JoBoxers: "Boxerbeat"

17 February 1983

"I don't mind girls who want to look like Bananarama but when the boys start..."

— Anon.

An unintended consequence of punk was that it led to a dearth of old school workingmen's bands. Given that they had relocated to the United States at around the same time, Slade would not have been a target of the punks but it was hard-faced, hard-drinking bands like them and The Faces and Status Quo (and, most importantly of all, any potential younger acts) who would really falter as the seventies gave way to the eighties. True, there had been overly working class bands like Angelic Upstarts but they got themselves stuck in the corner of punk; whereas everyone with any kind of future had been able to spread themselves out.

Dexys Midnight Runners were one of the few groups to emerge out of punk to cultivate an image of a gang of lads on the prowl for drink and a punch up. But it was all image. The ever-changing line-up and their practice of adopting new band uniforms on a yearly basis (they went from dock workers to health fanatics to urchins in rags and dungarees to preppies; leader Kevin Rowland even carried this forward in his solo career, famously dressing in drag for the sleeve of flop covers album My Beauty) only confirmed that it was all a show. Whether it was the superstars of New Pop dressing as members of Bananarama or supposed toughs in a badass gang, everyone in a UK dominated by music videos and Smash Hits seemed perfectly happy to get dressed up.

Well, not quite everyone. London's JoBoxers were keen to point out to all who'd listen that they weren't like those "production-line haircut bands" or even Dexys, a band whose Searching for the Young Soul Rebels image appeared to have rubbed off on the suspenders, Doc Martens and flat caps favoured by singer Dig Wayne and the quartet who used to be in punk band Subway Sect. Yet, they claimed this was how they normally dressed. "We're for real," Wayne would claim, perhaps unaware that he'd just set off a big popular music red flag. 

Still, the unnamed Hits reviewer this fortnight seemed to buy it. These people who dress like Bananarama (are they the same folk who are in these so-called "production-line haircut bands"? Something tells me there would be plenty of intersection of the two on a Venn diagram) are for some reason the enemy. JoBoxers have "no synths, no wimpy vocals"; the critic here conveniently leaves out that they also have no originality and no creativity but I guess those sorts of qualities don't matter when you're "for real".

I don't mean to trash "Boxerbeat" though. It's a perfectly competent slice of pop-soul, loads of fun and I have no doubt JoBoxers would've been a great act to have seen live back in their day. But in a fortnight with some strong candidates — I would have had a difficult time choosing between Madness' "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" and Orange Juice's "Rip It Up" had I been in charge of the singles in this issue; also coming in strong are OMD's "Genetic Engineering" and Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" — it's simply an also ran. The same old punk from six years earlier was no different than this spirited but derivative soul.

Having recently been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Duran Duran aren't the joke they once were. Yes, they were a global phenomenon and hit making juggernaut back in their day but they had their critics. Harsh critics. People who knocked their hair and fashion sense and music videos and they even managed to go after their actual music from time to time. At their best, they were very good indeed but they could also put out some crap. Nevertheless, if it comes down having to choose between a band who is "for real" and a bunch of "pouting pretties" like Duran and the Spand then I'll take the the flash suits, art school pretensions, pin up looks and ridiculous exoticism any day.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Men Without Hats: "The Safety Dance (Extended 'Club Mix')"

Bundled together with fellow 12" remixes of Eurythmics and Leisure Process (whoever they are), our anonymous friend isn't terrifically fond of Montreal's Men Without Hats, reckoning they were only capable of "a bit of electronic doodling and a fabulously stupid name". I will say "The Safety Dance" doesn't deserve to be their best-known song since "Pop Goes the World" blows it out of the water. Also, the name isn't that bad especially since their first best of was given the title Greatest Hats which is somehow both on-the-nose and brilliant at the same time. And this "Extended 'Club Mix'" manages to clock in at a reasonable four-and-a-half minutes so it could be worse. A pointless 12" all the same, however.

(Click here to see my original review)

JoBoxers: "Boxerbeat"

17 February 1983

"Hopefully, it'll be bands like the stunning JoBoxers who will blow all the pouting pretties back whence they came."

