Friday 12 June 2009

There's one thing we've known from the start ...

Of course the whole nation, nay world, has been stimulated into debate by the seventh issue of Your Heart Out, the atmospherically titled The Archaeology of An Abandoned Soul Single, and in particular the question of how on earth The Smiths became so popular so quickly. Polls have been running in all the national newspapers about who would have felt the most aggrieved, and apparently more people have participated in this than the final of a TV talent show.


Anyway, the smart money seems to be on Hurrah! which is touchingly apt as its 27 years this weekend since their debut single The Sun Shines Here exploded onto the pop scene. Suddenly the Go-Betweens weren't the only fun in town, and there was a new anthem to put alongside Do You Believe In Magic? and It Will Stand. Dave McCullough rhapsodised in Sounds about the return of cool. Then as 1982 drew to a close Hurrah! recorded a session for Kid Jensen which showed the single wasn't a one-off, and gave the world its first exposure to the glories of Hip Hip.

Suddenly all the hipsters were talking about Hurrah! and autoharps, 15-minute sets and intricate harmonies, red Fender Jaguars and The Action, the Velvets and the Voidoids, Fire Engines and Josef K, folk rock and touch of jazz, '60s soul and Subway Sect. The revolution was imminent, and so into 1983 and eventually the second single appearing with Hip Hip on the one side and Flowers on the other which McCullough pointed out sounded like the Pentangle, which had to be a good thing. And still the people in the know sing: "Deep down inside we're all punk rockers at heart ..." Could anything stop Hurrah! and the Go-Betweens?


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