— Wayne Hussey
Simon Evans took over from Kim Clarke Champniss as host of City Limits on MuchMusic at the start of 1992. Though both were British born veejays who would put a heavy emphasis on playing groups from their homeland, the two shared little else in common. KCC was relatively cheerful and he clearly had musical interests beyond so-called alternative music. Evans, however, was one of those guys who seemed to live and breathe the indie scene and he made no secret of his distaste for those who didn't. KCC was a big favourite of mine but there was something to be said for Evans as well. He acted like a pushy older friend who would take it upon himself to guide young viewers in the direction of the stuff he considered to be acceptable. KCC might have had time for pop music of a certain quality; Evans had no use for even the best of it.
I continued to watch City Limits for several months following the changeover from KCC to Evans. The quality didn't fall off and perhaps the only major difference was that the new host didn't tend to fall back on old favourites of his predecessor like Joy Division so much. The music was mostly new and very little of it was popular with the bulk of it coming from England (it would be my first exposure to Blur, Manic Street Preachers and The Wonder Stuff as well as less notable acts like Fatima Mansions and Ned's Atomic Dustbin). Evans must have quickly worked out that grunge was already far too trendy to have any place on his show; the dearth of newer American acts on City Limits may have been part of the reason they ended up introducing the late-afternoon video show The Wedge later in the year, which proved more of a home for the likes of Soul Asylum and Stone Temple Pilots. (In my mind, the two shows really symbolized the gulf between American and British indie)
One night a typically glum Evans introduced Fuzzbox which perked my interest. I was familiar with their chart his from 1989 and even though I knew about their punkier past, they were just about the last group I expected him to be playing. He introduced "What's the Point?" or "Love Is the Slug" or "X X Sex" (I don't recall which but it must have been one of them since they all have videos) before mentioning in a particularly dour voice about their unfortunate transformation into a pop act. I don't know if Evans uttered the words 'sell out' but this was clearly the implication.
I suppose there are a couple markers that reaffirm this idea that Fuzzbox had indeed sold out. Singer Vickie (Vix) Perks was suddenly baring her midriff at every opportunity and some of their new material was co-written by the band with American Liam Sternberg who had also been partly responsible for The Bangles hit "Walk Like an Egyptian". There was a glossiness to both their look and their sound as well. Yet, this makeover wasn't a sell out. Sternberg had worked with them but the music was very much their own. The crunchiness of the guitars was toned down and there isn't as much thrash but the harmonies aren't much different and it's easy to imagine "What's the Point?" as a pop song just as it wouldn't take much to turn later hit single "International Rescue" into a rousing punk anthem.
Mostly importantly, Fuzzbox never altered their approach, which was to have a laugh. Formed on the fly when some mates who already had a band couldn't find anyone to open for them, they refused to take what they were doing terribly seriously. They soon found themselves supporting Sigue Sigue Sputnik with whom they would draw obvious comparisons. But where Martin Degeville and co. still posed as punks — even if it was all artifice — Vix, Mags, Jo and Tina had little time for such earnestness. Smash Hits was still riding along the influence of design editor Steve Bush who didn't want cover stars smiling; the members of Fuzzbox couldn't stop grinning. Aspirational pop? Yeah, sod that.
Wayne Hussey wasn't one for smiling but he nevertheless a curious pop star. He had departed The Sisters of Mercy after having a falling out with leader Andrew Eldritch in 1985 and promptly formed The Mission. This was during the apogee of goth rock with bands such as The Cure and Sixousie & The Banshees joining them as chart regulars. Being goths, these groups weren't especially media friendly but Hussey did his best to play the game. It never looked like putting in an appearance on Top of the Pops was infringing on his rock star cred and he was down for what the teen pop mags were all about. Smash Hits' then editor Barry McIlheney has since admitted that he was taken to task by his bosses at EMAP for putting him on the cover of the magazine but Hussey had already been on the front of rival journal Number One the previous autumn. You may agree that putting a goth singer on the cover of a top pop mag is a mistake (McIlheney chose him in favour of Janet Jackson which certainly makes it seem like a giant boner in retrospect) but there's no question Hussey was up for the program.
He serves his time this fortnight reviewing the singles. Rockers tend to be loyal to their own kind and dismissive of others but that's not the case here. No, he doesn't care for much of the pop on offer but, remarkably, he's also dismissive of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" ("What's all the fuss about? Just another song about highways, cars and girls") and doesn't care much for "Gigolo", the latest from The Damned. What Hussey seems to appreciate is youthful enthusiasm, which brings us back to We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, the name they were still going by (though they were already going by the shortened 'Fuzzbox' in the US but weren't changing it in Britain for some time). For such an apparently amateurish outfit, they were improving and "What's the Point?" was their best single yet. As Hussey says, the harmonies are absolutely superb, their voices colliding and bouncing off one another wonderfully. There's a booming horn section (at least, I think it's a horn section, though it could be them going nuts on kazoos and comb and paper for all I know) and better production too.
It's as if Fuzzbox were already looking to make a change. The funny video has them in pajamas and dressing up as flight attendants, glamourous movie stars, secretaries and — amazingly — Harry Potter, as well as their more familiar shock rock Strawberry Switchblade look. Flip the single over and you get their acapella take on "Bohemian Rhapsody" with yet more brilliantly chaotic harmonies and sense that they're about to collapse into hysterical laughter at any moment. There was so much more to this group than drunkenly playing the same chords and being on the indie fringe. Their minor hits gave them a taste of the Giddy Carousel of Pop and now they were going to ride it for as long as they could. It wasn't anywhere near as long as we would have wanted but they made the most of their chance.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Beastie Boys: "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)"
Some songs sound better in your head than when you actually sit down to listen to them and then there's "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)". After all these years, it's remarkable how familiar yet surprising listening to it can be. It's actually funny: how did I forget about the Beastie Boys once being a laugh? And it's good fun too! The whole idea of Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D being these white rappers is absurd and should never have worked. But work it does. Then, now and forever.
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