ANALYSIS
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I find Kenickie an interesting topic of debate because they represent a sort of a last-chance saloon for the ideas of various people (e.g. Various music journalists) about where music should go post the "Britpop explosion," as I commented around the time of the release of "I Would Fix You." Indeed one of Kenickie's apparent advantages was that they were championed by both the people who had created the brief "Romantic Modernist" movement of 1995-6, and the continuity movement of C96-Rampage-Bratpop-Whatever (Obviously these were somewhat overlapping scenes anyway), they were Melody Maker's wet dream, pretty much their Weberian ideal type of what a pop band should be like. Personally, I think this proved to be a major disadvantage in the end. Kenickie failed to gain real commercial success (well, At The Club sold reasonably). I can't say I was ever that surprised by this. I pretty much expected this to happen, easy to say after the event I know. All this said, I really liked a lot of their music and I find it hard to believe that it was their entire body of work that left them destined for the dumper, though I do think that unfortunate selections from it were promoted. The point of all this. Well, how many post-Kenickie bands are there? Perhaps they wouldn't like being referred to in this way, but there are quite a few of them. And perhaps there are lessons to be learned, if more good music is not to fail to reach its potential audience. This brief essay has been broken down into two main sections: 1. A look at the whys and wherefores of all their major label single releases (the obsession with singles! Well, it's the British disease not mine)...then 2. a broader look at some of the problems they may have faced in trying to gain commercial success. If I have got any facts wrong, then by all means let me know. 1 ) Punka. A song inspired by their previous dealings with minor label Slampt, and also an attack on the under-achievement ethic of bands such as Bis et al (Complete with "joke" guitar break). Very noble of them to display their popstar credentials, or not. You get the feeling that Billie is not about to release a single declaring her views on Manatee. Of course, she's not heard of them. But even if she had, she wouldn't mention them in the public domain, let alone (get someone to) write a song about them. The best form of scorn is not to acknowledge someone's existence or importance. The Manics didn't release a song about how they hated Slowdive as a single, what would have been the point? I can't imagine what Kenickie would have said if they were asked by Smash Hits what the song was about. As single numero uno, it didn't really do any harm, it was but an opportunity missed. The same cannot be said for its later re-release. 2) Millionaire Sweeper. The Production, the production!! What the hell happened. The sound of Kenickie in a well. A song completely unsuitable for widespread radio play. One can also question the universality of the lyric. A lyric about a girl who gets pregnant, I see no serious problem (Though, perhaps not what the Ladz want to hear about). I think however the imagery ("blisters waiting to get burst," "drinking her out from the inside"), and the talk of champagne diminished people's understanding of the song. I have to admit that it took me months to work out what the song was about. And you can call me numb if you want, but I'm I suspect there's a lot of people number than myself. 3) In Your Car. Aha! The breakthrough hit! Or not. It was released on the 30th December, and the New Year is renowned as a significant lull period for single sales. Indie bands with a reasonably sized fanatical fanbase (who'll buy the singles come-what-may). So the bloody Llama Farmers could probably just about get into the top 40 at that time of year! So without having the actual figures, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't actually sell as well as one might think. It was also the first Kenickie release to feature 2 CDs. It did get them quite a lot of mainstream attention, however, including an appearance on TOTP. As a song, it's certainly vastly inferior to "Millionaire Sweeper," however it was reasonably pop, with a universal lyric that even I (Hooray!) understood first time. 4) Nightlife. This didn't actually chart as high as "In Your Car," but for reasons included above, I suspect it was the strongest single. Obviously, the most universal lyric; the closest Kenickie got to a "cross-over" single. And Marie on lead vocals! If you go over to "Kenickie Corner," you can vote on your favourite songs from both albums. When I saw this, Classy (which should have been the follow-up, there is no debate to be had here!) and Robot Song were the favourites from the first, Magnatron (which should have been the first single from "Get In!") the favourite from the second. When I saw the kidz seemingly lapping up their second appearance on TOTP, this was when I thought for the first time: "Maybe I was wrong...maybe they'll really make it," the failure of Punka to go top 30 changed this quickly. If you look on messageboards and in the weekly inkies, I think you'll find that people seem to be more interested in what Marie and Emmy-Kate are gonna do then what Lauren and Pete are going to do (That's possibly because Pete and Lauren's plans are more obvious, but..) 5) Punka. "So we've released a single about hitching rides, then followed it up with a song about going out on the tiles....what shall we release now? I know, let's release that song about our time on an indie label and about how we're so unlike all those indie bands that people have barely heard of....again...........the kidz will love that!" Of course, it has been since made clear that it was a record company decision to re-release this single. Which absolves Kenickie from blame. Or not, nobody forced them to sign away artistic control, after all. It didn't do that badly in a way, because the album was already out and I'm sure that you've noticed that singles released before albums sell better than the ones that come afterwards, in general. So No. 37 wasn't a real shock, really. 