There’s origin myths about doing deals with the devil at midnight down at the crossroads. There’s being a hobo. Then there’s Art schools. From the fifties to today a staple in the origin myths of a certain type of band. We went to art school, we met at art school. Our whole band’s kind of an art project really. The guitarist paints our record sleeves. I base my lyrics on Rimbaud. It’s a Brechtian thing. We use the Burroughs cut-up technique to write our choruses.
Art rockers, art school rockers, here’s to artifice and wearing your reading list on your sleeve. None I think have captured this approach better than Wire – my ultimate art school band. Your entries please in the ultimate art school roll call. The more pretentious the better!
28 seconds!
I would have thought that Van der Graaf Generator would meet the criterion nicely, including “the Hendrix of the Voice”, sax-skronk (sometimes in parallel instruments); angst; weird time signatures; more angst; being a bit too difficult for the many elf-fanciers in the progressive genre; and not really appealing to those whose tastes veer towards boogie and blues-rock conservative orthodoxy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6b4lxDCQNU
Let’s start at the top and we can move on.
Bowie – Cygnet Committtee. Beckenham Arts Lab in the fabulous Sixties.
Erm, beg to differ. Surely starting from the top would be Lennon and Sutcliffe, Voorman and Kirschher. And those 3 other blokes. Although i do agree that the answer is usually Bowie.
OK, starting from my top. Deal? 🙂
Soft Cell. Leeds Poly Fine Art Dept. I used to see them walking to the refectory most days.
Just going to add them myself, saw them in the refectory many a time.
Me too.
As I recall, ‘Big Dave’ would often conceal his loose-head’s build beneath a wispy beard and floral-print tea-dress, which he wittily accessorised with 18-hole DMs.
Were you both there when a particular Fine Art performance made the tabloid front pages? It was the one with the smashed goldfish bowl and a threat to shoot a caged budgie before the audience intervened.
Yes seem to recall that. There 75 to 77 doing photography.
M.
Essentially a one man band; artist Robin Scott, plus extremely good guest musicians (Level 42). I seem to remember him saying the lyrics were partly ‘found’, or ‘cut up’. Boiler-suit uniforms for all the band and blatant miming on TOTP.
That’s the Way the Money Goes, Moonlight and Muzak, London-New York-Munich-Paris Everybody Talk About Rolf Harris? Possibly, don’t quote me on that.
That’s a new one (to me) – that M’s musicians were Level 42! Can’t hear any chest high thumb-slappin’ bass playin’ in those songs though.
Mark the slapper isn’t on Pop Muzik. Its Phil Gould on drums, along with occasional Levs man Wally Badarou. Also features the brilliantly named Gary Barnacle on sax, who has also played with Ver ’42, as well as Visage etc and indeed was required by law to play on all records made in the 80s
Roxy Music
Adam Ant
Here are Roxy Music in 1972, looking the part with Eno.
Noone could be more art school for mine.
What’s it got to do with Herman’s Hermits? He always seemed more Secondary Modern to me.
Edwards and Wire. Swansea Uni. Think Richey did Art and Lit
Talking Heads somehow missed out on the OGWT thread.
Don’t Worry About The Government
Green Gartside was at Leeds College of Art; the early singles are peak art-school punk.
Early Split Enz.
Met at uni
Zany outfits
Lots of time changes
One of the musicians did the artwork for the cover
Voila !
As did Crowded House (re cover art), but a completely different member doing the artwork, not the 2/3rds from Split Enz part. Not so much art school beyond that though.
Things may come and things may go, but the art school dance goes on forever.
This is Pete Brown & Piblokto, the band he formed to replace the Battered Ornaments.
I’m ashamed to say I knew nothing of how the transition from Battered Ornaments to Piblokto came about.
From Wiki:
“…Brown then suffered the ignominy of being thrown out of his own band, the day before they were due to support The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park. His vocals were then removed from (the album) Mantlepiece and re-recorded by Chris Spedding, and the band was renamed The Battered Ornaments” (and carried on with Pete Brown)
Swift on the heels on Junior’s excellent nomination of the Enz, I give you this
And let’s not forget those other trendsetters
Top Tracks – Doctors of Madness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yehbfgVZTKo&list=PL73tP1TyHZOmmt7u2SosLaa_aTl2BTzMN
Both ‘giants ‘ of the genre whilst Wire were still arseing about in the Vortex.
yessss!
This lot of art school layabouts showed promise. Or the singer did.
The first proper art school band were surely the Who – visuals, costumes, performances etc all clearly pop art
Not forgetting the Bonzos, art school alumni.
The Slade School Of Art.
*pauses for the Noddy Holder* jokes
You got a better class of layabout there compared to the less elect St. Martin’s. You had to be be proper boho as opposed to suburban-faux garret botherer.
Now it produces chart bothering pop moppets. Here is Charlotte Emma Aitcheson, for example, (or Charli XCX)
Charli XCX
SuperLove
Devo
Mad as a box of frogs, or atristic statement?
I’m a bit late to this, but….
and this
more artists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adpZ1YWjvNI
Speaking of Rimbaud, wharraabaaht Television and monsieur Verlaine?
possibly cheating but just reissued and so good
starred first;
Gang Of Four
and……so arty!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDwaDIbrfxA
This one surely @anton for the video – Soviet early twentieth-century art all over the shop, collage, cut-outs, Lichtenstein dots.
brilliant eh? good song too
The first 30 secs of this song, before it slows down, is still the best thing they’ve done. The real art school thing would have been to split up after those 30s
almost (very underrated – except in my house)…see them live, feel that stomp make the building shake…….giddy!
which reminds me…
Throbbing Gristle
Not so much a band, more an entire Project.
I’ve got a couple of TG albums, but honestly wouldn’t know what to choose to be Youtube-ily repsresentative
gourmet burger
Irony Alert the best song about art school was of course written by a band who started in working men’s clubs rather than anywhere with life drawing on the curriculum…the lyrics make it clear Weller sort of regretted missing out.
irony + paul weller = does not compute…..PS tickets for his latest show more than £40 – just about managing eh? which reminds me…(jam)
pop music gave me up about 19th May 1980….heard this by mistake and was right back head over heels.
roll me in designer sheets…
you have to admit…..
In a scene in the excellent film The Commitments, Aztec Camera are dismissed by Jimmy Rabbit as “art school bullshit”, so any excuse to post this…