The Stourbridge sound

March 29, 2018 9:59 AM

In the late 80s and early 90s, an idiosyncratic music scene arose in the town of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands. Named grebo (after a local slang word for a scruffy layabout, taken from the dress sense of the artists), it combining punk rock guitars with electronic beats and hip-hop-influenced sampling, counted among its number bands such as The Wonder Stuff, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Pop Will Eat Itself, and, for a moment, rivalled Britpop and Madchester/baggy as the next big sound of 90s UK indie. (SLGuardian)
posted by acb (48 comments total)

I saw Pop Will Eat Itself bravely opening for Public Enemy at the Brixton Academy. The crowd were throwing all kinds of stuff at them but they kept going. Good lads.
posted by w0mbat at 10:12 AM on March 29, 2018 [8 favorites]

I still love the first Neds Atomic Dustbin album, and they also had a ton of great tracks on singles and EPs, like Trust, Sentence, and a few others, but their second album was kinda slowed down and boring and by the third you could tell their interest was gone. I now see that it was because the singer had some issues and their hearts just weren't in it for the long haul. The British sound from 1991 also got destroyed in the wake of grunge, even though musically they weren't that different.

Never had much interest in the WonderStuff or Pop Will Eat Itself.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:19 AM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Bizarre. I grew up obsessively reading all the British music mags, and the only band I really strongly associate with the “grebo” tag is PWEI; I certainly never considered the other two as such. Perhaps my memory fails me. Loved the hell out of the Wonder Stuff, though. HUP is still on regular rotation in my house. Also, it blew my mind when Clint Mansell became the huge composer that he is today.
posted by mykescipark at 10:20 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was at university in the Midlands at exactly the right time see see pretty much all of the grebo bands live a few times. Not necessarily the best bands I've seen live, but almost certainly the most fun, especially in the mosh pits. (Although my ribs wouldn't agree.)

They were just trying to be themselves and have a good time. And in my opinion, ended up much cooler than the baggy bands as a result. Happy days, but among my group of friends we never had a sense that any of it would last.
posted by dowcrag at 10:23 AM on March 29, 2018

We just saw Moon on Netflix, and I was so happy to point out that Clint Mansell was the composer!

Shameful confession: I got the term "grebo" mixed up with Greedo for more years than I care to mention.
posted by mittens at 10:34 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was a member of my uni's entertainment committee back in the day, and we booked PWEI for a gig at the main student union. Many acts that we booked were people I hadn't heard of prior to reviewing them, and a lot of times the music wasn't to my taste, but this show I went to. I was dancing on a table by the end. It was a great show! One of the concerts I have very fond memories of from my 20s, and a fine use of my student fees.
posted by droplet at 10:42 AM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Neds and PWEI were two of the bands I loved during the mid-90s. I was supposed to see Neds at their Toronto show back in 95 (I even had tickets) but the flakey friend I was going with didn't show up and instead of seeing it myself I decided to go back home - I'd already seen them earlier in the year at some. After their break-up I really regretted not seeing them the final time.

I went to see Radiohead later that year with a different friend but we couldn't find eachother (we were meeting at the concert hall, The Warehouse, because he went to some Oasis signing that was happening earlier on). This was before cell phones. I ended up going in and seeing the concert while my friend ended up going home, which he came to regret, not because Radiohead broke up but because it was a great concert.

The point of all this is to say that if you're at the concert already and your friend doesn't show up for whatever reason you may as well still go to see the concert.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:46 AM on March 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

PWEI's lyricist could come up with pure absurdist poetry at times:

I am he who is X Y and Zee
I carry no card my life is cheap
Have no worries I do not fret
Some may have what I'm yet to get
And you may wonder, "Is it how?"
A kitten may turn into a cow
With bells and horns and
Tinned corned beef
Forests, profits
Plastic High Streets
I am he who is A B and Cee
An easy option
Late twentieth century
Satisfaction guaranteed
It's easy!
Let's steal a spaceship and
Head for the sun and
Shoot the stars
With a lemonade ray gun
Make a movie
And a TV show
You be Jane
I'm George Jetson
posted by Quindar Beep at 10:56 AM on March 29, 2018 [8 favorites]

My favorite Ned's remix.
posted by schoolgirl report at 10:57 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is extremely my jam and I guess extremely my very specific genre.
posted by Artw at 11:02 AM on March 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

I've loved PWEI for years and ternet thinking that they seemed like one of the most forward looking bands of the 80's. Played the heck out of them on the two college stations I worked at. I could never really get anyone else interested even when I pointed out that "Def Con One" was about Watchmen.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:33 AM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Alan Moore knows the score.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:35 AM on March 29, 2018 [13 favorites]

what a glorious era for 120 Minutes
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:41 AM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

OMFG, there are other humans alive on this earth who still love PWEI.

