Friday, October 14, 2011

Six Degrees of Separation: Wire to The New Seekers




[purchase]

1. In 1977, art punkers Wire record an 83-second classic "Three Girl Rhumba" for  Pink Flag, one of the greatest rock albums of all-time according to everybody.





[purchase]

2 In 1994 Justine Frischman borrows the "Three Girl Rhumba" riff for "Connection", a Top 20 UK single from the self-titled Elastica, the fastest selling British debut album in history.






[purchase]

3 Before forming Elastica, Justine and her boyfriend Brett Anderson form Suede. They crack the UK Top 20 with "Metal Mickey" in 1992 thanks to the raucous guitar sounds of Bernard Butler, hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation.





[purchase]

4. After Suede, Butler forms other bands, plays on other artists's records and produces The Libertines 2003 single  "Don't Look Back Into The Sun".In 2007 NME readers vote the song number 5 in a "Greatest Indie Anthems" poll.





[purchase]

5 Oasis's "Live Forever" wins that Indie Anthems poll. The single comes from the 1994 album Definitely Maybe. Other singles include "Supersonic", "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and the Top 20 UK hit "Shakermaker".





[purchase]

6. Because of "Shakermaker", Coca Cola sues Oasis for allegedly lifting words and melody from The New Seekers's "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing" ( an adaptation of  Coke's "I'd Like to Buy The World A Coke" jingle). The band winds up paying Coke a lot of money ( $A500,000 according to Wikipedia). Noel Gallagher jokes "Now we drink Pepsi".

No comments:

Post a Comment