As well as the discovery last week of a pile of CD singles from the early 2000s (of which I've a few more to post at some point) I found a bigger pile of freebie CDs, the ones that come with monthly music magazines*. One of them was a CD promising 15 Indie Classics From The 1980s and it did exactly what it said it would- not a bad or even average song to be found. The Wedding Present, Bodines, The Sugarcubes, The Fall, The Monochrome Set, Shop Assistants, The Pastels, The Brilliant Corners, Red Guitars, The Three Johns, Bradford, The June Brides, The Loft, The Waltones. A very enjoyable way to spend an hour while peeling apples and cooking chicken. This one jumped out at me, Death Of The European by The Three Johns, a song I'm sure I've heard before but not sure I've ever really appreciated before.
Death Of The European (12" Mix)
It kicks off with an intense, grinding, industrial intro followed by a mid 80s, post- punk/ indie rock groove, a perfect slice of 1985 independent dance rock with lyrics referencing Checkpoint Charlie, a dead beat Walkman, American Forces Radio, Potsdam and other Cold War concerns, eventually finishing with a burst of sampled radio fading out with a voice stuttering, 'whom I working, whom I working, whom I working for this time?'
Sadly, I then noticed when writing this post that vocalist John Hyatt, whose vocal is so central to this song, died at the start of December 2023, head and neck cancer taking him. The other two Johns were guitarist Jon Langford (also of The Mekons) and bassist Phillip 'John' Brennan.They formed the band in Leeds back in 1981, 'a group of socialists who are in a band', with gigs and records that criticised the royal wedding, apartheid in South Africa, and Thatcher and her favourite admen Saatchi and Saatchi. The Three Johns split in 1988, reformed in 1990 and then again in 2012, playing gigs intermittently up to 2017 including a few in Manchester. I'm sorry I missed them now.
RIP John Hyatt.
* There's an ethical dilemma with free CDs- a few are worth keeping because they're great compilations and selections from start to finish but many I keep because they've got a handful of good songs on them (and in some cases songs I don't have elsewhere). The option to rip them to a hard drive and then get rid of them is always there but brings three problems. 1) Hard drives fail so they'll also have to be backed up somewhere and it all becomes a big faff *makes mental note to back music files up from PC asap*. 2) Throwing them away just contributes to the excess of plastic in landfill sites, even if I remove the cardboard sleeves to recycle. 3) Donating them to charity shops will surely just contribute to the landfill problem sooner or later. Many charity shops don't seem to want CDs anymore and freebie ones from ten years ago will inevitably leave the British Heart Foundation for the tip at some point.
4 comments:
I have that CD too. I keep it in the car as a reliable standby, so I've always got something good to play.
Yep, I've got that as well, as a fan of early Monochrome Set I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Most of the other tracks are great too and it's a great snapshot of the time.
Saw The Three Johns a few times in the eighties as they were often a support band on the London indie circuit. Always good fun. Jon Langford's Men Of Gwent project is worth seeking out for those interested in his more recent stuff.
I can't bring myself to get rid of anything.....and indeed was taken advantage of by a past colleague at work who, faced with an identical dilemma as you in respect of disposing or otherwise of Free CDs, passed on a bag with about 100 of them to me.
I've decided that whoever inherits the Villain Towers music collection in years to come will have to solve that one....
Wise decision JC. Dispose of nothing, you'll only regret it.
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