6) "I Will Fix You." This is a difficult one. A lot of people liked this single, people who weren't the sorts to buy Kenickie singles. Perhaps the problem. It wasn't exactly going to appeal to the "Nightlife" crowd, and the people it did appeal to couldn't quite bring themselves to take a Kenickie record up to the counter. A shame, as it is a great song. Perhaps, not instant enough. It probably could have done with being a double A-side avec Magnatron. Double A-sides are difficult these days mind, what with the three-songs to a CD rule, you are thus limited to 1 B-side, and speaking of which: people don't like remixes, or at least a lot of people don't (especially the crowd that the single appealed to). And it wasn't as if they brought out a "CD with song b-sides" and a "remix CD," they mixed them so each CD had one song and one remix as b-sides. That irked me and I think I didn't buy it for that very reason. 7) Stay In The Sun. Aha! Classic Pop! Or not. After all, if this is what the kidz wanted, Orlando and St. Etienne would have had 10 number ones each ( Oh and Crush would have had a hit and we would have had Donna Airhead the popstar and not Donna Airhead the incredibly intelligent TV personality! And won't it be hilariously ironic if Laverne ever gets described as "the thinking man's Donna Air!") There was even a large quotient of Kenickie fans who had their reservations about this one. And any goodwill created by "I Would Fix You" was almost certainly destroyed; quoth my best friend Johnathan: "I really liked "I Would Fix You" but they should be shot for that one." My opinion, well, it's quite hummable, but I know better than to think that what I find hummable must be pop, but in many ways it was a key-change and a good chorus looking for a song (the link between verse and chorus is very weak, and lyrically it is not one of Lauren's finer moments.). In the end, it failed to enter the top 40, and this contributed to the lack of publicity for the second album "Get In," which then sold badly and precipitated record-company problems. Right, are there any other reasons behind their lack of success that I haven't covered? a) Womanhood and the Popular Press. Oasis, Blur, Suede, MSP, The Verve, Radiohead, Mansun, OCS, Kula Shaker, Embrace, etc, etc. Male bands. What about female bands? Garbage and Catatonia (God, save us) are the only female-led bands with decent sales in the U.K, well maybe Hole as well. Sleeper and Echobelly's sales diminished drastically with their last albums. Generally, teenage boys and girls prefer bands with male singers. Why is this? Shucks, I don't know, to be honest. I think maybe it's how we're brought up, how we're taught to think. But think about this: the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Hendrix, the Who, The Doors, Bowie, Bolan, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Sex Pistols, Duran Duran (I know, I know), The Fall, Wham, the Smiths (NNNNNNGGGGGGG - Good taste Ed), Pet Shop Boys, FGTH, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays....and then on to the above. Try composing a comparable list for women. Joplin, Chrissie Hynde, ummm! Kenickie fans might mention the Ronettes at this time. Fine, if you want. But the Ronettes made (with plenty of help) manufactured chart music, just like Billie and B*witched. Perhaps, Kenickie could have went down this route. It's almost they (and their record company) had to choose between two roads going to two completely different places; and they kept changing their mind about which road to go on, and ended up going nowhere. Following up Nightlife with Punka, and following up I Would Fix You with Stay In The Sun are the two major examples of this. I think this problem affected their interviews greatly. Marie would later complain that nobody talked about their music, but simply asked them about make-up and suchlike. Well, this is the kind of thing woman in music are asked about generally, although sex is almost always top on the agenda. The popular press doesn't yet have the ability or willingness to deal with bands like Kenickie, a female band up and coming with a couple of top 30 hits under their belt. And the truth is Kenickie didn't actually have the ability to deal with the popular music press (And notice how practically every young female band's interview technique in the scene is very similar to Kenickie's. I'm sorry, t'is true. And it's not surprising, because who else are they going to be influenced by?). They were always being asked what it felt like to be popstars; and of course they should have replied "we're not pop stars yet," but they didn't. They seemed happy to agree. I'm reminded of a line from "Destiny Calling" (that song could almost be about Kenickie!) by James: "Get a little wiser, get a little humbler, now we know that we don't know......." I'm also reminded of what a girl wrote to the Void in the first half of 1997: "Kenickie are just a minor indie girl band with pushy PR." I think she spoke for quite a few people. Including myself. But Alan! You are forgetting something! They were funny! And those classic "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" appearances! This is utter bollocks, pure and simple. They weren't that funny anyway, at best occasionally witty. And anyway, people watch comedians if they want laughs. Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft: can't really imagine sitting down and laughing with them in a pub can you? But it ain't important. These things impress music journalists (and they were always too damn happy to indulge music journalists. I mean what was the point in doing a front page of Melody Maker once they actually made the top 30, and with Simon Price at that! (The words converted, to, the and preaching spring to mind! And I think even Melody Maker were embarrassed by that self-indulgent piece, so much so that they did a parody of it in the funnies section in the subsequent edition, with Simon Priceless!). These things appeal to music journalists, the glitter people and precious few others. They simply looked like they were trying too hard. b) The record company. There is no doubt that there is case for EMI to answer. But what they should be charged with is letting Bob Stanley have his own bloody label which he could walk out on at any time (the idea that Bob Stanley is the man to take you to the top is a ridiculously flawed concept anyway.). And, in turn, Kenickie must be charged with signing to a label with a deal that laid faith in Bob Stanley right at the foundations. They signed away artistic control to him, but he signed it to EMI. So maybe you should look at him to blame, before you look at EMI. I think a very interesting, though very hypothetical question, is what would have happened to Kenickie if they'd signed to Creation Records. Alan McGee goes to great pains to point out that the bands choose the singles (though the recent Acquiesce anecdotes show he isn't beyond a "gentle hint" or two), and they are a record label with a good track record of breaking bands. And he offered them a deal before Catsuit City even came out. Whether he involved himself in the bidding war that took place after Come Out 2 Nite I do not know. Of course, Pete Gofton's statement on Kenickie Fried Chicken is well known now, and it included the statement "Never Sign To A Major Label." So why did they sign to a Major label? Perhaps I only have to listen to Punka to work that out. Of course a pop historian might point out that the Smiths (but who cares about the fucking Smiths other than Belle & Sebastien indier-than-thou fans with crap jumpers? Well I fucking don't - Ed) spent their recording career on the minor label "Rough Trade," and never got a single higher than No. 10 in the singles charts. As soon as Morrisey began his solo career with EMI, his first single went to No.4. Mind you, Frankie Goes To Hollywood were on ZTT and Relax and Two Tribes/War didn't do too badly did they! But I do remember Lauren recalling part of a conversation with Stanley: "We want to sign with you, but you have to offer as much money as everyone else." The money! The money! It isn't the picture of Kenickie that Pete Gofton et al have been trying to paint, but his role in Kenickie was very much an ill-defined one prior to the recording of "Get In" anyway. He has also stated that the "we wanna be popstars" thing was overplayed, and it all now seems inane. Fine. But Kenickie were happy to play the line, and its evil cousin "we are popstars." You can't expect to go on about how its pointless being an underachieving indie band, and then say "well, we never cared about selling records anyway," and expect to get away with it. It just ain't convincing! And that is about it really. Obviously to some extent Kenickie's later failures were due to the problems that the music industry is having selling "indie" music at the moment, but to write about that is whole other story, and one that I don't really want to tell. Kenickie are not the only band to have suffered record company problems recently, but there are bands who haven't, and it was this top division of bands that many people thought that Kenickie belonged to. But they didn't, they just didn't. They had a loyal, very devoted, fanbase; but they never really managed to sell their records to too many other people. Perhaps, this was because Kenickie, and their record company, were never sure who they were supposed to appeal to. It seems to me that there were two sides to Kenickie, and it seems to be that they are kinda-sort of represented by the split into two factions (I'm not quite saying that the Goftons are the indie-crew, and that Marie and Emmy-Kate are the pop crew, that's drastic simplification. Mind you, the world seems to crave simplicity, especially in music.). Perhaps in their new projects, they will be able to more easily find their own niches, and find success, guided by the lessons they have no doubt learned. But maybe they are not the only ones who can learn from them. There's more than one way to go the extra grand. |
