Firstly – it’s been a while. Longer than I intended. Thanks to those of you who commented regarding my mother. She is currently being reassessed (or is it re-reassessed? I’m losing track) and this is meaning regular visits. Additionally I’ve been busy with meetings for the Campaign For Real Ale (if you’ve no idea what this is, it’s probably best not to ask!) and for a beer festival that’s being run later in the year. And on top of all that, for some strange reason, Mrs TGG likes to spend some time with me. I have an increasing number of ideas for posts, etc to the point where I’m now filling bits of paper with them, so things will continue, but probably in an erratic manner.
So to the weekly discovery and the next one (#16 on the 16th January playlist) was not a discovery in any way – apart from seeing the video for the first time in order to include it here. I assume it’s the first time as I have no recollection of ever seeing it before.
Early 1986 and in our student house (a big old place that accommodated 8 of us), I and a couple of others were the music obsessives, blowing most of our student grants and racking up some decent overdrafts on a significant amount of vinyl. The music weeklies (another regular expense) were as ever getting quite excited The Next Big Thing. Depending on what you read it appeared to be either Sigue Sigue Sputnik or We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It. I’d heard both and wasn’t entirely convinced by either.
One of my housemates wanders in with an EP, Rules And Regulations, by the latter. He’s excited. I hide my lack of enthusiasm and encourage him to play it, whilst calling the other music obsessive to the front room. I make a positive noise about having heard John Peel play one of the tracks. It plays, we listen. “Yeah, but I like the way they look, yeah?” says the guy who’s just blown tonight’s beer money on said disc. He is the most extreme of us in terms of hairstyle and charity shop clothing, so this comment does not come as a complete surprise.
I don’t believe it ever got played again on the communal stereo system.
Fast forward three years or so and not only are we no longer students, but we’ve smartened ourselves up and got jobs in order to start paying off those overdrafts (and also in order to keep purchasing records in the volumes to which we have become accustomed). We’ve Got… have also had an image change and moved to a major record label who perhaps see them as a UK version of Bangles. They are now just referred to as Fuzzbox. They have a hit with International Rescue. I purchase it. And this one as well.
I must confess to still liking this one quite a lot. A jolly, jaunty pop tune. It’s just that when putting Spotify playlists together, I’d completely forgotten about it – perhaps that was the point. It’s very much of its era, but that just happens to be an era that Spotify (and if I’m honest, writing this blog) is dragging me back to on a regular basis. Oh, that and seeing various bands from the 80s and 90s fairly frequently too. I’m planning a series about those who Mrs TGG and I go to see live – some may make more interesting reading than others.
Pink Sunshine has now managed to find a place on a playlist. Another victory for the algorithm.
TGG
Wasting time in the study 
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