Menswe@r: Classic Or Dud?

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Overhyped,manufactured nonsense or a good lost band?

Andy Gill, Friday, 30 August 2002 14:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Totally underrated. Destroyed by NME. Made a great pop debut,and supposedly made a great but unreleased follow up that was influenced by Wire and Gang Of Four. Anyone ever heard this?
Marion were in the same boat too. Yet nme chose to cover bollocks like Sleeper,Stereophonics,Travis etc.
You can always trust the judgement of NME cant you?

Graeme, Friday, 30 August 2002 15:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Good but not truely great. Better than Sleeper.

tigerclawskank, Friday, 30 August 2002 15:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

classic for the fact alone that they playeds my college twice, the first time the lead singer (Johnny summat or other) had a throat virus so the rest of them played without him and a guitarist singing. Later (after tthey got as famous as they ever did) they came back and played for free. Nice chaps.

chris (chris), Friday, 30 August 2002 15:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Classic.... "The One" and "We Love You" especially...

donut bitch (donut), Friday, 30 August 2002 15:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

I agree with the Marion comment. Menswear were always bollocks, and the unreleased followup "Hey Tiempo" is equally as shite. It's probably still on the Mixer Jukebox

Kinski, Friday, 30 August 2002 17:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

"125 west 3rd street". fantastic song. get it

Slump Man (Slump Man), Friday, 30 August 2002 17:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but really... A band made for, by and about the music press, yeuuuuccccch. A tatty act. Not necessarily awful, just tatty.

Libertines the new Menswe@r anyone?

G Bear, Friday, 30 August 2002 20:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Libertines the new Menswe@r anyone?

Any band on the NME cover this year is the new Menswe@r.

They were harmless enough, weren't they? Them and the Bluetones always seemed to be Britpop's last cough up of phlegm before it keeled over and dead. "Daydreamer" was nice, though.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 30 August 2002 21:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Definitely classic. I mean, if I ever were to get pointlessly nostalgic for the good old days of Britpop (even though they weren't that good anyway) there's at least four other groups I'd listen to first, the first album occasionally gets a spin in my CD drive. The second album is reputed to be pants and I'd believe it.

I strongly disapprove of them being used in the same sentence as The Bluetones.

edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 31 August 2002 02:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

three years pass...
aw man, i want to read more menswear memories. they ruled in the way that only ned raggett could describe.

corey c (shock of daylight), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 05:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I'll Manage Somehow was great. Daydreamer was nearly great. Album was OK. No desire to ever listen to the album again, mind, but they were better than a lot of the dreck surrounding them at the time.

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 05:53 (seventeen years ago) link

they ruled in the way that only ned raggett could describe

Well yes.

Ailsa's take I like, they were definitely a lot better than most of the sludge. I should break out the album again. :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

"Sleeping In" and "I'll Manage Somehow"=classic.
The rest=dud.

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Menswe@r were a better Blur than Blur.

((((((DOPplur)))n)))u))))tttt (donut), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link

Hehehehe

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Menswe@r - dud.

the furore sparked by putting them on the cover of Select - classic.

danny boy, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link

two years pass...

Clearly they were a prototype for the Spice Girls: manufactured pop band, there was five of them and the lead singer had dyed red hair with a blonde fringe.

James Mitchell, Thursday, 14 May 2009 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link

.....and one of them became a Gucci model, one of them became a UN ambassador, one of them was impregnated by Eddie Murphy.

Hamildan, Friday, 15 May 2009 11:10 (fourteen years ago) link

So, where is that 2nd album?

Mark G, Friday, 15 May 2009 11:14 (fourteen years ago) link

i actually saw a copy of their second album (was all country rock wasn't it) once, but never bought it.

mark e, Friday, 15 May 2009 12:36 (fourteen years ago) link

The second album isn't too bad, it is sort of country-rock mixed with a bit of a louder Oasis/Ocean Colour Scene rock sound. Curiosly, Sean O'Hagan did the string arrangements on the opening track.

also: http://community.livejournal.com/menswear/

Michael F Gill, Saturday, 16 May 2009 01:49 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Might well have seen everything:

Akira the Don uploads a 25th mixtape.

