Wednesday, May 21, 2014

UK Indie Hits: 1980-89 (No. 11)

I'm counting down my top 50 singles from the golden age of the UK Independent Charts.

11. The Bodines - "Therese"

Other Contenders: In total, the Bodines had three charting singles for Creation. "God Bless"/"Paradise" peaked at No. 8 in 1985, and "Heard It All" made it all the way to No. 4 in the fall of 1986. That piece of pop brilliance got more than a fleeting thought for a spot on this list.

Chart Entry: March 1, 1986

Peak Position: No. 4

Comment: If you're counting, the Bodines are the seventh band from NME's 'C86' compilation to appear here. There will be an eighth, but the Bodines are the only band whose actual song from the famed cassette is part of my countdown. If you didn't like the debut album, 'Played,' then you probably sum up the lads' career as 1) rose to the top of the indie world, 2) hooked up with the wrong major and 3) fizzled like old soda. It does appear that way, but I happen to love that album. So, yes, the youngest band to ever play the Hacienda didn't live up to expectations, but there is no way I can listen to singles like "Skankin Queens," "Slip Slide" and my pick for the 11th best UK indie hit of the '80s and call them a failure.

Buy the original 7" of "Therese," or the re-release on 'Played.'

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this single, would probably have been in my top 5. Always thought it as a sister song to felicity. Then again heard it all is also a classic for the line "when you think she's lonely you her to make sure". I love played but do think they hit their moment. There are odds and sods released since but nothing got close to anything on the lp. The fact that a lot of the lp were songs that had appeared elsewhere again suggests they didn't have quite what it took to last they were always going to burn quickly

Brian said...

FORW,
I knew you loved Bodines too, and I completely agree with you Played had to be it. I think we all did. So many wrong turns from a management standpoint when they went to Magnet. All of those Creation re-releases right after the jump were absolutely maddening. That's OK, though, every single they put out during that all-too-brief period were gold.

Dirk said...

Ah well, I haven't heard that for years and years!

Thanks!