewhere in there.
spk_0
But here it's the star of the show.
spk_0
On mindless, it is a slide guitar song and every bit of guitar is sliding and bending.
spk_0
How does that work for you?
spk_0
I think it's a little much.
spk_0
Well, I'll ask the question.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
So here I think is maybe part of the problem and maybe part of why Super Agons fell off
spk_0
a little bit is we've talked about the formula.
spk_0
And if it worked once, maybe it'll work again and maybe if we just do more on it.
spk_0
I think in the case of the gospel choir or big, not quite gospel choirs, great slide guitar
spk_0
works when it's supplemental when it is the whole damn show.
spk_0
It's like, I feel like you've gone to this well one time too far.
spk_0
Lyrically this one, I mean, the big line is when you're kissing me, I'm mindless over
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you.
spk_0
And if I'm honest, that is the only bit of the lyrics that I bothered to transcribe.
spk_0
And I had to transcribe them because I go to YouTube music.
spk_0
That's where I listen to it.
spk_0
If I don't actually own the album and I don't own this album, you and I will often times
spk_0
go to the lyrics transcription websites to get the lyrics and they do not appear anywhere
spk_0
on the internet that we could easily find.
spk_0
And like it's almost like the whole internet and streaming services were just like, you
spk_0
know what, don't worry about the lyrics.
spk_0
It's not important.
spk_0
Just listen to the damn pop song.
spk_0
Maybe you should just dance instead.
spk_0
This one though, I don't know how you could dance to it.
spk_0
It's more of a swaying at the end of the night thing.
spk_0
The lights are coming up and they're, you know, telling you to get out.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
I don't know.
spk_0
And I think this is the longest song on the album too, isn't it?
spk_0
Yeah, coming in at 456.
spk_0
Yeah, I'll say yes, it is in fact.
spk_0
Nope, nope, sorry.
spk_0
Track 6 has two more seconds on it.
spk_0
Oh, does it?
spk_0
Oh, okay.
spk_0
And what are you going to do?
spk_0
Well then, that is it for this album.
spk_0
Yes.
spk_0
And then what happened?
spk_0
Well, the band went on to record one more studio album called Hydrophonic.
spk_0
With an asterisk.
spk_0
So what happened, as we said, Scotland got sick of them.
spk_0
They stayed in the US for a couple of years and toured extensively on HotWired.
spk_0
But as happens with meteoric success, even if it took a few years,
spk_0
the band kind of started running into trouble.
spk_0
Some of the excesses of stardom, Sean got pretty deep into substance abuse,
spk_0
although it was mostly as he says Margaritas, where his drug of choice.
spk_0
He was drinking a bottle of tequila a night.
spk_0
You.
spk_0
And that is when the wheels fell off the band.
spk_0
Yes, the band released a fourth album Hydrophonic asterisk.
spk_0
But not before Jim, Sushil and Paul quit the band.
spk_0
Sean came home to a letter from the band that told him they were done with his shenanigans
spk_0
and they were quitting the band.
spk_0
Yeah, so he did not have the three other members of the band who had been working with for years on this one,
spk_0
but he did have a slate of guest stars.
spk_0
Yeah, so Bootsie call it.
spk_0
If you need a bass player, you could do way worse than Bootsie.
spk_0
Then we also had Linvall Golding and Neville Staples from the specials and fun boy three.
spk_0
Tina Waymouth, the best known from talking heads in Thompson Club.
spk_0
Oshal.
spk_0
Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
spk_0
Well, sometimes you just got to call up a string section.
spk_0
Right, right.
spk_0
And then also the kick horns.
spk_0
They're a horn section from London and I'm pretty sure we've mentioned them before.
spk_0
Haven't we Scott?
spk_0
I believe we did in the context of the stereo MCs connected just a couple episodes ago.
spk_0
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
spk_0
Got to call backs to our previous episodes.
spk_0
Everybody should be going back and listening to the whole back catalog.
spk_0
Let's break half a million downloads.
spk_0
We're almost there.
spk_0
Anyway, hydrophonic by all accounts was pretty much a critical and commercial flop.
spk_0
Bit of a dud.
spk_0
Yes, it didn't chart anywhere.
spk_0
And so that pretty much marked the end of the soup dragons, at least for a while.
spk_0
Sean Dixon closed up shop on that one and pursued a new direction.
spk_0
He started a new band.
spk_0
So this going back to that interview with Sean Dixon from the quietest.com.
spk_0
He talks about the years following the breakup.
spk_0
I started the high fidelity, which I thought was a fantastic band,
spk_0
but we couldn't get our heads above water because I was Sean Dixon of the soup dragons.
spk_0
So I had all that to deal with.
