16 The wall in the head
-
Jamie Taylor
Abstract
This chapter opens with the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe in a residential Sheffield street and details how, in grim surroundings, The Human League Mk II and Heaven work alternate day and night shifts at Monumental Studios to create the work that will lift them from the launch pad. Jarvis Cocker tells the story of Pulp’s visit to Ken’s studio in 1981 and how the tape he made for the teenage band propelled them to local fame on the front of the Sheffield Star and national acclaim on John Peel’s Radio One show. The white heat of fame and fervour that accompanies the release of Dare, Penthouse and Pavement and The Lexicon of Love is described, as is the cold collateral damage, specifically the death of Clock DVA’s Judd Turner from an overdose in September 1981. The contrast between the romantic dreams of escape and the stifled confines of Sheffield are depicted in Disco John’s stories of his Tropical Heatwave night at Penny’s nightclub.
Abstract
This chapter opens with the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe in a residential Sheffield street and details how, in grim surroundings, The Human League Mk II and Heaven work alternate day and night shifts at Monumental Studios to create the work that will lift them from the launch pad. Jarvis Cocker tells the story of Pulp’s visit to Ken’s studio in 1981 and how the tape he made for the teenage band propelled them to local fame on the front of the Sheffield Star and national acclaim on John Peel’s Radio One show. The white heat of fame and fervour that accompanies the release of Dare, Penthouse and Pavement and The Lexicon of Love is described, as is the cold collateral damage, specifically the death of Clock DVA’s Judd Turner from an overdose in September 1981. The contrast between the romantic dreams of escape and the stifled confines of Sheffield are depicted in Disco John’s stories of his Tropical Heatwave night at Penny’s nightclub.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Epigraph v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- 1 Death of a futurist 1
- 2 Ballifield year zero 13
- 3 The analogue trace 28
- 4 Untrained/undaunted 40
- 5 The décor of tomorrow’s hell 53
- 6 War chants 60
- 7 This is tomorrow 72
- 8 Knock three times and ask for Big Jake 86
- 9 Musical Vomit 110
- 10 Adolphus rising 122
- 11 New ruins 141
- 12 No illegal connections 154
- 13 Fast products 164
- 14 Notes from a condemned terrace 189
- 15 Dreams of leaving 213
- 16 The wall in the head 232
- 17 Buried dreams 251
- Acknowledgements 268
- List of illustrations 270
- Notes 272
- Index 283
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Epigraph v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- 1 Death of a futurist 1
- 2 Ballifield year zero 13
- 3 The analogue trace 28
- 4 Untrained/undaunted 40
- 5 The décor of tomorrow’s hell 53
- 6 War chants 60
- 7 This is tomorrow 72
- 8 Knock three times and ask for Big Jake 86
- 9 Musical Vomit 110
- 10 Adolphus rising 122
- 11 New ruins 141
- 12 No illegal connections 154
- 13 Fast products 164
- 14 Notes from a condemned terrace 189
- 15 Dreams of leaving 213
- 16 The wall in the head 232
- 17 Buried dreams 251
- Acknowledgements 268
- List of illustrations 270
- Notes 272
- Index 283
