Sorry to hear about the death of Chris Sievey yesterday. I was never a Frank Sidebottom fan, but 54 is no age to die and I was a big fan of his first band The Freshies. They were the archetypal new wave band, apart from the fact that their songs had very funny LOL lyrics. The nearest they got to a hit was this – I’m In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk – from 1980. But I Can’t get Bouncing Babies by The Teardrop Explodes is another corker.
Possibly my fave – and alas not on YT – is Wrap up the Rockets. The lyrics ‘so dear old England, wrap up the rockets and dish out the money’ is as relevant today as it was then. How much was that Trident replacement again?
At University later in the decade the song was a big part of my thesis on ‘nuclear disarmament in alternative music.’ Yep this was the 80s, I was doing a unit in Peace Studies and sadly I was that pretentious.
Still RIP Chris, you really were a one off.
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