spk_0
It got to 2000 and I came out as gay and the high fidelity exploded.
spk_0
Yes, I tried to kill myself.
spk_0
Yes, I was put in a mental unit for a while.
spk_0
I lost everything.
spk_0
I lost my home and I lost my friends because people took sides.
spk_0
And then I met a man and it saved my life.
spk_0
And now he's my husband.
spk_0
And I did the thing I said I'd never do.
spk_0
I moved to London.
spk_0
Oh, wow.
spk_0
The husband said,
spk_0
this could give you so many more opportunities in life.
spk_0
And you'll have somebody to look after you.
spk_0
My daughter had just been born and my ex-wife and her move to Brighton.
spk_0
So I was closer to them as well.
spk_0
Oh, wow.
spk_0
Yee after a while not making music.
spk_0
Pivoted once again and came in 2018 with the release of his album featuring F.T.
spk_0
period as high fye shawn.
spk_0
And this was clubier music from what I've read.
spk_0
God, who admit I haven't heard it.
spk_0
But the album featured a lot of guest appearances from Yoko Ono.
spk_0
Once again, Bootsy Collins, Paris Gray, Dave Ball, Alan Vega, David McAlmond.
spk_0
And Dixon is now much more self-assured and content in who he is.
spk_0
He is not chasing anything.
spk_0
He's just making music and enjoying his life much more comfortable
spk_0
with living his life honestly, especially now that he has come out.
spk_0
So you weren't exaggerating when he said he was a poof?
spk_0
Yeah, when back in Bells Hill in high school, when he was saying either played football or you
spk_0
were a poof as it turns out and he didn't even know it at the time.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
The other band members with their separate ways, Paul Quinn, the drummer,
spk_0
became a member of Teenage Fan Club who you mentioned earlier.
spk_0
The other guitarist Jim McCullough joined a band called Superstar.
spk_0
And he also formed a folk group called Snowgoose.
spk_0
So Shilkae Dave formed a post-rock group called Future Pilot Aka.
spk_0
And I know you're really into post-rock, so I don't know if you know them or not.
spk_0
I don't know. That's not carried away with Super Intu, but yeah, I don't think.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
So after their various separate journeys and personal growth, the band did reconcile.
spk_0
They started talking and in 2023 released their first single in a lot of years.
spk_0
Love is love.
spk_0
There's a threat of a new album.
spk_0
I haven't seen anything about that yet, but hey man, Super Dragons together again.
spk_0
Yeah, it would have been 29 years.
spk_0
It's a lot of years.
spk_0
That's a lot of years.
spk_0
Okay, so Scott, you know what I'm going to ask?
spk_0
What's your favorite track on the album?
spk_0
Uh, yeah, that one's easy for me for once.
spk_0
It's Track 3 Running Wild.
spk_0
Once again, that rousing drum track.
spk_0
Yeah, that track is a banger and I'm all for it.
spk_0
All right, I almost chose Running Wild.
spk_0
It's a great one.
spk_0
But I'm going to go with divine thing just because of my memories of working in retail and
spk_0
looking good and feeling the vibes when the store opens.
spk_0
So yeah, and it was their more popular song for a reason, you know?
spk_0
Through that.
spk_0
That was where the formula really peaked and everything else could be argued to have been maybe
spk_0
slightly paler imitation of it.
spk_0
I have not asked you yet.
spk_0
Yes.
spk_0
What is the topic of our next episode, Scott?
spk_0
Okay, it's lesser known, but oh man, it is such a good album.
spk_0
Okay.
spk_0
Is the debut album from Canadian Powerpop Legends Sloan?
spk_0
And the album is entitled Smirred.
spk_0
Woo.
spk_0
Yeah, Halifax Band that later relocated to Toronto.
spk_0
If you have ever listened to CBC Music, you've almost certainly heard Sloan and I have
spk_0
been growing up in Detroit with Windsor right across the river.
spk_0
Listen to a lot of CBC Music in my time.
spk_0
Sloan is a grossly underappreciated band in the States, but are a huge band in Canada.
spk_0
And this album Smirred as a debut is ridiculously good.
spk_0
They've already hit their stride on their first offering.
spk_0
It's smart, it's funny, it rocks.
spk_0
It's sometimes sensitive.
spk_0
I think you're going to enjoy this album.
spk_0
No, okay.
spk_0
I've heard of Sloan, but I can't say that I've ever heard any of their music.
spk_0
So I'm looking forward to listening to something new.
spk_0
All right, we'll be back in two weeks talking about Smirred by Sloan.
spk_0
It's a goodbye from me, Laurie.
spk_0
And for me, Scott Free.
spk_0
We'll see you back here in two weeks.