Why all the hate for The Farm?

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Seriously.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Perhaps because they're the next best thing to a Happy Mondays cover band? That's pretty low...

― Tim D, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Two words: "Groovy Train"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Perhaps because their fans are not PLU

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

"Groovy Train" was fantastic, though!

Are fans of The Farm stereotyped as dickheads? I would have thought they were bouncy neo-hippies (not much better, I'll admit).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:44 (twenty-three years ago)

'Groovy Farm' good, their other hits less so (the Human League cover for example) - but any band that gets Frankie Howard to do a cameo in their video is inevitably classic

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 21:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I bought their record for the cover.

I don't think I've ever played it. But it's a great cover.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 21:52 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't like the singer's voice, the music was really lukewarm and pedestrian (even by baggy standards!), the lyrics were stupid and trite.

― Nicole (Nicole), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 22:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Nicole's on the money. Hod-carrying hollering over a groove-less baggy shuffle. It just screams "we're thick". Mind you their previous incarnation as (sub- Bogshed) indie trundlers was poss. even worse.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:09 (twenty-three years ago)

i liked "groovy train" (ILXOR shocka!!) don't know anything else by them.

and didn't they start out as a chumbawumba-style lefty band? i think i read something to that effect once.

― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:14 (twenty-three years ago)

because that guy does that thing scousers do (holds his guitar far too high like a aimless pensioner holds has his trousers too high, and then do that gurning thing with a bobble hat as well - all stereotypes of scousers rolled up in one handy package)

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:33 (twenty-three years ago)

gareth, have you had a run in with a scouser at some point?

― michael wells (michael w.), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:36 (twenty-three years ago)

It just screams "we're thick"

which is interesting, as Peter Hooton came across as very intelligent and eloquent when interviewed in the Maker & NME, when talking about why they'd called their album "Spartacus" and abt the story behind "All Together Now", ie the 1914 Christmas truce in the trenches during WW1. I actually really like "All Together Now". I don't see what's so trite about "A spirit stronger than war was working that night". In an interview, Hooton poured scorn on some of the romanticizing of the story, for example the myth that the German and British soldiers played football against each other.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:47 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, historians have since proved that it wz cricket

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 21 November 2002 10:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember being upset that their version of "Stepping Stone" and their song "Body and Soul" were both omitted from Spartacus.

Soap powder style album cover was CLASSIC.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 21 November 2002 11:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Because they were dull, plodding indie-rockers who briefly got lucky using an ill-fitting rhythmic undercarriage that allowed lazy journos, who never 'got' rave, to big 'em up as something important. (+ Uncle John Peel's mate managed them, always an advantage)

― stevo (stevo), Thursday, 21 November 2002 12:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought they were managed by Suggs?

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 21 November 2002 12:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm playing "Groovy Train" again and it's really fantastic! They remind me of Stereo MCs.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 21 November 2002 14:37 (twenty-three years ago)

and that's a good thing how?

― michael wells (michael w.), Thursday, 21 November 2002 14:46 (twenty-three years ago)

YOU PEOPLE HATE FUN.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 21 November 2002 14:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I loved the Farm Dan! Tell the story and All Together Now are classic!

― Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 21 November 2002 14:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Didn't they have to change the soap powder package because they were too thick to know the album name wasn't spelled "sparticus"? There's a star where the dot should ('nt) be for the i.

Sitting with a housemate (who loved them) watching a live show on the TV. Hooton (appropriate name) was making a noise which made Ian Brown sound like Aled Jones. "He can't sing AT ALL", she said. And she was right.

― Andrew Norman, Thursday, 21 November 2002 15:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I've got this one single that has "Groovy Train," "All Together Now" and "Stepping Stone" on it -- and that's really all I need.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 21 November 2002 17:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I sort of liked "Groovy Train," but that's possibly cause I was 12 and just excited that it and "There She Goes" had someone hit US MTV light rotation. If you were 12 and American at this point you were unlikely to have any idea that there was an actual thing called baggy, and more likely to just take "Groovy Train" on its own terms as a mildly pleasant song that sounded a bit like "Hippie Chick."

And I'm with Dan on Stereo MCs: "Connected" was one of my favorite singles of the era. Is it maybe possible that politely unfunky British shuffly-dance pop is less annoying to American ears?

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 21 November 2002 17:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm just guessing about being 12, but somewhere around there.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 21 November 2002 17:58 (twenty-three years ago)

"Connected" was fun too, yup. I liked "On 33" as well, I think that was the song...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 21 November 2002 18:13 (twenty-three years ago)

'Connected' should be number 1 on that Best Dance Albums thread ;)

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 21 November 2002 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

ahaha! i knew michael wells would come back on my obvious bait;)

i havent had a run in with a scouser no, but i have been to liverpool a few times circa 95/6/7 (cream, and, um, liquidation. also saw silver apples there). i prefer manchester (runs...and ducks for cover)

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 21 November 2002 19:28 (twenty-three years ago)

*picks up brick from derelict house. throws. misses*

ge'back 'ere yer meff...

i don't hate manchester, btw, just mancunians. ;)

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 22 November 2002 09:35 (twenty-three years ago)

what about bradfordians?

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 22 November 2002 10:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i wouldn't know a bradfordian if i tripped over one.

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 22 November 2002 10:33 (twenty-three years ago)

i mean, is there anything to differentiate between the west yorkshire folk that non west-yorkshiremen would recognise?

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 22 November 2002 10:35 (twenty-three years ago)

actually, i have been to bradford. my dad took me and my sister to the (i googled this for the name) national museum of photography, film & television. i remember the huge i-max screen. the car broke down in snow on the m62 over moss moor on the way home. another thing i like about that area is the emley moor transmitter which makes my legs go funny when i look at it against a blue sky.

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 22 November 2002 10:57 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

revive. listening to all together now, now.

― Chris V (Chris V), Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

hooton was on tv over christmas as a 'style commentator'. can you believe it?

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

yes I can. Groovy Train is a great song!

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 8 January 2004 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

but the fact remains they only have ONE good song (when i hear 'All Together Now' now i always think of the Everton FA Cup '95 version :(

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 January 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

One song to rule them all.

I remember liking a Northside tune as well.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 8 January 2004 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Because they got millions from Farm Aid and blew it all on drugs. See also: dapper millionaire Byran Ferry fleeces the goodwill of his countrymen with callous Ferry Aid charity record. I'm sure the likes of Tarby and Gerry Marsden could have raised money for a decent cause.

― Canada Briggs (Canada Briggs), Thursday, 8 January 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...

canada briggs' post LOL

and "groovy train" rules, even 15+ years later!

― Eisbaer, Thursday, 19 July 2007 06:06 (eighteen years ago)

I like em heaps more than the Crappy Mondays

― moley, Thursday, 19 July 2007 06:17 (eighteen years ago)

dunno if i'd go THAT far. none of that baggy stuff has aged well, has it?

― Eisbaer, Thursday, 19 July 2007 06:19 (eighteen years ago)

Mondays/Oakenfold interface still great
Weekender still great
Fools Gold still pretty good if you don't actually listen to it

― energy flash gordon, Thursday, 19 July 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

none of that baggy stuff has aged well, has it?

you know, i had a long standing memory of loving the eps by My Jealous God for years. eventually the urge to hold, so i dug them out of the archive, and dear god, its dreadful stuff.

― mark e, Thursday, 19 July 2007 12:48 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't read this thread yet, but all I can say is that The Farm were great! Who knew that Jimmy Page and the Bed Company guy had such chemistry?

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 19 July 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)

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