I treasure and adore every one of you.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:49 AM on March 29, 2018 [7 favorites]

My favorite Ned's remix.

My favorite two Ned's remixes:

NAD - All I Ask Of Myself Is That I Hold Together (In Control Mix by Beaumont Hannant)
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - All I Ask Of Myself Is That I Hold Together (No Answer Mix by The Black Dog)
posted by Artw at 11:52 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I credit Ned's for getting me into cool music. Singlehandedly. I had always loved music but had no idea that anything really beyond the mainstream stuff even existed. But in the summer of 1991, I was flipping channels on a saturday night (I was 13 or so?) and came across some public access show called Alternative Music Express. First thing I saw was the video for "Happy" by Ned's Atomic Dustbin. I was immediately in love. I was like "oh, cool, this is what i'm into now." I loved not only the music but the whole aesthetic. Next day I had my Nana drive me to the mall and I picked up God Fodder. IT CAME WITH A FREE T-SHIRT. holy shit. that became the basis of my wardrobe. After i wore it to death I made a backpatch out of the logo but I still haven't sewed it onto anything.

Anyway I could go on forever about this but man I wish you guys had been friends with me in high school because NO ONE WAS INTO THIS SHIT

anyway now i am a person in a kinda cool band that tours the world and stuff and pretty much everyone still doing this "type of thing" at this late date was into this stuff as a teen. ARGH I WISH WE WERE FRIENDS THE WHOLE TIME

(also i flew england in 2004 to catch one of Ned's reunion shows and it was so great - i'll tell you the story sometime)
posted by capnsue at 11:55 AM on March 29, 2018 [8 favorites]

(Also "are you normal," the second ned's album is a great melodic punk record. and the wonder stuff are the best pop band ever. fight me.)
posted by capnsue at 11:56 AM on March 29, 2018

I ❤️ PWEI!
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, though from London, are Grebo as fuck.
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 11:58 AM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

Always thought "Grey Cell Green" was a neat tune.
posted by bwvol at 11:59 AM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

WORK BUY CONSUME DIE
The Joy of PWEI™
posted by infinitewindow at 12:16 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

PWEI are the reason I didn't stay a metalhead forever. Blew my tiny mind and set me on a lifelong journey of trying things I wouldn't have otherwise.
posted by vbfg at 12:18 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I'd definitely include Carter USM in the grebo crowd. GBOA too, to a certain extent.

I was an avid Deadline reader at the time, and there was heavy (paid) crossover between the bands and the comics
posted by scruss at 12:32 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Neds Atomic Dustbin

I had somehow gotten the idea that they were from Vermont or New Hampshire
posted by thelonius at 12:44 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

We like the music, we like the disco song...hey!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:49 PM on March 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

I kinda feel like Madchester > Britpop is eliding a bit more than just grebo.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:01 PM on March 29, 2018

I remember thinking PWEI was the coolest in high school, I mean just everything at least until The Looks or the Lifestyle was always incredible. I missed my opportunity to see them opening for Nine Inch Nails? Beastie Boys? Damn, now I can't remember.

Subsequent Youtube videos have highlighted that they were just as goddamn nerdy as teenaged me, which sort of both delights and disappoints me.
posted by Kyol at 1:02 PM on March 29, 2018

I'm the weirdo who really liked Dos Dedos Mis Amigos and was excited for another PWEI album with a "new industrial sound" and was disappointed when they basically collapsed as a band after that.

That lost album emerged later and, okay, maybe because it's not really finished demo stuff, but it just sounded really, really bad to me and I guess it probably WAS time to split up.

(There IS a reformed PWEI now, but with no Clint Mansell it's effectively some other thing)
posted by Artw at 1:04 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

PWEI's lyricist could come up with pure absurdist poetry at times

And unfortunately still relevant poetry, too. Every time some internet commenter speaks in high-minded tones about defending Nazis' right to free speech I want to shout "Freedom of expression doesn't make it alright / trampled underfoot by the rise of the right!"
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:05 PM on March 29, 2018 [7 favorites]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the post-sampling-era PWEI either (or the pre-sampling era Box Frenzy releases), but that middle era was just magical, hit me at just the right place and time.
posted by Kyol at 1:08 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

And unfortunately still relevant poetry, too. Every time some internet commenter speaks in high-minded tones about defending Nazis' right to free speech I want to shout "Freedom of expression doesn't make it alright / trampled underfoot by the rise of the right!"

Yup.

Ich Bin Ein Auslander
posted by Artw at 1:08 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina was the World Cup theme the we all needed. Such a missed opportunity.
posted by N-stoff at 1:14 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I hesitate to bring them up because they get so much stick, but...I ended up as a Ned's and PWEI fan via Jesus Jones, who fit the genre even if I think they were from Surrey or something.

