90s Music Monday

nobody@vox.com(Simon Wistow) — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:58:06 -0700

You know, I almost forgot today was monday. Again.

I was convinced that for part of this video Gaz wore an Ushanka

which would have neatly segued into mentioning Friday night's work related tomfoolery but that story's kind of redundant now which sort of leaves me at a narratorial dead end.

"Shut up" you might be saying, about now, "Shut up, shutup, SHUT UP, FOR THE LOVE OF $GOD BE QUIET. Why do I even read this stuff? What video? Why the hell are you prattling on about Russian head gear? Why must you always prattle on incessantly like some sort of verbally fecund half-wit?" you might add, sagely, before sobbing wildly to yourself whilst beating me with the nearest cudgelesque object to hand.

I was referring to this video.

Alright - Supergrass

Named after a slang term coined in the 70s by the British press to describe underworld informants who testified against their former accomplices in high-profile trials at the time which just goes to show the obscurity of some British slang. A grass is East End slang for someone who informs to the police, possibly from rhyming slang of "A grass in the park" which rhymes with nark which comes from copper's nark, also meaning an informer. Copper came about because of the old English verb to cop meaning to grab (hence cop an eyeful or cop a feel - English policemen were also nicknamed Bobbies in reference to Sir Robert Peel who advocated the creation of the Metropolitan Police Force in 1828). Nark probably comes from the Indo-European/Romany work nak meaning nose.

Is it any wonder we're kind of a strange country?

Oh dear, I appear to have digressed again.

The video for Alright was shot in the Welsh town of Portmeirion - the somewhat odd Italianate resort village in Gwynned constructed by Sir Clough William-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 which is most famous for being The Village in surreal, counterculture 60s spy drama The Prisoner - a program with a plot so convoluted it makes Lost look like a waterproofed child's book named "Kevin and Mary sit very still on a patch of grass for 5 uneventful pages". I have no idea why they shot the video there but it does explain the references to the Big White Balloon and the Penny Farthing.

Apparently, on seeing the video, Steven Spielberg attempted to get the band to star in a Monkees style zany-band-at-large comedy series.

I still haven't decided if this means that Spielberg really gets it or really doesn't.

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90s Music Monday