Birdland: classic or dud?

Terris....no contest.

Northern Uproar, anyone?

The hype surrounding Suede seems ludicrous now, though there were far worse "Best New Bands".

Birdland are fucking classic. I have all their records.

Wasn't Ultrsound given a big gee-up by NME and so on? Glad to see them gone...

Raymonde. Or Fabulous.

Ocean Colour Scene. Chapterhouse. Slowdive. The Mission.

Why oh why was the Jimmy Nail south bank show not a two-parter?

I actually thought Birdland's "Paradise" and "Hollow Heart" were reasonably decent singles. But hey...taste is relative.

That said, crap bands championed by the music press: OASIS!

Oasis doesn't really count - everyone hates them by now. How about Beth Orton ? And maybe all that tepid Aimee Mann/Elliott Smith singer- songwriter-type stuff as well.

Gay Dad, the Stereophonics, any band who signed a deal on the heels of Oasis' success and referred to themselves as "proper music."

Probably Elastica. Does anyone when the NME was going on about ROMO?

IIRC it was the Melody Maker (mainly Simon Price) championing Romo. And while the music was pretty poor, it was still a bit more likable than the dull grey Oasis soundalikes prevalent at the time.

I don't Birdland are the worst band ever championed by the papers, but they were probably the silliest. No bands should ever ever all dye their hair blond -- the only thing it is bound to inspire is memories of the Police, and no one in their right mind would want that...

My personal least favorite: Terris. Dire in every possible way.

those horrible toothsome sixth formers know as Starsailor. Bastards.

JJ72 are pretty awful. I'm sure there are many others.

I agree with whoever said that JJ72 are awful. I bought their single because I thought that because they were all teenagers they'd sound perky and enjoyable, only they are whiney and shite. And they aren't even talented whiney like Radiohead, who are good.

Birdland on the other hand, I remember really liking the Wayne Morris musical empire that comprised Birdland, See See Rider, and the Primitives. Of course, like most people I never actually heard anything by See See Rider and my admiration for Birdland declined once I actually bought product by them (remaindered singles which claimed to be part of some super rare limited edition natch). But the basic Birdland concept was amusing enough - four guys who all look the same and are rock animals playing revved up music.

Apparently they were very popular in Japan where strong visual looks are popular.

Why is everyone so down on Terris? Have they actually released anything? I admire them for not rush-releasing an album of shiteness when they were in the midst of the hypestorm.

which birdland are we talking about? the uk version hopefully.

Does D.Naylor post here? He'd know about Terris.

I heard a See See Rider track, on the same CD as "Monster In The House" by Fini Tribe and a really bad Nitzer Ebb track. I thought it was OK though remembering it now it probably wasn't. I do remember them on Indie Top Video Vol. 1 though and the reason I remember them was because Ms. See See Rider had her top off. Sorry.

prml scrm. Truly deeply awful & despicable in almost every way, and they do seem to inhabit this strange and rarified place where criticism, eg of some of the worst singing & crappest lyricks (IE marcus garvey/cynthia plastercaster/haile selassie/king of the rastas - actually I made that up, but you get the idea) ever, transparent musical opportunism, cycnical & loathsome exploitation of images from american black emancipication struggle to further their alleged radicalism (har har FCKNG har)and so on just doesn't seem to exist at all. I hate them and I wish they'd fuck off.

x0x0

I personaly think Birdland was a decent band, i was 17 at the time & they brought the excitement back into british music with there live gigs. It was a pleasure to witness them! Does anyone know of any Birdland website?

i have never heard of birdland, terris, jj72, romo, raymonde or fabulous

so what do these bands sound like?

A question for the slightly older contingent: didn't King Trigger get a front cover or two back in the early 80s?

Didn't really love the records but I saw Birdland live and they were a great buzz.

i remember those big pictures of the four blond guys... after i got to listen to a few singles by them, they were BORING. maybe they were better live.

Birdland were phenomenal live - admittedly I was 19 or 20 at the time - but the records were abysmal. They were Klassik for at least two things: the blond thang, and the 120 seconds or so of "Hollow Heart" on "The Chart Show" that excited my post-indie, pre-baggy punk-seeking soul at that time.

Agree about the Wayne Morris empire. I was a student in Brum at that time and met Birdland on a number of occasions - nice blokes, all spoke at the same time, should have been a TV show like the Monkees !

Campag Velocet. Oh dear.

Tim? King Trigger? I wasn't buying NME then but it sounds perfectly plausible. A couple of my classmates were oddly obsessed with them and kept breaking into "River" indecently often.