Top 10: Songs about sex workers

Who doesn’t love a bit of filth with their harmonies? How can anyone resist the temptations of sexual suggestion and lurid details of carnal activities? Well, Craig Stephen loves a bit of how’s your father, especially if it involves a strumpet or a gigolo. He’s back with another top 10, specifically looking at songs about sex workers. And just to prove he’s still alive, the site’s lazy-arse editor can’t resist adding an 11th in the form of a genuine red light Kiwi ska-punk classic:

Tubeway Army - Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (1979)

Number one in the UK for weeks, and yet few people would have sussed out what it was actually about, so here’s Gary Numan, the Tory-loving pilot, telling all to a journalist … “the lyrics came from short stories I'd written about what London would be like in 30 years. These machines - "friends" - come to the door. They supply services of various kinds, but your neighbours never know what they really are since they look human. The one in the song is a prostitute, hence the inverted commas. It was released in May 1979 and sold a million copies. I had a No 1 single with a song about a robot prostitute and no one knew.”

Cole Porter - Love For Sale (1930)

In the very conservative context of 1930s America, a white singer singing about her life as a prostitute was too much for many. After all, 1930 was the year Hollywood introduced the Hays Code which forbade the use of profanity and obscenity. ‘Love For Sale’ was labelled as "in bad taste" by one newspaper and radio stations kept a wide berth. So, to try to defuse the moral outrage, singer Kathryn Crawford was replaced by Elizabeth Welch, an African-American singer. It was later covered by Shirley Bassey, Boney M, Elvis Costello, and Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett for a duet.

Blondie - Call Me (1980)

The theme song from the film American Gigolo starring Richard Gere is presented from the point of view of a male escort, despite being sung by Debbie Harry. The Blondie star suggestively purrs for the listener to call her anytime and issues an invitation to call "day or night" because "I'll never get enough". ‘Call Me’ was composed by Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder and contained more than a tinge of electronica. Given Blondie’s huge popularity at the time as they successfully bridged punk, new wave and pop, it was inevitably a worldwide hit and was named in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

 Ramones - 53rd & 3rd (1977)

A gay hustler stands alone on a street corner in New York unsuccessfully trying to earn some cash by turning tricks. When a macho man Vietnam Green Beret challenges him, the hustler slips out his weapon and does the dirty deed. “Then I took out my razor blade/Then I did what God forbade/Now the cops are after me/But I proved that I'm no sissy.” The song references what was once a popular hangout for male prostitution, and where Dee Dee Ramone tried to do business before joining the band. It appears on their much-hailed debut album Ramones.

Queen - Killer Queen (1974)

Queen’s first worldwide hit was about a woman who we learn in the first verse likes the luxuries of life: “She keeps Moët et Chandon/In her pretty cabinet/ ‘Let them eat cake’, she says/Just like Marie Antoinette.” Listening further, you can deduce that the lady in question serves pleasure to the men in high places. “Drop of a hat, she's as willing as/Playful as a pussycat.” 

Sharon O’Neill - Maxine (1983)

It probably said something of New Zealand of the time that there were two versions of the video: one for Kiwi eyes, one for Australians. The New Zealand video is tame and lame, focusing on O’Neill with her Bonnie Tyler-style hair singing along to the song. The one for the Aussie audiences is far more gritty, beginning with ‘Maxine’ out on the streets looking for business. We then see O’Neill pleading with her friend to give it all up, but it’s all in vain. Yes, MOR pop can sometimes tell a good story.

Morrissey - Piccadilly Palare (1990)

He’d later turn to boxing and other working class pursuits but in 1990 Morrissey was singing about male prostitution. “On the rack I was/Easy meat, and a reasonably good buy.” The title is a play on the slang term polari which was first used by male prostitutes in the 19th century and then taken up in the 1960s to disguise activities which were illegal in the UK until 1967. Apparently, Morrissey didn’t particularly like the song and reviewers weren’t entirely sure either. It was the fifth of five singles that were released outside of a studio album, and with ‘November Spawned a Monster’, also issued in 1990, it seemed that a studio album then would’ve been a cruel trick played on his fans.

 The Clash - Janie Jones (1977)

Despite the title, this track from The Clash’s incendiary eponymous debut album is more about an office worker who, having had a gutsful of his tedious job, jumps in his car and heads off to a brothel. Which is where Ms Jones comes in. Janie Jones was a one-time singer, who in the 60s had a minor hit with 'Witches Brew', became infamous for hosting sex parties at her home during the 1970s, and was jailed for ‘controlling prostitutes’.

Goodbye Mr MacKenzie - The Rattler (1989)

I don’t regret giving away records that I felt I didn’t need any more except for one - Good Deeds And Dirty Rags, the debut album by this Edinburgh band. Admittedly it was a mixed bag but it is still worth having for the likes of ‘The Rattler’ and ‘Goodwill City’. The former was released as a single in 1986. It didn’t go anywhere and was reissued three years later. However, it was rarely played on radio then due to it being about a male prostitute and description of what is euphemistically dubbed a sex act.

The Police - Roxanne (1978)

Sting was inspired to write this after seeing working girls operate outside of his hotel room in Paris while on tour. It revolves around a man who falls in love with the eponymous street worker. The narrator attempts to persuade her to give up her work, hence the lyrics: “Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light/Those days are over/You don't have to sell your body to the night.”

