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Tuesday 6 July 2021

Won't Make Love To Change Your Mind

Soho's Hippychick, a 1989 and 1990 single that eventually became a hit in 1991, is a lovely collision of various different aspects the second half of the 80s- a political lyric born of Thatcherism, the miner's strike, the police and the wider left wing causes of that decade (anti- apartheid, CND, the poll tax) coupled with an instantly recognisable sample by the 80s most celebrated indie guitar heroes and a crunchy Soul II Soul breakbeat. 

Soho, formed by Tim London (Brinkhurst), his girlfriend Jacqueline and her identical twin sister Pauline, wrote Hippychick as a blues but their drummer/ programmer Dukey D transformed it with the sampling of Johnny Marr's guitar riff from How Soon Is Now and the welding of that shuffling, kinetic drumbeat. The lyrics are from the viewpoint of a woman arrested at a demonstration by a policeman who happens to be her boyfriend and her telling him that it's over- 'I stopped loving you since the miner's strike'. It's an instant piece of dance pop with plenty of good lines and a lot of fun. Back in 1990 the sudden appearance of that guitar riff could cause dancefloor mayhem, the indie world and the dance world slamming together, and you can only imagine vindicated Johnny in his view that leaving The Smiths to make dance music was the right decision (and he got 25% of the song writing royalties).

Hippychick

The group were visually arresting too and their 1991 slots on Top Of The Pops were a riot of day glo colours, bouncing around and white denim/ long sleeved tees. Rather touchingly I read somewhere recently that Tim and Jacqueline finally got around to getting married last year. 

6 comments:

Nick L said...

Good song isn't it? Great use of a sample with really interesting political lyrics. Wonder how Morrisey felt about it...

Swiss Adam said...

I imagine he hated it. All the more reason to love it.

The Swede said...

A bloody marvellous single. Great to hear it again.

jesseblack said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jesseblack said...

Better than How Soon is Now. Fact.

Khayem said...

Brilliant song, though I love How Soon Is Now too. Worth mentioning that the Soho Bandcamp site has a treasure trove of great songs, including debut album Goddess and the compilation Soho Xtra as free downloads, as well as their subsequent albums through the 1990s.

Back in April, I got a message via Bandcamp from Jacqui, Pauline and Tim about their current project Iklan. They've released a couple of albums, several 7" & 12" and had a new single (Spotlight On The) Fine Young Fox out a couple of weeks ago. Well worth checking out.

https://iklan.bandcamp.com/music
https://soho.bandcamp.com/