(They had the same sense of humor anyway: After many delays on their fourth album and endless fan complaints about that fact, they named it Already... after being dissuaded from naming it Here's the Damned Album Already...)
posted by Quindar Beep at 1:36 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

That lost album emerged later and, okay, maybe because it's not really finished demo stuff, but it just sounded really, really bad to me and I guess it probably WAS time to split up.

No need to justify it. You're preaching to the perverted here.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:50 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh man, I saw Ned's a bunch of times and loved them in particular SO MUCH. All of these bands were influential in leading me to look harder for what *else* was happening in UK indie music besides whatever was the current press-attracting darling.
posted by desuetude at 1:57 PM on March 29, 2018

The British sound from 1991 also got destroyed in the wake of grunge, even though musically they weren't that different.

Grunge encompassed elements of dance music and hip-hop? All the grunge I've heard fell firmly under heavy sludge-rock, with the furthest departure being Cobain's fondness for twee-pop. If forced into the rubric of the NME Indie Wars, it would all have fallen firmly on the guitar side.
posted by acb at 2:15 PM on March 29, 2018

I kinda feel like Madchester > Britpop is eliding a bit more than just grebo.

There is pretty much all of shoegaze, though that has been covered and, unlike grebo, has had a resurgence.
posted by acb at 2:19 PM on March 29, 2018

Well, yes. I see Grebo and I think Nanny Ogg's Cat

Yes I know it's spelled different.

Also, sorry, I'll see myself out.
posted by evilDoug at 2:23 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I loved PWEI in high school, but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't stop in here simply to say the first person who says grebo gets a foot in the teeth.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 2:36 PM on March 29, 2018

The first person saying grebo.
posted by Artw at 3:01 PM on March 29, 2018

...though really this is the most grebo-saying-esque of the grebo saying tracks.
posted by Artw at 3:12 PM on March 29, 2018

One mustn’t forget the role of The Designers Republic in The full PWEI package.
posted by grimley at 5:09 PM on March 29, 2018 [7 favorites]

I only know a fair handful of PWEI and Neds stuff, all of which I liked mind you. The latter mainly via that amazing "pay no more than £5.22" b-side compilation and the Brainbloodvolume singles. On the quality of those I'd say they were up there with The Wildhearts for putting out really good b-side songs. I still now say or sing "(Jesus) Take Me To The Cleaners" when the mood's upon me. Nobody knows what I'm on about.

Not been able to find the image online but the excellent "All I Ask Of Myself Is That I Hold Together" singles were promoted with a full-page inside cover ad in NME or Melody Maker which was a blown-up picture of a roaring Stephen Fry presenting a stuffed toy two-handed to camera. This on the back of his well-publicised mental health problems and disappearance not long before. I'd love to know if at any point in the process anyone involved thought that maybe it was a bit unwarranted.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:12 PM on March 29, 2018

Plus, on the subject of the lack of greebo revivals, I'm tempted to at least claim the longhair version of the undercut as de facto fashion example. It still reads as greebo to me.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:21 PM on March 29, 2018

I think I was the only PWEI fan in my midwest high school. I forced it on all of my friends to listen to them, but I think they only tolerated it because I had access to a minivan to cart us all around. I was heartbroken when I found out that they were opening for Nine Inch Nails, but not at any of the shows I could see. Being a solitary fan was rough. In the early internet, I avidly followed them on pweination.com. I knew other people were fans, but primarily in the UK. This post has made me happy to see that there are other fans out there, and that I am not the only one who remembered them.
posted by Badgermann at 7:11 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oh wow. We are huge fans in this house and I just want to say The Wonderstuff’s Eight Legged Groove Machine is still one of my favorite albums of all time. Not top ten, but definitely in my top 25 and holds up really well. Spotify has a version that was re-recorded (this might be some weird record contract thing, the way Def Leppard had to re-record Pyromania for online release) and its even better that the original. 1990 was a great time to wear baggy jeans and tie-dye shirts and get blissed out to some loud distorted guitar pop music.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:41 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

I remember thinking PWEI was the coolest in high school

Me too. Especially as my cooler friends from the Stourbridge side of town (Bearwood, to be precise) were already going out drinking at Stoodi Baker's, on the not-yet-the-main-strip Broad Street, which was the grebo hangout where PWEI would go if they ended up out in Birmingham.
posted by ambrosen at 3:17 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

The covers of Saturday Night and I’ve never been to me on 0522 are some of my favourite covers. I mean, how can you not love this? I’d no idea it was a cover until I put it on a mix tape for a friend who then tried to describe the original because no internet.
posted by mr_stru at 3:26 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

One mustn’t forget the role of The Designers Republic in The full PWEI package.

And Age of Chance.
posted by bongo_x at 1:59 AM on April 1, 2018