Editor’s Choice: Instigators - Hope She’s Alright (1982)

Not to be confused with the 1980s English anarcho-punk band of the same name, these Instigators won Auckland’s ‘battle of the bands’ title in 1981 before hitting the road and going on to enthrall local pub audiences for the best part of the next two years. Along the way, amongst other great tunes, they released a fine ska cover of ‘The Israelites’, followed by this brilliant slice of urgent punk rock. Released on Ripper Records, ‘Hope She’s Alright’ tells the story of a missing prostitute … check it out here:

Top 10: Songs about space travel and aliens

Here’s your mission, should you choose to accept it: make a list of the best songs about space travel, aliens and giant monsters from space, without mentioning either that bloody song by Bowie or that effin song by Elton John. Sure thing, Ed.

10 of them? … nah, let’s make it an OCD-defying 11.

The B-52s: Planet Claire (1979)

From their esoteric but brilliant self-titled debut is a song about a mysterious woman who has just arrived on Earth. “Planet Claire has pink air/All the trees are red/No one ever dies there/No one has a head.”

Released as a single in 1979, it failed to sparkle in the commercial world, partly, or even wholly, due to the nearly two-minutes of instrumentation before the lyrics kick in. Radio DJs were never going to be enticed by that. The Foo Fighters have been known to do a heavier live version.

Radiohead: Subterranean Homesick Alien (1997)

Radiohead’s finest album is definitely subjective, but for myself, you can’t go beyond their superb OK Computer, from where ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’ can be found. The title is a play on Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, one of the great observations of the 1960s counterculture. But there’s no similarities in the slightest between them.

Rather, Thom Yorke sings of isolation and wishes that an alien colony can take him away just so he could be a silent observer instead of an active participant in the game of life.

 Kraftwerk: Spacelab (1978)

A star turn on the Man Machine album, ‘Spacelab’ was performed by Kraftwerk with an astronaut in-orbit live in 2018. The collaboration, with German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who was on the International Space Station, closed out Kraftwerk's set at the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart.

With Kraftwerk co-founder Ralf Hütter, Gerst played the robo-emotional melody from the song. The time lag made for a few hiccups, but few in the audience were caring.

The Pixies: Motorway to Roswell (1991)

In 1947 debris from a military ballon crash in New Mexico led to various suggestions and rumours that it was a space craft and aliens on board were taken into a US military facility in Roswell. The accident has spurned countless TV series and movies. Pixies singer Frank Black is fascinated by aliens and space and wondered if the visitor(s) “ended up in army crates?/And photographs in files.” 

The Buchanan Brothers: (When You See) Those Flying Saucers (1947)

This was written shortly after Kenneth Arnold shot to global fame after claiming to have seen nine silver-coloured discs flying in unison near Mount Rainier, Washington state. Arnold even estimated their speed at being 1200 miles an hour.

‘(When You See) Those Flying Saucers’ ponders the objective of those aliens in the sky and finds a novel of way of surviving. “You’d better pray to the Lord when you see those flying saucers/It may be the coming of the Judgement Day/It’s a sign there’s no doubt of the trouble that’s about/So I say my friends you’d better start to pray.”

The Byrds: Mr Spaceman (1966)

Taken from Fifth Dimension, ‘Mr Spaceman’ had surprisingly modest results with this single failing to chart in Britain. Music journalists dubbed it space-rock.

The protagonist wakes up in the middle of the night and sees a UFO in the sky. He then dreams of being taken along with the inhabitants. “Hey, Mr Spaceman/Won't you please take me along/I won't do anything wrong/Hey, Mr Spaceman/Won't you please take me along for a ride.”

Parliament: Mothership Connection (1975)

Here’s an entire album with an outer-space theme, but with black people at the core. The album's concept would form the backbone of Parliament and the sister band Funkadelic’s concert performances during the 1970s, in which a large spaceship prop known as the Mothership would be lowered onto the stage.

As well as the title track, there were songs with titles such as ‘Unfunky UFO’ and ‘Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication’. The cover featured a spaceship and the sounds were very much … out there.

Devo: Space Junk (1978)

From Devo’s 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!, generally regarded as the weirdo post-punk band’s finest hour. Even back in the 1970s the amount of discarded space craft parts was beginning to became a problem ... and in this track, it resulted in tragedy. “Well, she was walking all alone/Down the street, in the alley/Her name was Sally/I never touched her, she never saw it/When she was hit by space junk/When she was smashed by space junk/When she was killed by space junk.”

 Destroy All Monsters soundtrack (1968)

Akira Ifukube can be considered to be Japan’s equivalent to Ennio Morricone, a composer extraordinaire who has scored so many of the country’s greatest films, including several Godzilla ones. Among the best of the series of magnificently bonkers keiju movies is this classic from 1968 which features Gojira up against a series of guest opponents. This soundtrack is regarded as one of his finest and in many ways set new standards for film-scores in monster movie making. 

Pink Floyd: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (1968)

Syd Barrett played on guitar on this, which was quite an achievement in its own way as by mid-1967 he had begun acting extremely strangely and would play one chord for an entire gig – or none at all. It is said that it is the only song that the first five members of Pink Floyd played together.

Songwriter Roger Waters borrowed the lyrics from a very old book of Chinese poetry and the title was derived from a 1965 novel by science fiction writer Michael Moorcock.

Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers: Here Come the Martian Martians (1976)

The Modern Lovers are often included on proto-punk albums heralded as one of the many bands that were instrumental in fanning the flames of the punk movement.

