Mansun and Magazine
Magazine and Mansun are two of my very favourite bands. As well as personally loving them and rating them extremely highly - both bands have been vital in the development of my own self image and understanding of myself. Mansun certainly stands above all other bands for me - in the sense of being a band in which I can proudly say (to quote Velvet Goldmine "That's me that is"). Magazine are a band I have got into more in recent years - and absolutly love now.
The two bands have a lot in common, apart from the obvious fact that Devoto has worked with Paul Draper. Both bands have had a very hard time with the music press - and it was perhaps the NME's attacks on Mansun which first began by cynicism towards that publication - until I realised that anything the NME hates - there is a good chance that I will like it. Both bands produced four albums and arguably the albums followed a similar pattern with the first being popular, the second difficault, the third attempting to be more commercial and the fourth not being quite finished (in Mansun's case literarally). Chad and John McGeoch are/ were two of the most fantastic guitarists of the Mick Ronson School. Paul Draper and Howard Devoto are both eccentric geniuses of the Syd Barret, Julian Cope type. However, Magazine probably pip Mansun in terms of having a rythm section with excellent chops.
I have constantly been confused by the fact that both bands are not heralded as classic bands the way that many other of my favourite bands are; Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Velvet Underground etc. I mean they are by Mansun/ Magazine fans but not by anybody else. The point is that my taste in music is extremely mainstream (in a kind of Mojo/ High Fidelity Way). When bands I love are not praised to the rooftops by Broadsheet newspapers and grown up music magazines then I often feel more suprised than vindicated in a I am a really superior indie fan type of way.
(By the way I have nothing against the kind of people who seek the most obscure bands they can get their hands on - in fact I am blimin glad they exist or else small bands would never have a fan base. The problem is I am too lazy to do the same).
Back to the point - normally I can quickly work out a reason for bands I like being pillored by the press - they have no recognisable tunes, they have an obsession with dragons, their songs last far too long (all common (and probably justified) reasons for bands I like to be looked down upon). I find it difficualt to work this out with Mansun and Magazine - they are both catchy and immediate. They sing about every day life. They are pop.
I think the real things that links both bands (in many reviewers eyes as a bad thing and in my mind as a great thing) is their continual ability to "not quite fit in". The "not quite" bit is important - and in my mind has caused them the most difficaulties.
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Mansun - oh I get Mansun ... they are the new Manics/ Suede... make-up, boas, happy days, but wait ... they are now in army uniform ... and now they are pretending to be the Stone Roses... the council estate been replaced by a vicourage ... and the way those songs flow into each other - I don't think you are allowed to do that on a first album ... ahhh thats better now they are going prog ... pretensious bastards ... I can hate them now... theys seem very clever and well read ... yet they say everything they know comes from the TV ... oh now they are just being camp again.
Magazine - oh goody good a new punk band - thats easy I know what those things are ...but hang on is that a synthasizer I hear ... no that can't be right ... and make-up ... oh thats alright then - I was being a bit stupid there - they are the new Roxy music ... make-up silly synth noises ... glam throw-away lyrics ... and songs about liking boys ... um wait a bit isn't there some substance to some of these lyrics ... some of them certainly don't seem to be about sprouting universal but meaningless cliches ... maybe they are one of those progressive bands that everybody likes to hate so much... they must be really pretensions ... but listen more carefully ... aren't they taken the piss a little bit ... perhaps everything they ever do is silly and throw away... but that doesn't seem right...
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Both bands have consistantly broken a number of cardinal rules - the kind of rules that are liable to turn you into a cult band forever
1. You should always stick to the genre that you were signed up on and you cannot be in and outside a movement at the same time
2. You can't be camp and butch at the same time
3. You can't be white and soulful
4. you can't be progressive and catchy
5. don't ever tackle capitalist alienation with kafka-esque humour
6. you should never combine cynicism and joy
7. pin-ups don't celebrate their uglyness, and pop starts don't sing in praise of their compromises. They just make them instead.
8. cutting edge progressive bands should never ever be supported by ladyboys
they are all extremely naughty and should be locked in a cuboard until they learn how to behave.