One of the tracks is a take on 'Daydreamer'

Menswe@r vets Simon White and Chris Gentry fully approve.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link

ATD actually made a full mixtape that ripped riffs from all manner of britpop classix a few years back, 3rd hand riffs .. (??), so he's clearly on a mission (surely its about time he worked with Carter USM)

mark e, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link

Just read what you wrote about the album a while back Ned, I have to agree The One was a great tune. I always think if that had been a single instead of Sleeping In they might have actually sold a lot more copies of the album. Around You Again was the other one that showed they were better songwriters than they were given credit for.

Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Yay!

http://britpopnews.com/menswears-nuisance-goes-platinum/

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 22:51 (eleven years ago) link

How the hell has this happened? Did it really sell 299,999 copies in 1995?

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 23:00 (eleven years ago) link

still love the singles.

piscesx, Thursday, 22 November 2012 01:55 (eleven years ago) link

Oh dear.

TechYes, Saturday, 24 November 2012 08:24 (eleven years ago) link

Hahaha. But wait, the drummer is still earning £83 a year? From what?

Ismael Klata, Saturday, 24 November 2012 08:53 (eleven years ago) link

I read an interview with Jamie from Marion last year who said,

"I still make money off 'This World And Body' now. Not much - PRS, stuff like that, from being played on the radio. I got £200 on Friday. I usually get about a grand, four times a year"

I really can't remember the last time I ever heard Marion or Menswe@r on the radio.

Kitchen Person, Saturday, 24 November 2012 09:03 (eleven years ago) link

Looks like I was wrong, they do get played.

http://comparemyradio.com/artists/Menswear

Kitchen Person, Saturday, 24 November 2012 09:07 (eleven years ago) link

Bloody hell, I should've tried harder

Ismael Klata, Saturday, 24 November 2012 10:12 (eleven years ago) link

one year passes...

a new menswear single? really?

eat sock become sock (electricsound), Friday, 23 May 2014 23:01 (nine years ago) link

It's actually a re-recording of a B-side from an old single (We Love You) Johnny Dean is the only person from the original line up that's involved in this reunion.

Kitchen Person, Friday, 23 May 2014 23:42 (nine years ago) link

Really enjoyed the Menswear gig at Bush Hall earlier this year. I couldn't care less that Johnny Dean is the only original band member (I'm not saying anyone else has any strong opinions about it either way, too). Quite like the new song too.

karmadrome, Friday, 30 May 2014 08:30 (nine years ago) link

Oh and the Menswear goes platinum was a hoax but I'm sure that was mentioned before/obvious.

karmadrome, Friday, 30 May 2014 08:31 (nine years ago) link

dud, Dud, dUd, duD, DuD, DUd, dUD, DUD!

I honestly can't believe people actually still talk about this heap of shit band as if they were in any way notable. They meant jack shit to me at the time and still don't mean a thing. They were so incredibly easy to dismiss and ignore at the time that it's frustrating reading retrospectives of that time and seeing Menswe@r's name mentioned time and again. They were a nothing band, as far as I'm concerned.

Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Friday, 30 May 2014 12:52 (nine years ago) link

Hooray! They rule! I love them still!

Ned Raggett, Friday, 30 May 2014 13:54 (nine years ago) link

Someone on Facebook I know did an interview with Johnny Dean recently

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2014/02/28/interview-johnny-dean-menswer-a-movement-like-that-britpop-regardless-of-your-opinions-about-it-will-likely-never-happen-again/

Quite proud to say I submitted the three readers questions.

Kitchen Person, Friday, 30 May 2014 14:15 (nine years ago) link

Reader question: Why didn’t Menswe@r put The One out as a single? It should have come out after Stardust, would have been a much bigger hit than Sleeping In which was just a good album track (bizarre single choice)

Reader Question: Also why did they hide Bones & Red Meat as bonus track when it’s better than almost every other song on the album.

Reader question: We Love You…. just why??

Kitchen Person, Friday, 30 May 2014 14:16 (nine years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/Ugl2qJl.jpg

Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Friday, 30 May 2014 14:43 (nine years ago) link

"I can flyyyyyy!"

Ned Raggett, Friday, 30 May 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link


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