Are McCarthy the best political band ever?

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I think they might be. Discuss.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Minutemen are better.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the way McCarthy express the opposite view to what they believe to make it sound ridiculous, but I can appreciate how this might also have worked against them. It's pretty obvious on "God Made the Virus", but maybe not so much on "Now is the Time for an Iron Hand".

Have never heard Minutemen.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

oooooh MarkH you need to rectify that right quick. McCarthy never really did it for me, sadly.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Redskins.

Hoooray. I'm glad to have said that.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Mothers of Invention
Floh De Cologne

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

they said that we wuz trash/ well the name is crass not clash/ you can stuff yer punk credentials/ cuz it's them that takes the cash

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:57 (twenty-two years ago)

MARK, really....not hearing the MINUTEMEN is terrible.

go to the shop NOW and pick up...DOUBLE NICKLES ON THE DIME

(for starters)

― ddb (ddb), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm always surprised how little there is about them on the web.
there's like *nothing* of any use.
i like 'well of loneliness' and 'this nelson rockefeller' best.
as if that means owt.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Well of Loneliness is their most jangly, immediate song. It is also one of my favourites.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

There are some McCarthy mp3s on the Wolfhounds website. Go here and scroll down the page. The Wolfhounds and McCarthy were label-mates and good pals.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 14:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Dead Kennedys
Plastic People of the Universe
Henry Cow

― otto, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The page linked is terrific! "Red Sleeping Beauty" live, a Stereolab "Bonnie and Clyde," and most importantly KENNY PROCESS TEAM: I hope this is all as great as it looks.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

not only Redskins, but also Microdisney

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Monday, 21 June 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i have one of their later albums and it's pretty awful. but during the "i am a wallet" era, YES, one of my favorite bands. "charles windsor," "god made the virus," "frans hals," "well of loneliness" and especially "red sleeping beauty" are all sublimely lovely songs (and the first minute of "rsb" is possibly my single favorite minute in all of pop). wolfhounds are good too, but i could never find any of their albums over here. c86 was a major obsession for me during the summer of 2001.

and yes, one of the only bands who ever did agitprop in a smart, non-hectoring way. their lyrics/stance are obviously pretty extreme, but the fey delivery and jangly prettiness make it palatable for me - if only more 'political' bands tried that!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 21 June 2004 05:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Never been a better political album than U2's War or secondarily, Gang Of Four's Entertainment I don't think, but McCarthy have a big place in my heart.

Someone here recently mentioned remembering the House Of Love as being "the great white hope" i.e. the act that was supposed to fill the void of the recently-broken-up Smiths. I don't remember HoL that way at all. Maybe I just didn't read enough press about them at the time. Anyway, the only time *I* ever remember thinking to myself "this is the new Smiths" was when I heard McCarthy's Well of Loneliness EP. All songs on it were absolutely brilliant and very well produced and I was hopeful. And yet they never matched this EP again in their career. Sad, really.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 21 June 2004 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

And yet they never matched this EP again in their career

bosh flimshaw. the "keep an open mind or else" 7" was a cracker! the b-side was tops too

― are 'friends' electricsound? (electricsound), Monday, 21 June 2004 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

What J.D. said!!

Stuff like "The Enemy Is At Home" and "Red Sleeping Beauty" moves me at least as much as a bookshelf of Socialist Worker back-issues! :P

One gets the impression Malcolm Eden could talk his way through this stuff in person too if given a chance (on par with Robert Wyatt, I suspect). Were the Herzfeld records up to much?

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:03 (twenty-one years ago)

many great songs, but man did they get to be grating when you tried to listen to a whole album. epic in small doses. at their best (someone worse off, antinature, the way of the world, governing takes brains) they could face off with the smiths and jangle them to a draw.

it's also interesting to listen to "i'm not a patriot but..." and think about iraq. but the lyrics to "we are all born creeps" annoy me... selfishness may be genetic, but so is altruism and cooperation.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:11 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
The Herzfeld single I played a lot, but by the time of the (mini) album the novelty had worn off...ME didn't have the tunes to make even a mini album. I haven't played it in 10 years...

― Canada Briggs (Canada Briggs), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i might like them better than the smiths, i just realized. is there a lyrics site for them anywhere?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:37 (twenty-one years ago)

this is a nice one i just came across.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:39 (twenty-one years ago)

many thanks!!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 21 June 2004 06:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Minutemen's Double Nickels On a Dime might be interesting to take a listen to now.

