Saturday Theme Twelve

Another Saturday, another theme- today's theme is from Johnny Boy, a Liverpool duo from the early 00s best known for their epic 2004 single You Are The Generation Who Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve, a Spector- esque, 21st century girl group/ Mary Chain update taking aim at late stage capitalism. 

In 2004 Johnny Boy (Andrew Davitt and Lorraine Hayward) released a CD single called Johnny Boy Theme and on the B-side was this dub version. Starting with a bell being struck and some echo- laden sampled dialogue, suddenly there's lots going on, drums, Lorraine's voice, then a breakdown to bassline and Lorraine, more reverb and FX, a swirl of noise and distant clanging guitar. 

Johnny Boy Theme Dub

I Just Can't Help Believing

A song from 2004 that lives on through music blogs, popping up every now and then. Johnny Boy were a male/female duo from Liverpool. Their 7" single You Are The Generation Who Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve comes in like a 21st century Phil Spector, a shimmer of piano, guitars, bells and sound effects over those crashing, overloaded drums, The Ronettes had they come from Bootle rather than NYC, and singer Lolly's vocals. James Dean Bradfield is on production duties- the other half of Johnny Boy was Davo who was the Manic's guitar tech.

You Are The Generation Who Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve

A critique of consumerism, drug abuse and entitlism as far as I can see.

'Burberry Beamer beakheads
Leaving Adidas sleek mystique reversed
Without a dream or scream between 'em
Believing time does reimburse

So for all we are receiving
There's an evens key to turn
You was the generation that bought more shoes and you get what you deserve'

Hal Blaine

I'm sure other people's blogs will mark the death of drummer Hal Blaine at the age of 90 as well as this one. Hal Blaine was one of the most recorded drummers in history, a man who played on over 6000 singles and 40 number one singles including those by The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, The Mamas And The Papas and The Supremes. He covered for Dennis Wilson on Pet Sounds. But the bottom line is he's the man who did the intro on this...

Be My Baby

The result of a dropped drumstick apparently, a mistake that became one of rock 'n' roll's most instantly identifiable sounds, amplified by Phil Spector's production. The boom-ba-boom-crash sound was borrowed by, to name but two, The Jesus And Mary Chain...

Just Like Honey

And Johnny Boy...

You Are The Generation Who Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve

Coincidentally some of us were discussing the Johnny boy song on Twitter on Sunday night and I discovered that there's a Don Letts directed video for the song I'd never seen before. It's here.

Hal Blaine R.I.P.

You Get What You Deserve

This is one of those singles that pretty much got away but remains alive due to the efforts of middle aged bloggers like me. Johnny Boy were a London/Liverpool two piece working with loops and guitars. They released this single in 2004, single of the month in Jockey Slut (the final print issue which is where I heard about it) and it got to number 50 in the charts. It rides in on Phil Spector's drums and tambourines, adds a sheet of guitars, an anti-consumerist message and ends up chucking in a chantalong finale and a wall of noise. It rushes by and then stops dead. It should have been massive. The follow up album was decent but didn't have anything to compare to this. Yeah yeah.

You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve 

Johnny Boy 'You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve'

7" single from Liverpool's Johnny Boy, from 2003. The album was a bit mixed and didn't set the world on fire, but this is excellent stuff, from it's opening (not Shangri La's, I've been corrected) Ronette's drum beat, to the deadpan vocals and shimmering guitars. Produced by James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers as well, which you wouldn't necessarily guess given it's lack of histrionics and squeeling guitars. It was also, I think, the Single Of The Month in the last edition of the much missed Jockey Slut magazine.

If you ask Mrs Swiss I am the generation who bought more shoes, so I guess I got what I deserved. A mountain of shoes spilling out from under our bed for one thing...

01 You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Dese.wma