Richman’s debut album Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers is light-hearted with child-like backing vocals and a curious version of ‘Amazing Grace’. ‘Here Come the Martian Martians’ is certainly in that vein following two songs entitled ‘Abominable Snowman in the Market’ and ‘Hey There Little Insect’.

10 Great Comebacks

Some artists go under the radar for years after being dumped by a fickle record label or are victims of current trends. Some of the artists listed below also had their own personal battles to deal with, but came out at the other end with these killer comeback albums. Craig Stephen presents ten of the finest comebacks …

Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984)

How low did she go?

After the breakdown of Ike and Tina - both the act and the marriage - Turner became something of a nostalgia act, playing in small venues and Vegas-style cabaret shows to pay off her debts. She’d released two solo albums under her own name since leaving Ike and that last one was in 1979. Love Explosion was a disco-tinged funk album which was not even released in the United States. There followed five years of dead air.

What happened next?

Turner was in her 40s but in an era of Madonna copyists and other young female artists, a major record label took a chance on her. The end result was Private Dancer. It was a team effort with eight producers including Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 credited, and Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck also on board. There are several covers but Turner’s vocal talents stand out and several singles from it became mega worldwide hits. Commercial radio continues to pound their listeners with ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ to this day.

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (2004)

How bad was his shit?

Dropped by his record label following 1997′s dismal Maladjusted, Morrissey retreated to the Hollywood Hills, where he would become a bit of a recluse. His devoted fans sat twiddling their thumbs but no one else seemed to be bothered if Morrissey released another record.

What happened?

In 2002 Morrissey went on a world tour parading new songs and a year later signed with Sanctuary. A single, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’, heralded a beefier sound and the album was along the same lines. Sales of You Are The Quarry on both sides of the Atlantic were excellent and critics generally gave it a thumbs up. The missing years had been dispensed with; Morrissey was a rock star again.

Johnny Cash - American Recordings (1993)

Where are we at?

Like many stars of the 60s and 70s, such as Dylan, Johnny Cash was rejected and neglected in the 1980s. Columbia dropped him and his next label, Mercury, didn’t care much. Health problems, drug issues … yep those too.

Yeah … so?

Cash was offered a deal by producer and American Recordings head Rick Rubin. His label specialised in rap and metal so this was a bizarre sideways move. The recordings were just Cash and a guitar but the critics loved it. The NME said it was "uplifting and life affirming because the message is taught through adversity, ill luck and fighting for survival". In the end of year best album reviews, American Recordings was up there with the best pop, rock, rap and metal albums around, including being rated No.4 in the British monthly Mojo’s annual round-up.

 Elvis Presley - The Comeback Special (1968)

Down the toilet?

By mid-1968, Presley was at a personal and professional low point. He had gained weight, his musical career had been taken over by a series of mediocre movies, and pop music had changed with all the ‘super’ bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Doors. He had been left behind.

What did he do next?

Collaborating with NBC Television, and sidelining his conservative and controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker, The King appeared on his own show, Singer Presents …. Elvis, but more commonly known as The ’68 Comeback Special. It was a one-hour concert that aired in early December. This was the old Elvis, the leather-jacket wearing rocker and he played hits and new songs. The watching public loved it and the following year Presley released singles such as ‘In The Ghetto’ and ‘Suspicious Minds’ and he was back as pop star rather than a bad actor. 

David Bowie - Black Tie/White Noise (1993)

The lowdown:

Bowie’s solo career had slipped with the disappointing Never Let Me Down in 1987. His next move was surprising: a four-piece called Tin Machine was his attempt at being part of a band again. The self-titled debut was reasonably well received but Tin Machine II is generally considered a poor cousin and received some rather abrasive reviews. The band split due to personal issues.

The comeback:

Bowie’s first solo album in six years was presaged by the brilliant single ‘Jump They Say’ about the tragic life of his brother Terry. Bowie was in Los Angeles at the time of the 1992 riots and Black Tie/White Noise is about that and a plea for racial unity. It isn’t one of his best post-80s albums but it kick started a more productive period.

The House of Love - Days Run Away (2005)

Where were they at?

When guitarist Terry Bickers famously spat the dummy mid-tour in 1989, the band was left without its talisman. By 1993 the band had run itself into the ground and Audience With The Mind, was by far the poorest of the four albums they recorded to that point. They split soon after and didn’t lay a glove on the world for more than a decade.

What happened next?

The troubles of the past seemingly resolved and with Bickers back in the gang, the House of Love got its groove back with the result being this excellent collection. The Guardian was happy with the result. “Their sound is back to its subtle best, all Velvet Underground rhythms and guitars swooping over gentle melodies.”

Dexy’s - One Day I’m Going to Soar (2012)

Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ main man Kevin Rowland was suffering from financial problems, drug addiction and depression following the dismal reception to his first solo album The Wanderer in 1988. Over the next few years he was in and out of rehab and signing on the dole.

What happened next?

There was a band reformation in 2003 but little activity until 2012 and the release of One Day I’m Going to Soar. They were now called simply Dexys and featured old hands like Pete Williams, Mick Talbot, Big Jim Paterson and a new, female vocalist, Madeleine Hyland. Mojo wrote of the album: “Intense, painfully frank, hysterically funny, and in the end, exultant... ODIGTS isn't always an easy listen, but it does offer a fearless experience that invests pop with more theatricality than the form can usually tolerate.”

