The R-word
I am back on the radio, for an hour, on Saturday. The G-Word is the mostly lighthearted documentary I made last year (I recorded my scripted links, tired and emotional, the day after Obama became president), but which was "put back" due - it seemed - to the general paranoia of the post-Sachsgate "climate". Actually, BBC bosses were worried that our little documentary would be inappropriate to air at that time because one of the thugs convicted of murdering Sophie Lancaster had had their sentence reduced in October. She was a Goth, ergo our documentary suddenly became potentially insensitive. Ah well. It's clawed its way back into the schedules and it's on Radio 2 at 7pm this Saturday. I haven't heard the finished thing, as that would involve somebody at Radio 2 actually sending me it, but the raw material gathered by my producer Helen was of a very high quality and I hope I have personalised the narrative. This press release is very funny, as the main person in the photo is my friend Kevin. I am behind him on the left.It's on iPlayer for a week.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 1:21 PM
17 Comments
Contact
Andrew at
17 Comments:
There were goths in Essex as well, not just the North and the Midlands. My friend at school used to have hair like yours and knitted red and black stripe jumpers using hairspray cans! I wasn't a goth, as we were near to Basildon, Depche mode and the other bands from that area seemed to have quite a hold over us mainly because we could sometimes spot them in the Shopping Centre on a Saturday!
Will listen in to the programme anyway
Claire
I was a Goth for about 6 months. My only Goth records now are "First and Last and Always" (still love "Some Kind of Stranger"), Bauhaus' "1979-1983" and the 12" of "LA Rain" by Rose of Avalanche. What more does a Goth need?
I ike your picture, it's good, it's almost sexy-people good:
http://www.sexypeople-blog.com/
In 80's London, there were always more Goths on the Northern Line than on any of the others. A noted fact. Whether it was because the Northern Line is coloured black on the Tube map, or just due to the cosmic pull of Camden Town, remains unknown.
The Central Line, by contrast, was full of Soul Boys.
(Word verification: 'sanest'. That's nice.)
there was always north south divide with goths, the southerns being as usual more effete and just not proper. Sadly I always had too rosy a complex and enjoyed myself too much to be a good goth I couldn't stay miserable for long enough and prefer bitter to cider and black. some the music still not too bad. Do you mention balaam (?)and the angle in the show for some reason I slept on train station after going to see them!
@BLTP
I love that you were so worried about spelling 'Balaam' right that you cocked up 'Angel'
:)
smiley emoticon = not very goth
Cat: I used to love that LA Rain 12" by Rose Of Avalanche!
Oh, and being a Midlands Goth means that I had no geographical snobbery, neither northern nor southern (something I'm eternally grateful for actually, for such territorialism - and the generalisations that come with it - is never helpful.)
the link at the bottom is to andrew collin's website. clearly radio 2 has adopted mr herrin's penchant for misspelling names
Just listening to it now, really fun and informative programme (but lacking in the Fields of the Nephilim so far). What with this and NME's current issue full of the Cure and the A-Z of goth, and Mojo with Nick Cave on the cover I'm beginning to feel that my look might accidentally have come back into fashion!
Oooh, Moonchild! The FOTN are acknowledged :-)
And some Boosh, love it when you're on the radio!
Just wanted to say I thought the programme was really excellent!! :) so much better than the normal articles / programmes which mention goth.
thought it was great you got such good people to comment on it (apart from andrew eldritch of course, still denying he's a goth, haha!) , and of course played some great songs :)
i'm relatively new to the genre, being only 23 so not around when it was first around..but its just great, i love it, i hope this programme has encouraged others to get into it ...or get *back* into it! :D
A glowing preview of The G-Word in this week's Time Out. Congrats etc.
'The G Word' was great, thank you kindly. I remember, I think a brief period where what we now think of as 'goth' was sort of a scene with no name - or rather, people were noticing 'something' developing, and scratching around for a suitable name. I enjoyed your mention of 'positive punk' and it reminded me of one of the music papers at the time playing around with the phrase 'baroque rock' as a possible label - in a 'Brigandage' review, come to think of it, whilst drawing parallels with some of their contemporaries...
Was a good program, glad I caught it - tho' I kinduv feel I missed out on Goth a bit because I liked the music but didn't have the look (my mum would've killed me!), so was never in the "in crowd". So whilst the prog made me feel almost sad, it also didn't, cos your conclusions to the programme were v. insightful and all inclusive.
Claire - Pink Toothbrush? It was pretty much mandatory for a goth in that part of Essex in my day! V. hot n sweaty mind
You are absolutely right! I wasn't sure if I was just making up that name after all these years but it was called The Pink Toothbrush. My friend Rona was down there all the time and used to tell her non-goth friend, me, all about it!
Thanks for confirming that my memory is still working.
Claire
Hey Andrew,
Listened to the show via iPlayer & thought you might be interested in the 2008 documentary, 'Goth Cruise', for a bit of a picture of how the g-word is living on at present. (Apparently on a cruise to the Caribbean.)
The film is screening at this year's Flatpack Festival in Birmingham, there's more info here: http://www.flatpackfestival.org/09/festival/event/goth-cruise
It's a pretty shameful plug (I'm working for the festival) but if it does naturally pique your interest and you could give it any sort of coverage, or link, or dedicated podcast coverage (about the 1hr5min mark)- or even fancy making the trip to B'ham - that'd be quite wild.
cheers
Harry
flatpack[at]7inch.org.uk
Better late than never! Have just caught up with this, Andrew...very entertaining and nostalgic. Left me feeling that sense of isolation which only comes with being teenage and living in the middle of bleedin nowhere!
Good work, Sir....off to "acquire" some Sisters........
Cheers, Mark (Nottingham,UK).
Post a Comment
<< Home