Music Banter - View Single Post - Most influential 80s alternative rock band?

RJDG14 · 07-19-2016, 08:59 PM

There was this Welsh band called Young Marble Giants in the late 1970s who Cobain claimed he was a fan of. They have a unique sound, different to any other British band that I can think of from that era. It basically consists of quietly played guitar/bass and a keyboard, with female vocals.

For some reason, most English and Scottish bands from the 1980s had a common sound - jangly guitars, drums with a small amount of reverb, either northern or cockney vocals (excluding the Scottish bands) etc, but then a lot of Welsh and Irish groups of this era sounded different. Young Marble Giants (Welsh) had their own sound, while U2 (Irish) sound a little like a prototype Coldplay, and My Bloody Valentine (also Irish) seem to have more in common with Dinosaur Jr (USA) than their English counterparts Ride and Catherine Wheel. Were there any English bands of the 1980s that you would say meet all of the below criteria:
*Regularly used either distorted or acoustic guitar
*Did not use noticeable reverb on drums
*Did not sing in an overtly English accent (Northern/Cockney)
*Did not use a fretless bass

So I mean bands which had a sound similar to Dinosaur Jr, MBV, Husker Du, or even Mission of Burma and Young Marble Giants. Odd songs by The Wonder Stuff (1988/9) are heading that way, as are some Levellers demos (1989). Otherwise I haven't found anything.

07-19-2016, 08:59 PM	#18 (permalink)
RJDG14 Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 157	There was this Welsh band called Young Marble Giants in the late 1970s who Cobain claimed he was a fan of. They have a unique sound, different to any other British band that I can think of from that era. It basically consists of quietly played guitar/bass and a keyboard, with female vocals. For some reason, most English and Scottish bands from the 1980s had a common sound - jangly guitars, drums with a small amount of reverb, either northern or cockney vocals (excluding the Scottish bands) etc, but then a lot of Welsh and Irish groups of this era sounded different. Young Marble Giants (Welsh) had their own sound, while U2 (Irish) sound a little like a prototype Coldplay, and My Bloody Valentine (also Irish) seem to have more in common with Dinosaur Jr (USA) than their English counterparts Ride and Catherine Wheel. Were there any English bands of the 1980s that you would say meet all of the below criteria: Regularly used either distorted or acoustic guitar Did not use noticeable reverb on drums Did not sing in an overtly English accent (Northern/Cockney) Did not use a fretless bass So I mean bands which had a sound similar to Dinosaur Jr, MBV, Husker Du, or even Mission of Burma and Young Marble Giants. Odd songs by The Wonder Stuff (1988/9) are heading that way, as are some Levellers demos (1989). Otherwise I haven't found anything.