 Wanda Jackson - The Party Ain’t Over (2011)

Jackson was the Queen of Rockabilly, a massive star in the 1950s and early 60s. But once rock’n’roll became passe so did all those great stars, and Jackson then recorded country, blues and gospel albums. She had never retired and her most recent prior record was in 2006. But as numerous as they were, those albums couldn’t release her from the tag of the former Queen of Rockabilly.

What happened next?

White Stripes’ Jack White offered to produce … and who says no to him? White looked to reconnect the 73-year-old Jackson with her teenage style, resulting in frantic horns and White's fuzzed-out guitar. The result was the surprise return of rockabilly in the 2000s with an album that stood on its own.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy (1980)

Please explain:

In early 1975 Lennon released an almost forgotten collection of 1950s and 60s standards, and followed it later that year with a compilation, Shaved Fish, which sold moderately. Lennon spent the next few years as a house-husband.

What happened next?

In 1980, Lennon was inspired by the 2-Tone and new wave scenes that spawned the likes of Madness, The Pretenders and the B-52s. The album he and Yoko Ono made, Double Fantasy, was the ideal comeback, a fresh start for a couple ready to greet the world again. Alas, it turned out to a sad farewell as three weeks after its emphatic release, Lennon was killed by a lone gunman.

AC/DC - Back In Black (1980)

Which ditch were the band in?

Scots-born singer Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning in early 1980. The end seemed nigh for the band with the remaining members considering closing this chapter. Instead, they roped in Brian Johnson, ex of British rock band Geordie. 

And then?

Back In Black was recorded over seven weeks in the Bahamas and released in July 1980. It had the signature guitars and hard rock of AC/DC. The album's all-black cover was designed as a "sign of mourning" for Scott. It sold 50 million copies worldwide and is regarded as one of the best heavy metal albums of all time.

My Cassette Pet

Craig Stephen on the cassette tape mini-revival …

Defying logic, there has been something of a cassette revival over the past few years. We even have a Cassette Store Day – the format’s equivalent of Record Store Day, which has done much to revive sales in vinyl.

Its revival is one of the more curious revival movements because for decades the humble cassette effectively disappeared from store shelves. Well, in the west anyway. In some African countries, the Middle East and South Asia the tape has never gone out of fashion.

They’re cheap and don’t take up space so you can see their attraction. With new release vinyl albums now costing $NZ60 and upwards, it’s clear why a far more economical format might gain traction.

I wasn’t entirely convinced about the availability of cassettes so I had a look around. The JB Hi-Fi website has a section for cassettes for sale, and as I write there’s 15 listed. Four of those are reissues by De La Soul and there’s also 72 Seasons by Metallica and Autofiction by Suede. The retailer’s prices vary from $28 up to $49, but generally they are around the same price as the CD.

Marbecks didn’t have a separate tape section but did have a pack of blank cassettes, Southbound in Auckland had the same number as JB Hi-Fi and Real Groovy had 115 listed, which I guess was a mix of new and second hand.

There are even tape-only labels in New Zealand catering to bands that don’t have the money to invest in vinyl. This is a subject to be developed for later.

 In the big music markets, sales are on the up. The British Phonographic Industry says cassette sales have increased for 10 consecutive years – rising from less than 4000 in 2012 to more than 195,000 in 2022. That’s still small fry compared to vinyl and digital, but it’s a massive increase nevertheless. It’s the same for the United States while in Japan there are cassette-only stores and Tower Records, which is still around in the country but not anywhere else, has increased its shelf space of the format.

In the 1980s the cassette was sold at the same price as vinyl. Back then blank tapes abounded and the mixtape was an artform. This was a way of making tapes for your mates, or for yourself from a selection of albums.

You could select whatever songs you wanted, and in a preferred order too. Sod a ballad, I want just fast tracks, or I could rearrange an album whereby the weaker songs are at the start. Furthermore, I could tag on B-sides and unreleased tracks.

Meanwhile, live gigs were easily recorded and issued on cassette, providing a source - the legendary bootleg - for fans that otherwise wasn’t available in the pre-internet age.

While much of the technology we have used in the past has become obsolete (eight-track cartridge, mini-disks etc), cassettes, like vinyl, still have niche value for the music fan.

This mini revival comes as this writer is culling a box of cassettes. I have the ability to play them, I just don’t, so something has to give. I gave three to an op shop: the Stranglers’ No More Heroes because I now have the vinyl version, but the Wedding Present cassingle was a no-brainer: I just don’t like the band anymore.

Here a small selection from my all-time homemade favourite tapes:

The Associates double: Sulk, the American edition, which is slightly different from the UK release, is on one side, and Perhaps, released a couple of years later, is on the opposite. This was one of the first tapes I had and was made by a friend who introduced me to the band and other Scottish delights such as the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Cocteau Twins.

Midnight Oil 1982 to 2003: I’ve got very little Midnight Oil music as they were an oft-erratic band so it made perfect sense to go through half a dozen albums and fill up two sides of their best songs.

 Mix and match Vol 67: Hot Hot Heat – three tracks; Electric Six – three tracks; Maximo Park – nine tracks; and a bunch of tracks by the likes of Wolfmen, Razorlight, The Rapture, Stephen Duffy, and Manic St Preachers. This is quite a varied selection. The Maximo Park tracks are a selection of the B-sides compilation and 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures.

Reggae Classics Vol 48: Reggae is so wonderful and there’s so many compilations around. I used to get loads of them out of the Napier City library and stick them on tape. This one features Gregory Isaacs, Mikey Dread, Poet and the Roots, Junior Murvin and many others.

