 |
| A much-thumbed copy of The Bumper Book of Yeah Yeah Noh. |
Yeah Yeah Noh (or "Tick Tick Cross", as they sometimes styled themselves) were a group of ex-students from Leicester, active between 1984 and 1986, who wanted to "put the Delia into psychedelia". Their peculiar brand of English Midlands home-made psychedelia has proved to be a stayer in this house, at least. Although, with less than 1,700 listeners on Last fm, they are nowhere near as popular as they should have been. Having said that, they did intimate during their lifetime that they would be recognised as one of the all-time great cult bands "in twenty-five years time" (I quote from memory, so that may not be strictly accurate). I think that less than 1,700 listeners counts as a cult, so in that respect, they have been successful.
So, now that a quarter of a century has passed since the release of their truly fab Cutting The Heavenly Lawn... LP, I hereby declare that they are indeed one of the all-time great cult bands. Hands up for happiness if you agree!
But the point of the Indiepop Mansions series is to find out where my favourite bands of the Eighties lived whilst they were recording their happening sounds. So, where did Yeah Yeah Noh reside? Let's take a look:
View Larger Map
A terraced street in Leicester's northern quarter is the answer. They lived just a few doors down from a Post Office - very handy for posting out all their records, Bumper Books (only 50p!) and Printhead fanzines. Opposite the Post Office is a florist, specialising in funerals. Various restaurants and newsagents are just around the corner on the main road to Leicestershire's northern towns.
All-in-all, it reminds me very much of Portsmouth, my home city. Tightly-packed housing, slightly down-at-heel shops; a proper, honest, hard-working area. A good place to live for these Paul Weller-hating champions of the every day and ordinary.
Who will be the next Indiepop Mansion dwellers? Tune in soon to find out!
All-in-all, it reminds me very much of Portsmouth, my home city. Tightly-packed housing, slightly down-at-heel shops; a proper, honest, hard-working area. A good place to live for these Paul Weller-hating champions of the every day and ordinary.
Who will be the next Indiepop Mansion dwellers? Tune in soon to find out!
You and Yeah Yeah Noh, huh?
ReplyDeleteGreetings from frozen Minnesota.
Keep up the good work, although I'll be keeping an eye on those photoshop skills...
Excellent work! Did visitors to Yeah Yeah Noh Towers ring the front doorbell, I wonder - or were they forever knocking at the tradesman's entrance?
ReplyDeleteLemon sprinkles.
And greetings from windy England, where I'm delaying the replacement of some shed roof felting by replying to these comments!
ReplyDeleteI know, I know, I'm like a record that's got stuck in the groove with Yeah Yeah Noh, aren't I? I'll maintain until someone else agrees with me that they are one of the top ten British independent bands ever. Thoughtful, tuneful (in their own wonky way), biting those who deserved to be bitten. Excellent!
I'm not sure if there is another entrance to their old house! I suppose there may be an alleyway behind the back gardens, but this is probably overflowing with stolen bicycles and old fridges, as is usually the way with these things!
Anyway, thanks for commenting...nice to hear from you both!
Fascinating! I found your blog when I searched to see if anyone else had Yeah Yeah Noh in their musical interests, so it was a nice surprise to find a write-up on them as well! I got the Leicester Square compilation a few years ago and have loved them ever since. I've been keeping an eye out to get more of their tracks on vinyl as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also saw The Bats in your music list, another one of my favourites! Good taste.
Thanks for the kind comment Dara. I mostly write this blog to entertain myself and a few friends. It's gratifying that you've stumbled across this page and enjoyed it. Everyting Yeah Yeah Noh ever did is worth having - they rarely wasted a moment of their time on vinyl, so good luck finding some.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to discover where The Bats lived in the 1980s, but I don't own any of their early singles, unfortunately! I'll do another one of these articles soon - it might be Razorcuts, Pale Saints or The Haywains, although Bogshed are a strong possibility...