— Smash Hits scribe who wishes to remain nameless (or is uncredited due to editorial negligence)

Some odd stuff went down in the Smash Hits singles review in February of 1983. First, Fred Dellar sifts through nearly two dozen records and is so underwhelmed by the lot of 'em that he doesn't bother crowning a SOTF. He has scant praise for Donald Fagen's "New Frontier", Fun Boy Three's "The Tunnel of Love" and Depeche Mode's "Get the Balance Right" but he doesn't even seem all that bothered about any of them. The only notable newby this fortnight is Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" which Dells thinks is just all right (MJ's vocal, the song's beat and Quincy Jones' production "almost convince you that [it's] a great record" which I have to agree with even if I quibble with his concession that it's a grower; I tend to think that it's the type of single that's best played only the once). We're still not quite at the point in which reviewers began concluding write ups of their picks with the sentence 'Single of the Fortnight' but the custom for the past several months has been for the choice cut to be featured in the top left hand side, typically bordered by stars. In this issue we see a doubling up due to the connection of a Jimmy Cliff cover (Rockers Revenge's "The Harder They Come") and a Jimmy Cliff original ("Love Is All") in this coveted spot. The Rockers, who "enjoyed" a SOTF the previous summer with "Walking on Sunshine", build upon the gospel elements of the reggae classic but the New York boombox synths trivialize the original's passion; Dellar is bored with Cliff's new release and, listening to it now, it's amazing to think how hard he managed to fall. (Note: This has now been rectified. I have decided to infer that the SOTF is Donald Fagen's "New Frontier" which may be found here)

So, the above lengthy paragraph aside, let's skip this one and move on to the next fortnight where there is sure to be no problems. Well, other than no credited reviewer. (The singles review page was actually nameless a month earlier as well but I cited Mark Ellen as his name is down on Brian McCloskey's Smash Hits archive)

Sometimes groups come along as if they're trying to fill a void. Bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and Madness were still around in 1983 but they weren't quite the same as when they first hit it big. Kevin Rowland's outfit had changed lineups (again) and were now being billed with the singer/musical director/dictator's name getting top billing; they had also begun moving away from their northern soul roots towards Irish folk. Madness' run of superbly rollicking singles was drying up as they gradually shifted to their melancholy period. (One of this fortnight's better offerings is their latest record "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)", which masked its dark heart in some bouncy rhythms and production; a version that perhaps better represents this stage appears on the single's 12" release featuring a suitably down in the dumps Elvis Costello vocal and a slowed down pace) Significantly, the two groups also seemed like gangs: a pack of mates who probably grew up in the same neighbourhood and listened to the same music and drank together in the same pub. (It's difficult to imagine the members of Spandau Ballet doing anything together save for shopping for expensive designer clothes)

Clearly whoever reviewed these singles feels there's a void and JoBoxers are just the lads to fill it. They don't play synths, you know, and the vocals aren't wimpy and they don't dress like Bananarama. (Prancing around in the video as if they're performing in The Pirates of Penzance apparently is acceptable although his nibs may well have changed his mind once he actually got to see it) And they play soul which is real music.

I might be able to take this critique seriously if I could manage to understand just what he sees in "Boxerbeat" but it's beyond me. I can't quite figure out what it's meant to be. Is this "Boxerbeat" singer Dig Wayne is going on about some kind of a dance? Old school rhythm and blues has a tradition of introducing a dance craze through song — the obvious examples being Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" — and they could be attempting something similar here. Trouble is, there's no actual dance to go along with it. Perhaps "Boxerbeat" is a mindset. The lyrics encourage us to keep an open mind, not be so much of a prat and live and let live. Okay, that's fine, I can do that. Now what? Well, you can be part of their pack — just you're "bag" if you dig what Dexys and Madness used to be about.

I don't wish to sound too bitchy here. The tune is punchy and Dig Wayne seems like a decent frontman. My quibble really is with whoever at ver Hits felt it necessary to prop up JoBoxers at the expense those so-called "pouting pretties". Is "Boxerbeat" really any more profound than the upcoming singles from the Duranies or the Spands? Is pretending as if you're an authentic sixties northern soul group any less pretentious than draping oneself in a carpet and painting one's face in makeup? New pop was here and the denizens of the Smash Hits office on Carnaby Street were going to have to deal with it. Belittle the fops, sure, but for the sake of consistency be sure to trash the soulboys while you're at it.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Orange Juice: "Rip It Up"

Our anonymous Hits critic thinks "Boxerbeat" is the bee's knees but hates this: I don't know what to say. Everyone's a sucker for those clipped, jangly guitars and, combined with some synth backing that manages to look forward to the squelching sound of late-eighties acid house, "Rip It Up" has a great DIY quality about it. But it isn't simply yet another post-punk obscurity purpose built for the exclusive delight of John Peel and a few Glaswegian art school students, there's real pop aspiration going on here. Edwyn Collins' vocal has swagger which is a refreshing change from the customarily depressed and/or quirky singing you get from indie darlings. History vindicates those of us who opt for "Rip It Up" over "Boxerbeat" even if Orange Juice were no more the future of British pop than JoBoxers.