Godzone’s Gifts: There are some great acts from New Zealand. This mixtape includes Goldenhorse, The Front Lawn, Collapsing Cities, The Bats, The Clean and Cut off Your Hands. Bands you might be challenged to lump together but it actually melds quite well.

David Bowie 1980-84: Nobody could truthfully say the eighties were a productive era for Bowie so this condenses the best of the early part of the decade, starting with Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, which takes up most of the tape. By 1984 and the Tonight album, he’s lost it, and the quality avoidance would continue until 1993.

And now for some that were commercially available, made in a factory.

Various – C86: The superstar of a long line of New Musical Express cassettes and a legend of compilations. A Nuggets for the 1980s.  Somebody has even written a book about the cassette which was later released on vinyl that same year (and much later on a 3-CD deluxe edition). The timing of the release was crucial. An underground indie scene had been brewing for a couple of years and came to the boil in 1986 with clubs and scores of releases. The twee or jangly scene featured bands that apparently only wore anoraks, had floppy fringes and played guitar music that sounded like the Byrds or Love.

 The first side of C86 included many of those scenesters: Primal Scream, The Pastels, The Bodines, Mighty Mighty, The Shop Assistants, the Soup Dragons and the Wedding Present. If it was only a round-up of all the greatest twee songs of the time it probably wouldn’t have the impact it did. Conversely, an album that showcased a burgeoning scene was in fact a varied, Catholic collection with the inclusion of agit rock-dance band Age of Chance, sarcastic bastards Half Man Half Biscuit, and acts such as Miaow!, Stump and The Mackenzies. It was a deft adventure into a world that had no boundaries.

The The – Soul Mining: Soul Mining is a classic of the time but at seven tracks was deemed to be too short for American tastes even though most of the tracks stretched to more than five minutes and ‘Giant’ clocked in at 9:34. So a version of ‘Perfect’ was added to some versions and the UK cassette version had another five goodies. It’s likely that at least one of these tracks was from the discarded Pornography of Despair album.

The Phoenix Foundation – Trans Fatty Acid: This tape came with initial editions of the band’s Give Up Your Dreams vinyl album released in 2015. Of the four tracks (all great btw), there’s a special cover of Can’s hit single ‘I Want More’. 

The Cure – Standing on a Beach, The Singles (And Unavailable B-sides): Now, isn’t that title a giveaway or what. With the extra space on the tape, there was always the opportunity to expand the track listing, and in this edition the 13 singles were joined by a dozen B-sides. These included the likes of ‘Another Journey By Train’ and ‘The Exploding Boy’. Some tracks were B-sides for a good reason, but some could have been included on a studio album. 

Various – The World At One: Another NME cassette only release available by sending a cheque or postal order and hoping that you received it in a week or so. The World At One was one of the most valuable of the series as it introduced readers to music from Bulgaria to Zambia to the French Antilles. Readers could hear almost certainly for the first time Jali Musa Jawara or Kass Kass. It was issued in 1987 as the term ‘world music’ was becoming a saleable asset.

Orange Juice – The Orange Juice: Over to my OJ-obsessed mate Scouse Neil for this one … “The Orange Juice cassette, which I got from a Woollies sale for the giveaway price of £1.99, had the 10-track album on one side, and a whole side of B-sides and 12-inch mixes on the other. Considering I hadn’t heard some of these versions before, this was like gold dust to an OJ fan. Apparently, the tape version sold more than the vinyl, which is not saying much since it was the only one of their albums not to make the Top 100.” Scouse Neil did perk up a bit at learning that the album reached No.28 in the New Zealand charts in 1984.

Bow Wow Wow – Your Cassette Pet: Released in November 1980 only on cassette, and therefore it was classified as a single for the UK charts. They were musically inept but something of pioneers as a single released a few months earlier ‘C-30,C-60,C-90’ (a nod to the different lengths of tapes) was apparently the world’s first cassette single.

For the record, the first compact cassette, in the format that became million sellers, was first introduced in 1963. The first Walkman appeared in 1979.

Please Release Me … Top 10 potentially great unheard albums

Nostalgia is a niche sales opportunity in the music industry and labels have become adept at tapping into fans’ desire to have as much music as they can by the artists they adore. I’m thinking of David Bowie’s Toys or Neil Young’s Homegrown which were released about 20 and 40 years after being recorded.

Critical acclaim was unlikely to be foisted upon either album if they were released in 2001 or 1975 respectively, but the focus now is giving the punters what they want.
In the blog’s latest line of compilation lists, Craig Stephen lists a mere 10 albums that never saw the light of day at the time – and probably should have. These include completed albums, works in progress and even just album ideas.

 The Who: Lifehouse (recorded 1971/1972)

After Tommy, The Who intended on doing a science fiction proto-environmental catastrophe rock opera. Sadly, as exciting as this idea sounded, the project was abandoned in favour of the traditional rock delight Who’s Next. Very little of it has not been released (elsewhere) with half a dozen tracks, including ‘Bargain’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’, appearing on Who’s Next and others popping up on Odds and Sods or other albums. But fans still want the album as it was supposed to be recorded and released.

