Shivers Inside
PART 11
Shut Up And Dance – Death Is Not The End

Once upon a time I was accused of disappearing into my world of books and films where darkness came too soon.  Total nonsense of course.  There was music too.  But the suggestion was that I was missing out.  Total nonsense too.  Products have so much to teach us.  So many stories to tell …

I’m sorry but that was the final straw.  I’ve let so many things go just because I wanted to be involved.  It’s what people do.  But this was one trick too far.  What really hurts is that you didn’t even have the courtesy to give me a call or take a few minutes to have a quiet word.  You knew it was something that meant a lot to me.  I mean, come on, it was my idea after all to do a feature on the 50 Greatest Collaborations.  So the very least you could have done was include my choice.  I dunno.  I just don’t want anything to do with your magazine anymore.  To find out when the issue was about to hit the shops was just like being kicked in the stomach.

What right have you got to edit out my pick?  The collaboration between the Shut Up And Dance guys and Kevin Rowland on Autobiography Of A Crackhead is a pivotal moment in our civilisation, and you just sit there smug behind your desk and say: “Well, it’s not a proper collaboration is it?”  Do me a favour.  You just don’t get it do you?  It was symbolic.  It was kismet.  It was perfect.  It was like a biblical story.  A union between the two strongest minded musical forces of the last century.  And all you can do is sneer and say: “Well, all Kevin does is play a bit of acoustic guitar …”  Have you listened to that song?  It scares me.  It says something about the dark side of life.  It just wouldn’t be the same without Kevin Rowland playing guitar.  It had to be him.  He was put in the next studio for a reason. 

I’m angry not just because of the contempt you have shown for me.  It’s the disdain you’re showing Kevin.  It’s the way you dismiss PJ and Smiley and their Shut Up And Dance institution.  If your publication had an ounce of guts you’d stick them on the cover this month.  But no you just sit there and think of them and Peter Bouncer doing Raving I’m Raving, which is a bit like saying Kevin Rowland is just about Come On Eileen.  You grudgingly gave me 140 words to review their Reclaim The Streets set a few years back, and that’s about it.  It makes me sick.

I bet you have never even listened to the whole of the LP that Autobiography comes from.  You’ve got your head stuck in the sand listening to The Smiths and Radiohead, but you’re pretty much ignorant about whole swathes of music that matters.  We should be celebrating what Shut Up And Dance have achieved.  Death Is Not The End is something you should stick at number one the next time you do one your interminable lists of the 100 Greatest LPs Ever.  It’s got everything.  Jump up party tunes and cold eyed social comment as good as anything that’s been done in the name of hip hop, soul or conscious reggae.  It’s one of the great ironies of our times that an outfit with that name has so much to say. 

Yeah so much to say, and you won’t let me say anything about it.  If we’re lucky we’ll get a few old ravers getting misty eyed about hardcore, but life’s moved on and it’s not all about putting your hands in the air.  The Shut Up And Dance story is one of the best ones out there.  And hooking up with Kevin Rowland is for me an important part of that story, because it was just so gloriously right.  There was an added poignancy at the time because Kevin was pursued by his own demons, and was still dealing with the lack of recognition and understanding about how great Don’t Stand me Down was, and he was trying to get some stuff together with Big Jimmy and Billy.  Remember the appearance on one of those late night Jonathan Ross shows?  No I didn’t think you would.

And there were at least three absolute classic LPs that appeared on the Shut Up And Dance label, but who’s celebrating that?  There was the Ragga Twins’ Reggae Owes Me Money which was this joyous and rambunctious affair that grew out of the Unity Hifi digital dancehall scene where Flinty Badman and Demon Rockers, and indeed Peter Bouncer, had served their apprenticeships.  And again look at some of the titles.  The Homeless Problem.  Illegal Gunshot.  Wipe The Needle – which has just about the best ever intro to a track ever – it wasn’t all happy house back then. 

And you know the arguments we’ve had about Nicolette in the past.  Her Shut Up And Dance set is so totally out there that it’s absurd all the rubbish people still spout about Beefheart and the Velvets.  I want to grab all the people like you and force you to sit down and listen to her Now Is Early.  The words.  The bass.  The beats.  The demented symphony of a typists typing pool.  The clatter of a pipe and drum troop.  Nicolette’s chatter.  It’s gotta be about the best debut ever, and what do we get?  Another article on Jimi’s afro.  Spare me.

The way people like Shut Up And Dance disappeared back underground, regrouped, survived, even thrived, is a complete indictment of people like us.  We let them down.  We’ve talked endlessly in editorial meetings about what acts we should get behind.  We’ve helped the Arctic Monkeys get the success that should have been The Coral’s by rights.  We’ve got behind people like LCD Soundsystem and Plan B, and felt good.  But PJ and Smiley?  Nah. 

Your editorial team’s got too hung up over circulation figures and advertising revenue.  Sticking those guys on the front ain’t your way of getting on is it?  I admit I’ve gone along with it all.  Justifying all the rubbish because I could get in a mini review here and there of some buried treasure.  But I can see my race is run, and I’ve been humoured and tolerated.  You rejected my piece on Andrea Parker.  You didn’t use my Patrice Holloway tribute.  Now you’ve scythed my article on Shut Up And Dance and Kevin Rowland.  Well that’s one cut too far for me.  We’re through. 

© 2007 John Carney

www.tangents.co.uk

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