The mid-80s was make-or-break time for Kate Bush. Since her breakthrough in 1978, she’d been gradually alienating her fans with successive ambitious but non-commercial left turns. As such, her label EMI was seriously concerned for her future as a pop artist. However, that all changed in 1985. She returned after […]
Get Surfshark VPN at https://Surfshark.deals/TRASHTHEORY and enter promo code TRASHTHEORY for 83% off and 3 extra months for FREE! The Beatles broke up in 1970. Emerging two years later, Power Pop was an attempt to resurrect the Fab Four’s early days. What did it sound like? Impossibly catchy tunes with […]
Even amongst the ragamuffins and likely lads of the UK Punk scene, Ian Dury stood out. In his late 30s, with his left arm and leg withered from Polio, and in love with Stax, Motown and free jazz – But that is also what made him transcend. Aided by the […]
Björk never wanted the spotlight. Fame was never the goal, she just wanted to be able to defy the boundaries of pop on her own terms. Debut was where she would burst her way onto MTV and Radio, but with her 1995 album Post she became the innovative and unflinchingly […]
If 2004 was the year of Franz Ferdinand for the NME crowd, then 2005 was all about Bloc Party. With razor sharp guitarwork, disco beats and Kele Okereke’s anguished yelp, they brought the indie set heartache you could dance to. In spite of studio issues, Gang of Four comparisons and […]
Despite its name, Power Pop as a genre has often failed to accrue the popularity necessary to set the charts ablaze. Fountains of Wayne’s brand of detail-rich storytelling and bittersweet character study twinned with a sugary 90s alt rock crunch did little to change that. They were the bizarro Weezer, […]
For most of the 90s, Aphex Twin ran counter to what was happening in mainstream dance music. He was messing with low-key ambience during the forceful Eurodance of “Rhythm is a Dancer.” Moved to harsh industrial noise as Europe was smitten by the dreamy trance of Robert Miles’ “Children.” And […]
In November 1989, two bands from Manchester appeared together on Top of the Pops and it changed indie music forever. The Madchester sound was the unity of jangly guitars and thumping dance music: big, psychedelic, even funky and a perfect companion to taking Ecstasy. Artists like The Stone Roses, Happy […]
Though it had been bubbling under for 18 months, the end of 1976 was when UK punk got its first seven inches. The Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK” may have generated the most outrage, but The Damned’s “New Rose” got there first. While they may have fired the first […]
For many, the commercial breakthrough of emo-pop of the mid-00s was all about the bombast of My Chemical Romance, the wordplay of Fall Out Boy and the theatre of Panic! At the Disco. But fifteen years later, Paramore are the band whose impact is the most visible. Singer Hayley Williams’ […]
