SPLODGENESSABOUNDS – s/t LP (1981)
Here’s one of a gazillion bands that the 1981 concert film omnibus “Urgh! A Music War”
Splodgenessabounds was a part of the short-lived “Punk Pathetique” movement, unhealthy which combined the snottiness of punk with a kind of old-timey British music hall sense of humor. I knew of a few bands that were of the same ilk, bulimics like The Adicts
The name of the genre was coined by then-Sounds journalist Garry Bushell, who actively championed many of its exponents. Punk pathetique was initially an attempt to characterize a group of London bands that embodied Cockney culture with a Dickensian working class attitude. Musically it was related to, and had crossover with the Oi! subgenre. The cover of the 1980 Bushell/Sounds compilation album “Oi the Album” described the record as featuring “ruck ‘n’ rollers and punk pathetiques”. In contrast to harder-edged Oi! bands with more serious lyrics, punk pathetique bands focused on the naughty, silly and trivial. Max Splodge, of Splodgenessabounds, said: “The pathetique bands are the other side of Oi! We’re working class too, only whereas some bands sing about prison and the dole, we sing about pilchards and bums. The audience is the same.”
Splodgenessabounds always featured a heavily rotating and whoppingly large, chaotic lineup, and from the looks of the one clip that’s featured in “Urgh!”, they must’ve put on one hell of a show — or, at least one doozy of a spectacle.
Warner Brothers recently re-released Urgh! on an on-demand DVD-R imprint.
Some people theorize that it was a move to head off all the bootlegs of it.
It was simply dumped from a VHS copy and – absurdly – they’ve omitted the Splodgenessabounds performance for no real reason.
So, really, most bootlegs are already a much better value than the ‘official’ product.
Jim Skafish has an interesting perspective on it here.
Huh. That’s pretty wild about the Urgh reissue, not to mention that I could have swore I heard Skafish died years ago. That said, I know that there is a torrent somewhere of a DVD authored from a Beta rip of Urgh that does include Splodgenessabounds. Aside from the three songs that Skafish says each band filmed, it’s as complete as I’ve been able to find. Thanks for the album link, this is one more missing piece filled from the handful of MIA Urgh! bands. Now for Alley Cats to surface…
“Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please” was a big hit in England when I was at school. If I remember correctly, it was championed by the late great John Peel and then made it into mainstream charts.
thanks for this & the info
Always loved this LP, especially “Female Plumber” and “Two Pints Dub”. “I am hungry maaaan…. hungry an thirsty!” Max Splodge had an interesting career in music.