I remember being in a record shop a long time ago and the guy working there was someone I knew from the radio station and I asked him what was playing because it was so damn familiar to me and it was that Minutemen record. He seemed SO offended that I hadn't been able to identify it that I guess it turned me off it altogether.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 21 June 2004 08:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it just lyrical content that makes a band "political"? I guess McCarthy take the cake there, from what I remember hearing, well, besides Crass of course. But overall, while the lyrics are not overwhelmingly political on every track, I'll pick the aforementioned Minutemen, Mothers, and Dead Kennedys musically over McCarthy any day. And throw in my own mention - Fugazi, who I'll pick over any band mentioned on this thread so far.

― Dr. Annabel Lies (Michael Kelly), Monday, 21 June 2004 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

jd bradfield votes 'i am a wallet' his fave
uk album of all time in
THE OBSERVER special edition yesterday.

― piscesboy, Monday, 21 June 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I noticed that. He put "There Are 8 Million Stories" (June Brides) and "Rigour" (Big Flame) in there too, bless his heart.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 21 June 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

AAAAAAAAH! I'M PLAYING THE VINYL OF "I AM A WALLET" FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A BILLION YEARS!!! "THE INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS TRAFFIC" - a song about MUSIC no less - was my favourite from this.

God bless McCarthy. I have the original vinyl of their first couple of 12"es!!!!

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

"up, up and away, on the beautiful tune..."

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, the first three McCarthy 12"es I have them. Because I kept them. I never let them go. And I'm a happy camper.

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

THIS IS THE WELL OF LONELINESS THEY ARE MANY WE ARE FEW THERE'S NOT MUCH THAT WE CAN DO IN A WORLD OF NO HOPING THERE'S NO POINT IN HOPING...

WAS THAT THE BEST FUCKING RECORD RELEASED ON A 12" EP OR WHAT???

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

Lost to the ipod generation? Is McCarthy lost on the ipod generation? Surely god can't be so cruel.

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

LOOK

I need to know if people know who McCarthy are. Please help me. Tell me you know who this band are, what they sound like.

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

I have a McCarthy CD, with a very long name (something like Banking, Violence and the Inner Something Today)...they are too C86 for me...I prefer Fatima Mansions...now there was a great political band...

― hank (hank s), Sunday, 21 January 2007 23:18 (nineteen years ago)

They were only C86 for a short time. They were more like the Smiths at first and then ended up as Stereolab. "Well Of Lonlieness" is their most C86 moment that they just passed through on the way.

Anyway, I know them well, and like them. Got a few 7 inches, two albums (the first and the 4th, I think) and the 12" of This Nelson Rockerfeller which is very, very good. It has re-recorded, kind of electronic-esque versions of some older songs on it and it's my favourite one of theirs. Also saw them live, very, very late one Sunday night in Glasgow, but I can't really remember it very well.

― everything (everything), Monday, 22 January 2007 04:51 (nineteen years ago)

i know nothing about this band, but reading this thread makes me want to check them out.

― Emily Bjurnhjam (Emily Bjurnhjam), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, I used to have "Red Sleeping Beauty" on a mixtape an ex made for me in the late 80s. I loved that song! I'm gonna add it to my last.fm radio list.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:17 (nineteen years ago)

it's a shame malcolm eden's post-mccarthy work was such a dismal failure (musically and probably commercially). he was an excellent lyricist.

― jimbo (electricsound), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

http://people.umass.edu/mwsances/mccarthy/

― jimbo (electricsound), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:27 (nineteen years ago)

I love the lyrics to "Should the Bible be Banned". Jim you got any other Mccarthy stuff at all?

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:32 (nineteen years ago)

i have almost all of it! :)

― jimbo (electricsound), Monday, 22 January 2007 05:37 (nineteen years ago)

'I am a wallet' is about to be released on CD with extra tracks (Cherry Red, I think).

I used to have their first three-track seven inch (wraparound sleeve in a plastic bag, hand-coloured labels etc). I can't remember the name of the a-side, but the second b-side was the marvellous 'Something Wrong Somewhere'

― b ham (b ham), Monday, 22 January 2007 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

'in purgatory' was the a-side. i had it too, a long time ago, i didn't dig it much at the time..

― jimbo (electricsound), Monday, 22 January 2007 09:09 (nineteen years ago)

Would it be too much to ask you to piff me a coupla mp3s? Or is your stuff all on vinyl?

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 22 January 2007 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

too easy. mongrels thread, one hour

― jimbo (electricsound), Monday, 22 January 2007 10:22 (nineteen years ago)

You magnificent bastard.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 22 January 2007 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

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