House of Love: Untitled (recorded 1989)

After the burning success of their phenomenal self-titled debut and following their signing to Fontana, the House of Love hit the studio to record what was due to be their second masterpiece. It didn’t quite work out, however. The band was disintegrating and the recording sessions are said to be below par. What is certain is that two singles, ‘Never’ and ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You’, would have been at the forefront of the album. As would ‘Soft as Fire’ and ‘Safe’, both B-sides but certainly album material. In 1990, after the official second album, Fontana or the Butterfly Album as it is sometimes dubbed, the label issued a collection of B-sides and outtakes called Spy In The House of Love. Among these were four tracks that would have been on that now mythical album. The standout was ‘Marble’, but the other three do hint at the issues the band were experiencing.

The The: Pornography of Despair (recorded 1982)

This would have been Matt Johnson’s debut album under the moniker of The The but was considered too oblique. Several tracks were released as B-sides and some of the album landed on the cassette of Soul Mining, the incredible album that was released in 1983 to massive acclaim and chart success. It is logical to see the merits of this decision as tracks such as ‘This Is The Day’ and ‘Uncertain Smile’ are among the best tracks The The have ever recorded.

 Clare Grogan: Trash Mad (recorded 1987)

When Altered Images broke up in the mid-80s it was only natural that lead singer Clare Grogan be set free on a solo career that capitalised on her beautiful voice and photogenic appearance. Trash Mad was written and recorded and all set to sail in 1987. But … the opening single ‘Love Bomb’, ahem, bombed despite a number of TV appearances. It certainly wasn’t a stinker, in fact it’s a near perfect pop song. Its follow-up ‘Strawberry’ was subsequently shelved and London Records also pulled the album, causing distress to millions of schoolboys. Surely Cherry Red will have eyes on issuing Trash Mad for the first time ever, ending nearly 40 years of hurt.

The Clash: Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (recorded 1981/1982)

There was the double album (London Calling) and the triple album (Sandinista). How could the Clash possibly follow these lengthy meisterwerks? The original idea was for another double. This was Mick Jones’ baby, but sadly he was outnumbered and outgunned. Fort Bragg was shelved, and instead CBS issued Combat Rock, which is not a bad album to have in your cannon. Jones distilled various elements and influences that The Clash had used previously into a 75-minute, 18-track beast. Fort Bragg would’ve included all of the tracks that made up Combat Rock, and plenty more besides. But ‘Rock the Casbah’ et al would’ve sounded so very different. Various bootlegs have appeared over the years, but the full, unedited and mastered version NEEDS to be given a proper release.

The Bodysnatchers: Untitled (some tracks recorded 1980)

The Bodysnatchers only issued two singles, ‘Easy Life’ and ‘Let’s Do Rock Steady’, eager takes on the ska revival sound that 2-Tone mastered so well. As well as their B-sides, there’s a track that was recorded for John Peel and a version of ‘The Boiler’ which was later covered by singer Rhoda Daker and the Special AKA. In 2014 Dakar recorded an album entitled Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers. You can imagine that the 10 tracks were set to form The Bodysnatchers’ debut album, but it is still a solo effort.

Space: Love You More Than Football (recorded 2000)

Space were everywhere in the 1990s with supernova global hits like ‘Female of the Species’ and ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’. After the latter, a top five hit in the UK no less, the public’s interest waned and when a single, ‘Diary of a Wimp’, flopped like an octogenarian in a brothel, the Edwyn Collins-produced Love You More Than Football (an impossible construct, of course) was scrapped. Promo copies popped up at the time and the odd track subsequently came out on compilations. It wasn’t till 2019 that a remixed version of the album was included on a boxset of all the band’s material. Is that a proper release for an unissued album? Don’t be so daft, lad.

 Department S: Sub-stance (recorded 1981)

Named after a 70s television series, this English outfit had a surprise UK hit at the end of 1980 with the rather eerie but beguiling ‘Is Vic There?’. Subsequent singles, ‘Going Left Right’ and ‘I Want’, both excellent ditties, flopped and the band have now become known as one-hit wonders rather than the indie stars some liken them to. The album recording sessions were iffy and with poor sales from the two follow-up singles, Stiff Records dropped them. A version of the album has since been released, albeit a very low-key release. Somebody do the proper thing eh!

David Bowie: The Gouster (recorded 1974)

Sometimes there’s a thin line between an unreleased album and the one that came after. The Gouster is one such item. The question is whether it was a bona fide album, or an early version of Young Americans. By 1974 Bowie had become infatuated with American soul and funk. His 1972 single ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’ was updated with the sound of Detroit and New York for The Gouster. The opening three tracks clocked in at 20 minutes, so only seven tracks would fit onto the vinyl. Four of them, ‘Young Americans’, ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’, ‘Can You Hear Me’, and ‘Right’ were re-recorded for Young Americans which came out in 1975.  That leaves the abovementioned ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’, ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ and ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ as discarded waste. The Gouster appeared as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976) boxset. 

The Clash: Cut The Crap (1984-ish)

Yes, Cut The Crap was released and I retro-reviewed it [here]. But the version that appeared in 1985 was a travesty, a record that only really involved Joe Strummer and band manager/wannabe producer Bernie Rhodes. Paul Simonon was sidelined, and guitarists Nick Sheppard and Vince White and drummer Pete Howard weren’t even playing. Rhodes used an electronic drum machine instead of Howard. Nevertheless, when the new songs were played live in 1984 they sounded fresh and the demo versions made that year were the sound of a proper band. Rhodes takes all the blame for the dismal final effort and that is fully justified. But there is an album in there, it just needs someone to take the original demo tapes and rework them.

Top 10 of ... Punk Dub

That punk rock, it was all shouty noise and noisy shouting wasn’t it?

