“In England, no-one can hear you scream”

January 17, 2023 4:42 AM

[CW: profanity, bleak imagery of England, Sting] UK GRIM is the new song by Sleaford Mods, from their forthcoming album. The video is directed by Cold War Steve and is, unsurprisingly, unsubtle. NME: “It might strike a chord with people at their wit’s end.” Big Issue: “It’s just that the English we’re proud of being is absolutely nothing like the English the authorities want to try and promote.”
posted by Wordshore (27 comments total)

I'm on a rewatch and having to freeze frame it every few seconds to catch all of the detail.
posted by Wordshore at 4:46 AM on January 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wish more times in my life I had come across “CW:... Sting.”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:11 AM on January 17, 2023 [19 favorites]

Bunch of Kunst
posted by flabdablet at 6:05 AM on January 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm sure King George will sort it out.
posted by adept256 at 6:19 AM on January 17, 2023

The 'top off' / Topov bit was very good.
posted by pipeski at 7:47 AM on January 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

I’m going to tidy up my desk now
posted by zenon at 7:49 AM on January 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

See also: Orbital & Sleaford Mods - Dirty Rat.
posted by Superilla at 7:50 AM on January 17, 2023 [7 favorites]

Is it March 10th yet?
posted by aiq at 8:14 AM on January 17, 2023

Something I try to convey to Americans who don't know, is that the UK absolutely fucking sucks. A message this song/video does a decent job of conveying.
posted by june_dodecahedron at 8:36 AM on January 17, 2023 [16 favorites]

Sleaford Mods are heroes of the modern age - hearing 'Austerity Dogs' for the first time was like hearing The Fall for the first time back in 1983... Jason Williamson is also a quite excellent writer of fiction from the same sort of angle as the Mods - alas all out of print for the moment.
posted by remembrancer at 9:39 AM on January 17, 2023 [7 favorites]

I’m going to tidy up my desk now

While you're at it, would you mind taking this Farage out to the bin?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:50 AM on January 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

Mod note: One comment deleted, let's not bring US Politics into every thread.
posted by loup (staff) at 9:52 AM on January 17, 2023 [14 favorites]

Londoners are, on average, as rich as Australians. Everyone in the rest of the UK is, on average, half as wealthy as the average Londoner.

The UK's Covid strategy was indeed "let the bodies pile high". The UK's response has been one of the worst in the developed world. Two hundred thousand dead. The death rate, per capita, is twice Germany and six times that of Japan.

And Brexit... to quote Mark Carney, former head of the Bank of England “Put it this way, in 2016 the British economy was 90 per cent the size of Germany’s. Now it is less than 70 per cent."

Seconding "the UK absolutely fucking sucks".
posted by happyinmotion at 11:51 AM on January 17, 2023 [14 favorites]

Does Sting really belong on the same cart as Jeremy Clarkson? That's a shame.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:41 PM on January 17, 2023

I was expecting something along the lines of Its Grim Up North but this is good too
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:53 PM on January 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another data point or two about this grim - and often needlessly deadly - country
posted by Wordshore at 2:03 PM on January 17, 2023

And I was expecting something more along the lines of "Party Time" by Northern Boys (the more cartoonish version of Bleak UK). I feel like I would enjoy Sleaford Mods more if the vocals were delivered drill rap style.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 2:09 PM on January 17, 2023

Sleaford Mods' Spare Ribs was my favorite album of 2021 and my favorite new music in ages.
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:21 PM on January 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Millions forced to skip meals as UK cost of living crisis deepens (Oct 2022)
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:20 PM on January 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Was just starting to get into it when it stopped, damn these single edits for the wireless
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 3:38 PM on January 17, 2023

Sleaford Mods' Spare Ribs was my favorite album of 2021 and my favorite new music in ages.

I've listened to Nudge It way too many times.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:47 PM on January 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

that the UK absolutely fucking sucks

And yet I find myself homesick - I miss the landscapes and the people the most.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:32 PM on January 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

See also: Orbital & Sleaford Mods - Dirty Rat .

Thanks for that. Yes. See also.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:58 PM on January 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

To quote another, older bad, "They rock econo." and for that I give them mad, mad respect. Saw them last spring when the restrictions were tapering off, it was disorienting being around that many people. They were ferocious though, I give them that. The UK is a bit of a heartbreaker these days.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:22 AM on January 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Wondering if that was Bob Vylan in the dirty rat video. I love love love Jobseeker and the like. As much as I might resemble what’s on the poking end of Williamson’s stick at times, their recordings often take me where I need to go. Now I’ve heard in two songs phrases like “I hate making music like this” and I believe him. I wish I traveled the hours it would have taken to see them in Brooklyn last time the came to the US. Thanks for the post.
posted by drowsy at 4:53 AM on January 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love their performances. Jason passionately proclaims and declaims while Andrew just chills out and vibes.
posted by sjswitzer at 9:28 PM on January 18, 2023

Sting, you say? Microsoft Hosted Sting Performance in Davos on Night Before Announcing Layoffs
posted by mittens at 5:23 AM on January 19, 2023 [1 favorite]