When many people think of the English music scene they talk about the Liverpool sound of the sixties with such groups as "The Beatles", "The Merseybeats", "Gerry & the Pacemakers", etc. They may even think of the London Punk scene of the late seventies or even the bands coming out of Manchester (Simply Red, Oasis, Stone Roses, etc) in the eighties.
Well I'm not going to write about any of them I'm going to tell you about the Yorkshire Music Scene, well not all Yorkshire just Leeds. Other of our cities have produced some good bands such as Sheffield (Human League, Pulp & Def Leppard) and Hull (Beautiful South & David Bowies group Spiders from Mars, I'll thank Airliebird for that fact).
So what great groups have been formed in Leeds :-
Soft Cell (Tainted Love) - Ok Marc Almond and David Ball where brought up in Blackpool and Southport but they met up while studying at Leeds University and formed Soft Cell at that time. This song is their most famous hit but is a cover version, it was origionally wrote by Ed Cobb of "The Four Preps and performed as a Soul number by Gloria Jones in 1964. The Soft Cell version made No1 in both the UK and Australia plus No8 in the US in 1981.
Chumbawamba (Tubthumping) - Origionally formed in 1982 Chumbawamba started out as a Punk group but today perform many different styles of music including Dance. Some of the names the went under when first formed include "Passion Killers", "Skin Disease", "Antidote" & "Scab Aid". They have had too many to mention members over the last 25 years.
Tubthumping was a 1997 hit in both the UK (No2) and the US (No6).
Kaiser Chiefs (Ruby) - The members of "The Chiefs" are fanatical Leeds United supporters so much so they named the group after South African Soccer team "Kaizer Chiefs" from which Leeds bought their legendary captain Lucas Radebe.
The band formed in 1997 won three awards at the Brits in 2006, "Best Group", "Best British Rock act" and "Best Live Act".
This song "Ruby" was their first No1 in February this year.
One big dissapointment for me these boys are currently on a US tour and play Seattle the day before I arrive.
And If you love music don't forget to keep your eye on "Today's Music Choice" on my blogs sidebar. I'm trying to change the acts daily and covering a range of styles of music new and old.
Just click on the one you would like to hear.
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8 comments:
Absolutely, SOFT CELL. I can sing it from my computer...You can't hear me (and that is to your advantage--I promise)
Although, I really did enjoy Tubthumber..."I get knocked down and I get up again"
Really you're lucky to not be hearing these attempts at musical remeberances....
OK, I am such a geek--I love that softcell song! One of my all time favs! Chumbawumba is pretty good, but sometimes I have no clue what they are saying!
Wow, I was surprised I had such a difficult time deciding as they are all great songs, but I chose the "golden oldie" by Soft Cell.
Had a giggle over the name Chumbawumba, sounds like a town in the outback.
I'm not surprised you all went for Soft Cell its one of the Classics. Until I looked it up for this post I hadn't realised it was a cover version.
Saying all that the other two tracks are also well worth a listen.
I'm going to go for Chumbawumba, considering yesterdays result!
P.S. That was the Whites result at Colchester BTW. :(
YOu have to admit that Leeds is pretty weak compared to other parts of the UK. What about the midlands? Chumbawumba is my fave.
Airliebird,
What a disaster that result was I think its going to the wire. Need a result against Burnley on Saturday.
Spider,
I agree there hasn't been many big acts from Leeds compared to some areas but I don't think any midlands cities do any better.
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