Ah, now you see one of the great stereotypes of our times; that punk was just about making a racket. Well, it wasn’t jazz but there was far more to the genre than a lot of people think.

Back in 1976, punk and reggae seemed intertwined; at the punk clubs, reggae was played by Don Letts and other DJs as there were so few punk records to actually play. Bob Marley & The Wailers got in on the act with 1977’s ‘Punky Reggae Party’ … “The Wailers will be there/ The Damned, The Jam, The Clash/ Maytals will be there/ Dr Feelgood too.”

And punk bands found dub reggae to their liking.

That produced the cracking records from punk and post-punk outfits. Like these …..

The Ruts: Jah War (1979)

Hit singles such as ‘Staring at the Rude Boys’ and ‘Babylon’s Burning’ tick all the requisite punk purity boxes. But The Ruts were far more diverse than many of their peers, which can partly be attributed to being late starters and hearing more than the early punk rockers. ‘Jah War’ appeared on the classic 1979 debut The Crack. It has a heavy roots-reggae feel and is also political, tackling the violence perpetrated by the London Police’s controversial SPG (Special Patrol Group) during trouble in the ethnically-diverse suburb of Southall in 1979.

Released as the third single from The Crack, the BBC banned it for its message.

The Clash: One More Dub (1980)

The Clash laid their love of reggae and dub to the mast early on: a cover of Junior Murvin’s ‘Police and Thieves’ was released as a single in 1977. A year later they released ‘White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)’ which namechecked a litany of reggae stars to a Jamaican vibe backdrop.

‘One More Dub’ followed on from ‘One More Time’ at the end of side two of the triple album meisterwerk Sandinista. The standard track is about poverty and its effects in so-called ghetto towns; ‘One More Dub’ strips the lyrics down, more or less to the chorus: “One more time in the ghetto/ One more time if you please/ One more time for the dying man/ One more time if you please.”

 Generation X: Wild Dub (1978)

Generation X’s second 45, glam-punk stomper ‘Wild Youth’ was paired with ‘Wild Dub’ which revealed the band’s reggae influences with singer Billy Idol toasting at the end, “Heavy, heavy dub/Punk rockers!”. The single was produced by Phil Wainman in late 1977, and while neither track were included on the self-titled debut album, they were both part of the much-changed US version.

Stiff Little Fingers: Johnny Was (1979)

A cover of a Bob Marley & The Wailers song, the Irishmen’s version revamped the lyrics to reflect the violence of the time in Northern Ireland. While both songs convey the horror of a mother who’s son has been killed by a stray bullet, the Wailers made it non-geographical while SLF’s take added the following line to make clear where the incident occurred: “A single shot rings out in a Belfast night and I said oh Johnny was a good man.”

Steel An' Skin ‎- Afro Punk Reggae (Dub) (1979)

Steel An' Skin were a British-based group who came from West Africa, the Caribbean and the UK. Reggae, post-punk and Caribbean steel drums are all prevalent on this 12-inch record. Perhaps the punk link in the title was somewhat tenuous but there’s no doubting that some of the influences could have been from Bristol’s The Pop Group or London all-girl four-piece The Slits.

Alternative TV: Life After Dub (1978)

A-side ‘Life After Life’, B-side ‘Life After Dub’. The A-side was a clear nod to Jamaica, with vocals from Sniffin’ Glue editor Mark Perry, sounding positively positive. The B-side was a straight-through dub version with echoes and clipped lyrics. One of the band’s finest moments.

Bad Brains: Bad Brains LP (1982) 

American band Bad Brains were out on their own, with many of their songs actively fusing hardcore punk and roots reggae. They were that rarity of being a black punk band. They were also followers of the Rastafari movement, so the reggae/dub side came easily to them. The first five tracks of this debut LP are pure hardcore (with noticeable nods to reggae) then track six, ‘Jah Calling’, is akin to a dub interlude. ‘Leaving Babylon’ is another track that is 100 percent reggae and the shift in moods works perfectly, though it does seem at times that there are two bands at play on the same record.

Public Image Ltd: Metal Box (1979)

After the punk wave disintegrated by the beginning of 1978, post-punk came into play. The Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten reverted to his birth name John Lydon and formed PiL which threw out the three cord thrash and explored a buffet of divergent genres.  Jah Wobble’s booming bassline sounded like it was torn directly from dub plates. Same for the band’s production, especially on the second LP, the much-lauded and pioneering Metal Box.

Gang of Four: I Love A Man In Uniform (Dub version) (1982)

Way before the Gang’s finest hour, the Leeds disruptors were well versed in the art of reggae and dub with the band’s discordant basslines clearly being influenced by Kingston producers. This version of the group’s biggest hit single only initially appeared on US and Canadian 12-inch releases. It helped the single become a big hit in American clubs and on the dance charts.

Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi’s Dead (1979)

Bauhaus are often unfairly labelled as a Goth band, so many people will be surprised to learn that they highly influenced by dub, with bass player, David J saying that their signature song "was our interpretation of dub". Several singles contained dub-tinged versions.

Top 10 of ...Truly Pitiful Political Songs

Everythingsgonegreen takes no issue with political and social commentary songs. Songs like ‘Respect’, ‘This Land Is Your Land’, ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, and ‘Get Up Stand Up’ were pivotal to the movements they supported at the time and remain classic examples of where political lyrics can hit the mark.

Unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn’t work and here are some examples – from the left, the right, and up the middle – from songwriters who should’ve kept to subjects like love and emotions. Craig Stephen pops his head above the parapet to take a peek … 

Extreme - Rest in Peace (1991)

All-American soft rock boys Extreme reached out to the redneck fraternity with this pro-war dirge that shouted ‘shut up pinkos and watch as our American heroes kill and maim’.

Dumb-ass right-wing sloganeering is nothing new and this was another crude attack on people who sang ‘Give Peace a Chance’. Extreme even reference Lennon’s song but, in that crazy right-wing delusional way, suggest that going to war is the only route to a world free of violence.

Here’s a snippet: “Let's talk of peace/ Sounds so cliché/ A novelty/ Catch phrase of the day.”

And another: “Make love not war, sounds so absurd to me/ We can't afford to say these words lightly/ Or else our world will truly rest in peace.”

Yes, that’s right by trying to stop wars, peace campaigners are actually making the world worse.

Plastic Ono Band - Give Peace a Chance (1969)

And of course, we all want love, peace and a world free of wars, but this effort was so cringy and inane that peace groups must’ve groaned with embarrassment.

‘Give Peace a Chance’ reduced global geopolitics into a hippy flower-waving slogan. As a result it’s irritating and banal.

It’s a song to sing to make you feel like you’re doing something about the state of the world even if you’re not.

Typical stream of consciousness line: “Everybody’s talking about/ Revolution, evolution, masturbation, flagellation, regulation, integrations, United Nations, congratulations.”

Eric Clapton - This Has Gotta Stop (2021)

Entitled white rich guy scenario in excelsis. Released during the height of the Covid-19 restrictions, Clapton takes the side of the conspiracy theory lunacy wing as he just wants his ‘freedom’ while millions of people were dying from the disease.

Here’s a portion of this whingeathon: “This has gotta stop/ Enough is enough/ I can't take this BS any longer/ It's gone far enough.”

Another veteran of the 60s turned tinfoiler Van Morrison meanwhile released a string of anti-lockdown songs, such as ‘Born to Be Free’ and ‘No More Lockdown’, with lyrics claiming that government control was over-reach, and that pandemic researchers were "making up crooked facts". 

The Cranberries - Zombie (1994)

The song is about the tragic death of two children in England during the Troubles (as a result of the 1993 IRA-Warrington bombing). A worthy sentiment and if they had left it that, who would’ve complained.

But in ‘Zombie’ Dolores O’Riordan and co take on the entire nationalist movement, decrying “It's the same old theme, since 1916/ In your head, in your head they're still fighting”.

The pointing to the date is the Easter Rising in Dublin, a rebellion that ended in defeat but ultimately played a prominent role in the events that led to the end of British colonial rule in Ireland.

It’s a significant moment in Irish history, but one which seems to be scorned at by The Cranberries, who hailed from Limerick in the Republic.

Merle Haggard - Okie From Muskogee (1969)

Merle Haggard is renowned for songs such as ‘Mama Tried’ and ‘Workin’ Man Blues’, but his lasting legacy is ‘Okie From Muskogee’, a joke that snowballed into an anti-hippie anthem.

It was hijacked by those who used it for their own means – such as then President Richard Nixon and, just like Springsteen’s ‘Born In the USA’, the meaning has been lost and misused. 

It was lyrics like "We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street, we like living right and being free," that appealed to many and made Haggard a star.

In 1981 Haggard told media that the song made him “appear to be a person who was a lot more narrow-minded, possibly, than I really am.” Later still he would express regret at expressing his opinions in song.

Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise (1989)

Written by a struggling musician, the song may have received a pass mark. But in the hands of a multi-millionaire and vehement supporter of Britain’s Conservative Party, it just seemed like a way of cashing in on a problem he would only see from the wheel of his expensive car.

It tells the tale of a homeless woman being blanked by those who would easily be able to help her. Collins may have meant well but the song was branded cringeworthy and worse. In 1997 the ex-Genesis man threatened to desert Britain for the more tax friendly Switzerland if a fairly timid Labour Party won the election. Labour won in a landslide and Collins made good on his promise. 

Toby Keith - Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) (2002)

Proving that country and western music can result in some of the worst redneck malarkey is this dire ‘patriotic’ song that wallows in retribution.

The rally-around-the-flag anthem was released in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - aka 9/11 - with cartoonish goon squad lyrics like “you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A / 'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.” 

Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond (2023)

Plenty was said about this song last year and Billy Bragg wrote his own reposte. It’s not so much the stance of the song, it’s the utter naivety that takes the biscuit.

Initially, Anthony rails against low pay and greedy politicians in Washington D.C. Then he turns away from the fat cats and the corrupt Congressmen and women to lash out at the very people he initially defended - those made unemployed by the greed of the system and forced to exist on welfare. Anthony seems oblivious to the connection between low pay and unemployment and how both are used as tools by the establishment to keep people down.

D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better (1993)

The song wasn’t political, in fact it was a feel-good dance anthem about, well, how you can go from shit street to happy town if you persist.

But it became political when the British Labour Party adopted it and D:Ream gave it permission, either through loyalty to the Tony Blair project or just because they needed the cash.

The New Labour governments from 1997 to 2005 are synonymous with the illegal war in Iraq and the continuation of Thatcherism. The former may not have been predicted in 1997 but the latter certainly could have so the band were hardly innocents who were taken for a ride.

It’s also a fucking annoying piece of disco pap.

The Deplorable Choir - Real Women Vote For Trump (2020)

Do I even need to comment on this?