'arry xxx
PS As per usual I have made no attempt to spell check - hey I am doing this for fun!
PPS I don't claim that Mansun and Magazine are completly unique in being underrated. But they are the bands I am writing about today.
The two bands have a lot in common, apart from the obvious fact that Devoto has worked with Paul Draper. Both bands have had a very hard time with the music press - and it was perhaps the NME's attacks on Mansun which first began by cynicism towards that publication - until I realised that anything the NME hates - there is a good chance that I will like it. Both bands produced four albums and arguably the albums followed a similar pattern with the first being popular, the second difficault, the third attempting to be more commercial and the fourth not being quite finished (in Mansun's case literarally). Chad and John McGeoch are/ were two of the most fantastic guitarists of the Mick Ronson School. Paul Draper and Howard Devoto are both eccentric geniuses of the Syd Barret, Julian Cope type. However, Magazine probably pip Mansun in terms of having a rythm section with excellent chops.
I have constantly been confused by the fact that both bands are not heralded as classic bands the way that many other of my favourite bands are; Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Velvet Underground etc. I mean they are by Mansun/ Magazine fans but not by anybody else. The point is that my taste in music is extremely mainstream (in a kind of Mojo/ High Fidelity Way). When bands I love are not praised to the rooftops by Broadsheet newspapers and grown up music magazines then I often feel more suprised than vindicated in a I am a really superior indie fan type of way.
(By the way I have nothing against the kind of people who seek the most obscure bands they can get their hands on - in fact I am blimin glad they exist or else small bands would never have a fan base. The problem is I am too lazy to do the same).
Back to the point - normally I can quickly work out a reason for bands I like being pillored by the press - they have no recognisable tunes, they have an obsession with dragons, their songs last far too long (all common (and probably justified) reasons for bands I like to be looked down upon). I find it difficualt to work this out with Mansun and Magazine - they are both catchy and immediate. They sing about every day life. They are pop.
I think the real things that links both bands (in many reviewers eyes as a bad thing and in my mind as a great thing) is their continual ability to "not quite fit in". The "not quite" bit is important - and in my mind has caused them the most difficaulties.
---------------------------
Mansun - oh I get Mansun ... they are the new Manics/ Suede... make-up, boas, happy days, but wait ... they are now in army uniform ... and now they are pretending to be the Stone Roses... the council estate been replaced by a vicourage ... and the way those songs flow into each other - I don't think you are allowed to do that on a first album ... ahhh thats better now they are going prog ... pretensious bastards ... I can hate them now... theys seem very clever and well read ... yet they say everything they know comes from the TV ... oh now they are just being camp again.
Magazine - oh goody good a new punk band - thats easy I know what those things are ...but hang on is that a synthasizer I hear ... no that can't be right ... and make-up ... oh thats alright then - I was being a bit stupid there - they are the new Roxy music ... make-up silly synth noises ... glam throw-away lyrics ... and songs about liking boys ... um wait a bit isn't there some substance to some of these lyrics ... some of them certainly don't seem to be about sprouting universal but meaningless cliches ... maybe they are one of those progressive bands that everybody likes to hate so much... they must be really pretensions ... but listen more carefully ... aren't they taken the piss a little bit ... perhaps everything they ever do is silly and throw away... but that doesn't seem right...
----------------------------
Both bands have consistantly broken a number of cardinal rules - the kind of rules that are liable to turn you into a cult band forever
1. You should always stick to the genre that you were signed up on and you cannot be in and outside a movement at the same time
2. You can't be camp and butch at the same time
3. You can't be white and soulful
4. you can't be progressive and catchy
5. don't ever tackle capitalist alienation with kafka-esque humour
6. you should never combine cynicism and joy
7. pin-ups don't celebrate their uglyness, and pop starts don't sing in praise of their compromises. They just make them instead.
8. cutting edge progressive bands should never ever be supported by ladyboys
they are all extremely naughty and should be locked in a cuboard until they learn how to behave.
'arry xxx
PS As per usual I have made no attempt to spell check - hey I am doing this for fun!
PPS I don't claim that Mansun and Magazine are completly unique in being underrated. But they are the bands I am writing about today.