Shivers Inside
PART 43
Broadcast – The Noise Made By People – LP

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 …

Thanks.  I guess that outside of family things it’s the one thing I am most proud of.  I didn’t think I’d get away with it.  But it was just such a fantastic opportunity to get people listening to such a fantastic pop song.  And it got such a fantastic response.  There was this website link where people could contact the production unit to find out what music was being played during the finals, and I think there were more inquiries about Come On Let’s Go than any other song.  I think that just proved the point.

It was a bit sneaky the way I managed to get the song used.  We were all being humoured and given a chance to get involved.  I know my best mate at work thought it was fantastic to get Joy Division’s Atmosphere featured, but that’s not exactly way out these days is it?  They’re very classic rock now Joy Division aren’t they?  It did work brilliantly though.  Very sobering.  But Broadcast were less obvious.  So when they were in a bit of a rush to put a montage together of Sven’s travels during the half-time of the France v Portugal match, somehow everyone thought the insouciance and unattainability of Trish sort of fitted.  I think a few knew it was a bit of a left field pop thing, some thought it was a bit Carpenters or Saint Etienne, and it was that pop sheen that got it through.

I thought it was really funny afterwards when people were reading all sorts of meaning into the way the song was used.  The line about “what’s the point in wasting time on people you’ll never know …”.  People were tapping way on their blogs about how that was a cunning condemnation of Sven’s selections.  Was it heck!  We just needed a song to use quickly that was going to be a bit different, and that was the one I was playing most on my iPod.  People were too preoccupied by Ronaldo to worry too much about a bit of music.  But the response was so good that it got used again to soundtrack Italy’s route to the final.  I was so proud of that. 

It wasn’t even as though I was the world’s greatest Broadcast fan.  I’ve got a few of their records.   Love the poppy bits.  Hate the twiddly bits.  And I don’t think they’ve bettered those few songs on The Noise Made By People.  Unchanging Window.  Come On Let’s Go.  Papercuts.  Really lovely.  There’s a great bit in Papercuts where Trish sings about writing a page about me in your diary, and the word diary is streched out into three syllables, and that’s really sexy like Rihanna extending her umber-ella.  Just everything seemed to fall together on those songs for me.  They stepped out of Stereolab’s shadow and stole the show.  I had a bit of a crush on the singer too.  She had that Sandie Shaw or Francoise Hardy thing going on with her fringe which I’m a sucker for.

The irony is, and this is where I feel a bit of a fraud but hey ho, that Broadcast are about as contemporary as I get.  As work gets more pressing, more pressured, and families and things become more important, music takes a bit of a back seat.  So I can’t really take credit for being super hip.  But the World Cup owes me in a way, so fair’s fair.

You see career-wise I’m a bit of a slow starter.  Drifted for a long time.  Pottering around doing nothing significant.  Partly as a result of doing poorly in my A Levels.  Not spectacularly badly.  Just not great results.  Had enough of education so didn’t go to University.  Never took things seriously until I went to the BBC.  And the main reason I did badly in my exams was the 1982 World Cup.  Don’t laugh!  Don’t forget it had been over a decade since England had made it to the finals, so it was a big thing.  A real event.  A novelty.  And I got totally tied up in it.

Funnily enough it wasn’t England that really captured the imagination.  It was people like Kuwait with their stroppy Sheikhs, and Cameroon with Roger Mila, and what I now know were Joan Miro posters.  For me as a West Ham fan events were overshadowed by Trevor Brooking’s lack of fitness.  So I became a huge fan of the Northern Ireland team.  True underdogs.  The presence of Norman Whiteside who was younger than me.  And some real sluggers and people having the experience of their lives.  Tommy Cassidy.  Billy Hamilton.  Gerry Armstrong.  The improbable win over the hosts Spain.  The quarter final between Italy and Brazil.  Rossi and Zoff.  It’s all ingrained on the brain.

And all the while this was going on I remember listening to just two records.  Two LPs I’d bought out of the money from my Saturday job.  I’ve still got them.  The Blue Orchids’ The Greatest Hit and the Go-Betweens’ Send Me A Lullaby.  Both on Rough Trade.  Quite deep and difficult records I guess.  But it was the roughness, the intelligence, the naturalness that really appealed.  I think they were my protest against the glossy new pop stuff that was all around but which was rapidly becoming the King’s new clothes.  ABC, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Japan, Scritti Politti.  It all sounded old hat.  And these two records were to my mind part of a new resistance, the future.  The jagged edges and all that appealed.  I’m not sure how history judges them, but there are some fantastic moments on them. 

And no I have no recollection at all which music was used on TV during the ’82 finals.  I remember the England song of course, which was ok.  Not as good as the 1970 song though.  Hmm don’t get me started on the 1970 Mexico finals.  The six-year old me was totally obsessed with all that.  The Esso coins.  The little figurines.  The stickers.  I learned a lot that way.  I desperately wanted to be in the USSR squad and insisted everyone in the family had to call me Vladimir now.  My nan irritated everyone by encouraging me and buying me a Cossack style hat which I would wear. 

And Brazil of course.  That 1970 team.  Pele.  Changing shirts with Bobby Moore.  Gerson.  Jairzinho.  Rivelino.  Tostao.  The match against Italy.  The Jules Rimet trophy.  Ah.  It’s no wonder some of us continue to have a weak spot for Brazilian things.  And it’s got to be said we didn’t play enough Brazilian music during this World Cup. 

© 2007 John Carney

www.tangents.co.uk

email