Talk:The Housemartins

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Untitled

How about some discussion here about the Housemartins' tendencies toward Motown type blue eyed soul?

there's another LP with all the b-sides, called "Raise the Flag". Great. (serx696@hotmail.com)

"Raise the Flag" is a bootleg. But it is great, well worth seeking out.

Norman Cook later claimed that Pd Heaton introduced him to soul music via the Blues Brothers soundtrack - the conduit for many a white boy. I would say that Atlantic/southern-style soul was more an influence than Motown. "Freedom" is musically "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" by Solomon Burke.

"If the disk in a Bootleg, contains songs that were only B-sides and only came out in the UK. I have this great I if you want I'll pass. levimedina

"Build"

This song deserves some emphasys, being by far their most recognizable work, doesn't it? Luis Dantas 05:43, 9 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Build" is a great record, but was not much of a hit in the UK - probably because everybody already had it on the LP. It is notable for accasioning the 'Martins last public appearances at the very end of '87 - on Wogan, I think.

"Happy Hour" is the best known 'Martins song by far.

It depends on whom you're asking. At least in Germany, the most associated with them would probably "Caravan of Love", the one still receiving (although only occasional) airplay would be "Five Get Over Excited" (where many don't know who sings it but know the song). I doubt that there is a single song to single out objectively. --Ulkomaalainen (talk) 14:42, 22 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Fourth Best Band in Hull

I dispute Everything But the Girl. I'm pretty sure it was 3-Action. This can probably only be confirmed by people who were in Hull at the time - ETBG have clearly been substituted because they're the only other group from Hull that people from elsewhere have heard of.

The Gargoyles were the "first best", according to the Housemartins.

Lyrics

"The Housemartins' lyrics were an odd mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity, reflecting Paul Heaton's beliefs at the time."

Reductive in the extreme - or, to put it another way, crap. Most of the Housemartins lyrics were social observations not a million miles removed from those of ray Davies or even Randy Newman... as a matter of fact I can't think of a single Housemartins song that is particularly Christian or Marxist, although these were the groups beliefs. The political commentary in the songs, apart from the republicanism, is broadly left wing in a way that wasn't particularly identifiably Marxist during the polarised Thatcher/Scargill era. A lot of it reads like the post-Punk socialist anarchism of Class War.

Well, the sleeve notes did say "Take Jesus, Take Marx, Take Hope" - so it seems fair enough to me.

What is it with the song " Five Get Overexcited " having a gay subtext in it ? 129.102.254.253 (talk) 18:30, 4 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The actual content of the lyrics is neither Christian nor Marxist. It is Grumpy Eighties Leftie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.116.250 (talk) 14:45, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think Heaton, as he's proved since, was more Morrissey than Leon Rosselson.

Pfff! He wishes he was Morrissey. 85.134.214.41 17

28, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Actually he's a bizarre cross twixt Alan Bennett and Julie Burchill. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.116.250 (talk) 14:46, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fatboy Slim Discography

Why the Fatboy Slim discography at the end? This is a The Housemartins page.

It is a template located at the bottom of every Fatboy Slim related page. Foetusized (talk) 02:36, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Genres

Does anyone actually believe that The Housemartins were an indie rock band, and have sources to prove it? There has been a genre warrior adding multiple genres to this article and the Build (song) article for a while now, so let's see if there is any consensus for keeping any of those genres in the article. --Michig (talk) 06:10, 19 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thought not. --Michig (talk) 06:22, 6 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No support from me for these extra genres. Just reverted the IP genre warrior once again -- Foetusized (talk) 14:13, 20 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It can be shown that The Housemartins belongs to several genres such as Jangle Pop or Indie rock, which are and are alternative rock styles. - levimedina- — Preceding unsigned comment added by Levimedina (talk • contribs) 02:05, 24 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

So show it using reliable sources. --Michig (talk) 06:02, 24 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What does the name mean?

Sounds like a Monty Python joke (Arthur's speech, where he is asked if coconuts migrate).

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Early drummers?

I've removed three early drummers from the article - Chris Lang, Justin Patrick ("on loan from Udomsuksa!") and Roger "Dodger" Wilde ("on loan from 3-Action"). These don't seem well-evidenced - they are in a online few sources, but many of them are contradictory e.g. on when these drummers were in the band and in what order, and some may have derived from this article; most sources simply have Whitaker as the original drummer. Lang was a member of Heaton and Cook's pre-Housemartins band in Surrey the Stomping Pond Frogs - see his tweet here - which may be the origin of that?

Anyway, no problem re-adding them if they can be sourced, but there didn't seem to be great sourcing for any of them - though I would be interested to see the relevant pages from The Great Rock Discography. TSP (talk) 09:24, 2 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Guitar for Paul?

I removed the guitar bar from Paul on the timeline, because my understanding is that this was not a significant part of his musical contribution to the band; Hypersoyt re-added it, so I thought I'd bring it here.

My view is that timelines are for principal roles, and my understanding is that Paul's guitar playing in the band was very occasional. Paul played (and still plays) a lead guitar line on Me and the Farmer - at least live, that's the only time I'm aware of him ever playing guitar with the Housemartins. He played harmonica on several tracks (Reverend's Revenge, Pirate Aggro, The Mighty Ship), and apparently also trombone. Likewise Norman played piano and Hugh played vibraphone on Think For a Minute, for example, but there are no piano or vibraphone lines on the chart - as for most bands, if you included every instrument a member ever played, the timeline would become unmanageable.

Paul's credit on the cover of London 0 Hull 4 is for "Vocals and harmonica"; on The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death it is "Vocals, guitar, trombone" (which is odd as Pirate Aggro is on the album and definitely features harmonica).

If people think Paul needs a line apart from vocals, I'm not sure I see why it would be guitar rather than harmonica; but I think the best representation of his role in the band was simply as vocalist. Any views? TSP (talk) 11:25, 21 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the guitar line, as it's been a week with no response from Hypersoyt or anyone else. I've also removed 'trumpet' which I hadn't noticed was added at the same time - I'm not aware that Paul ever played trumpet? (He had a credit on London 0 Hull 4 for trombone - I'm not clear on which tracks - but that's a different instrument.) Again, if there's a justification for adding any instrument for Paul, I'd argue that harmonica has the strongest case, but overwhelmingly his role was as vocalist. TSP (talk) 12:30, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@TSP honestly those were just listed along his names in the member section so i thought i'd add it. I was just visiting the page and have not actually listened to any Housemartins. Im sorry for any confusion I may have caused Hypersoyt (talk) 12:42, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No problem! I was entirely prepared to believe you knew something I didn't - details on exactly who played what on Housemartins recordings are a little patchy - but yeah, my understanding is that Paul is overwhelmingly a vocalist and his instrumental contributions were very occasional (in the case of guitar, literally one song as far as I know). TSP (talk) 12:52, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]