Menswear reunion highly unlikely, in case you were wondering
I Thought You Were Dead!, Video
Back in the heady Britpop days Menswear pulled of the frankly admirable stunt of appearing on the cover of Melody Maker before they’d actually released any records. They then played Top Of The Pops - back when that was still a big deal - a week before their single had been released. Sounds like small fry now, but back then it was quite literally the musical equivalent of Barack Obama being exposed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The band’s exposure was thanks largely to the fact that they were based in Britpop HQ, Camden Town in London; and also their (or their management’s) at-the-time remarkable decision to dress in - gasp! - suits. The fact that they were quite pretty boys didn’t hurt, either.
Anyway, with a rise to fame that vertiginous it was always likely to turn to shit sooner or later, and so it came to pass.
Derided as chancers and divvybombs, Menswear disappeared after debut album Nuisance - which, it’s easy to forget, actually had a few decent tunes on it. “I’ll Manage Somehow” and “Stardust” spring to mind, although the execrable sub-Elastica dirge “Daydreamer” tends to be the track for which they are most commonly remembered.
I’ve often wondered what the original members are up to nowatimes, and Alcopop!’s blog has kindly answered one fifth of those wonderings by encouraging lead singer Johnny Dean to contact them.
Sadly, however, Johnny doesn’t seem to keen to reunite with the other chaps any time soon:
Its (sic) all in the past and the past is where it belongs. And to be honest, it was not entirely a positive experience for me and not one I would like to repeat voluntarily.
Boo. Head over to Alcopop! to find out what else Johnny isn’t doing. In case you too are curious as to the fate of the other members, Wiki that shit.
Or, direct your eyesandears below, to watch the video for “I’ll Manage Somehow”.
[video: rockomotive]
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Oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-oh-no!! My heart just broke a little (read “a lot”) when my eyesies spotted this post. Everything I had ever hoped for has fallen apart around me and to top it off I’m not sure that crying in the workplace is the best career move.
This band were my youthful introduction to *ahem* ‘proper’ music and will always hold a jaunty-angled little place in my heart. Why, in my old bedroom I still, to this day, have a B&W hand-drawn rendition of Johnny’s face blu-tacked to the side of my hi-fi that doesn’t play CD’s.
Often I have wondered if perhaps they were creatures of my own imaginings and now, cruelly, the very day it is confirmed they were not, I am told that Menswe@r will never return. Why-oh-why-oh-why?!? Is there no god?!!!
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER WOMAN.