| Author | Message | ||
     skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1763 Registered: 10-2008 |
Listening to The Velvet Underground album today I thought to myself what if Nico had never joined the group and Lou Reed had sung all the songs? Would they still be considered such an influential band? I have my doubts because the contrast between Lou and Nico's vocals turned it into one of the greatest albums ever made And then I thought what if Ian Curtis hadn't commited suicide? Would Joy Division still be held in such high regard if by the 5th album they had turned into The Mission or Sisters of Mercy or somebody equally dreadful? Also we wouldnt have got the joys of New Order. What if Johnny Marr hadn't knocked on Morrisseys door that day? Marr would definitely have went on to have a career in music, but would Morrissey? What if Keith Richards hadnt spotted Mick Jagger carrying that Muddy Waters album under his arm that day in Dartford train station? I guess it goes to show that great bands can just exist out of a happy accident. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2407 Registered: 10-2004 |
As for the "what if" scenario involving Joy Division if Curtis hadn't offed himself, I have a feeling they might have ventured into more electronic territory anyway. But then of course we wouldn't have had Barney's voice, which I quite like, and which worked very well over New Order's music. It probably would've been different, but given the people involved, they at least wouldn't have turned into some dreadful Sisters of Mercy type band. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 567 Registered: 10-2006 |
My favourite personal what if is, what if Alan Rankine, instead of moving away from our secondary school and the front-of-class desk we shared, had stayed on long enough to recognise that my interesting ability with words, haunting sexual charisma and odd drone of a voice was just what he was looking for in someone to set up a group with… | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1764 Registered: 10-2008 |
Stuart, sounds like a happy accident for Alan:-) Are you still in touch with him, often wonder what he's doing now? | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 568 Registered: 10-2006 |
No, he vanished in the middle of a year, and the next time I saw him was probably on TOTP! I just remember him as a shy, quiet lad and a pretty decent footballer. He did become a running class joke in absentia, however, since for some reason his name remained on the class register, and at every roll call some bright spark had to come up with the weirdest possible reason for Alan's non-attendance. Got the day off to a good start anyway. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2409 Registered: 10-2004 |
That's funny! Actually, a great what if would be if Billy and Alan hadn't split and stuck together to make at least one more album. Who knows if the pair even had another album in them? But I'd sure as hell bet on it being better than Perhaps. Personally, I wish that Billy had dropped the Associates moniker because it just wasn't the Associates anymore without Rankine. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 719 Registered: 04-2005 |
Stuart, You from Linlithgow then ? Don't know if I've written about it before on this board, but I was the night manager in the hotel that the Associates were booked into for a week before their Edinburgh festival dates. It was a memorable experience for many reasons, not least having Martha Ladly (her of the Muffins!) open her bedroom door wearing just a towel being, but also for seeing a band disintegrate before your very eyes. I remember one of the hotel porters asking me who these people in the bar were. I replied that they were a famous group and would be playing just along the road a couple of nights later in the Assembly Rooms. "Given the arguments I've been hearing I very much doubt it" was his reply. And he was correct. The dates were cancelled due to Billy having a "throat problem". Hmmm.... Alan Rankine used to book in at the hotel for months afterwards and he was a nice friendly guy. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 571 Registered: 10-2006 |
Nope, Dundee. Well, Broughty Ferry actually. Not exactly a hotbed of music, although Richard Ross, who later went on to perpetrate Deacon Blue, was at primary school with me. I remember buying the NME when I was in Stockholm and there was this pretentious looking twat on the cover and I glanced at the text and damn me if it wasn't Richard, who at school had been famous mainly for his fascinating warts. A nearby record shop turned out to have "Dignity", which was a pretty good song. Perhaps the only one, unfortunately. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 721 Registered: 04-2005 |
Stuart, Alan Rankine must have moved to Linlithgow from Broughty Ferry, 'cause I have friends that knew him from their schooldays in the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. My sister went out (briefly) with Jim Prime from Deacon Blue...not anything to be particularly proud of... |