Who Were Xtc's Arch Rival Band?, particularly in the 80s Options

[donavan]

If we'd have continued touring we may well have fallen apart one album or so after SETTLEMENT. I was burned out.

In an alternate universe would we have continued touring and gone on to do the U2 stadium thing,I don't think so as none of us had the big showoff gene a la Bono,Sting,Jagger etc.

I may add Talking Heads to the rival list,but they were American,and they came from New York which were seen as 'cool'. We would NEVER be seen as cool,especially by the English,simply because of the Swindon connection. Damned by our association with England's 'joke' town.

I think you may be over playing the Swindon thing here Andy. I'm from Manchester and I never once heard anyone who liked or loathed you mention the Swindon thing. OK the music press did but again I read more favourable than negative things about Xtc. To be honest the person who banged on the most about Swindon was you. I really don't think anyone gave a monkeys about where you came from. And I think you would never be seen as cool because you are not cool. And I mean that in a nice way. If there is a joke town in England then it's my neighbours, Liverpool. But scousers use that to their advantage. So I really don't think Swindon had anything to do with it. Anyway coming from Swindon didn't do Meat Beat Manifesto, Supertramp, Gilbert O'Sullivan or Justin Hayward any harm. Did it?

[Jeff Truzzi]

I've read about a "Manchester Sound" from both the 60s & the 90s, the city being otherwise described as "an industrial town."
Virtually any British article mentioning Swindon does so in a snarky derivative way, whether it's about XTC or not.
Example: "The UK version of 'The Office' is set in Swindon."

So, are there no rock bands from Slough?
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[geordiegav]

Actually Andy I sort of agree with Don,except we think of Sunderland as the joke town up here...Nobody ever bats an eyelash at Swindon .
I'd say you're a cooler guy than you give yourself credit for,great taste and knowledge of music,art,cinema and eccentric dress sense always looking the dandy in pics and on stage from XTC days.... Now Colin and Daves dress sense Mmmmmm
But the sort of media cool you maybe didn't get wasn't worth shit anyway it's the opposite of the music you make....meaningless,shallow, worthless nonsense.....XTC were just too much fun to be standing in the rain on icy rusty bridges wearing gaberdine coats!
Maybe Swindon could be the joke town to Bristol or Bath but it's nothing more than tribal humour that makes our tiny island so charming to outsiders....London has the arrogance of all capitals...I'll guarantee we Geordies get more stereotyping shit than Swindonians but frankly you wouldn't catch me leaving the North-East for the over priced,over crowded,over rated streets of London...I need the north sea and it's coast Man..Swindon its just another south-western working town isn't it? Like Don you're the only one I've ever heard diss it! Ha
You must like it you've lived there all your adult life ....Ever thought of moving to NYC with yor lass and you could be Andy 'cool as fuck' Partridge !

[Nowhereman437]

If we'd have continued touring we may well have fallen apart one album or so after SETTLEMENT. I was burned out.
We would NEVER be seen as cool,

You're either being disingenuous or your out of touch with reality! Most people in the country are estate agents or shop assistants or work for fuckn' BT...you're are/were in aband that made brilliant records relating your relative 'uncoolness' to the Talking heads and coming to the conclusion you weren't cool is bizzare. To most people being in a band like XTC is very cool esp. as you haven't a'la Page, McCartney, John, Jagger gone and licked the cunt of the glorious granny at her palace on the mall. ha ha ha. Byrne worked too hard at being cool a/w. He reeked of it and he had a weird horrible singing voice. The only thing about you that wasn't cool was the whole 'stagefrigtht' thing and I only say that in contrast to say isrealies who've got to do National service..y'know...I love you man but FFS it's just a stage...get out there and sing yer songs and stop pussying about like a pussy!

[donavan]

I don't think having a breakdown is pussying about like a pussy!
It's a tad more complex than that.

Jeff, Swindon was a massive Railway town, hence all the railway links in XTc's music.

[MXYZPTLK]

...I live in Bristol and unfortunately in the South West of England, Swindon does get a bit of a raw deal & suffers in comparison to the nearby cities of Oxford, Bath & Bristol. I grew up in Essex during the 80's & we were a national joke in the media, so I can appreciate how it feels being the brunt of this kind of negative consensus...

There's nothing wrong with Swindon, it's just not as architecturally attractive as the nearby cities....

[donavan]

Q. Why do birds fly upside down over Swindon.

A. Because there's nothing worth shitting on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


And on that bombshell I'm going to bed. Goodnight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Jeff Truzzi]

Thanks, Don - and goodnight! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

A medical 'reality check' for Nowhereman:
Yelling "Don't be a pussy" ISN'T an effective treatment for depression or exhaustion.
Careful judging those whose shoes you can't walk in.

"People think pop stars have this marvelous life - but in reality, it's hell."
- George Martin, The Beatles Anthology

This post has been edited by Jeff Truzzi: Nov 21 2011, 12:40 AM

[Bimble]

You're either being disingenuous or your out of touch with reality! Most people in the country are estate agents or shop assistants or work for fuckn' BT...you're are/were in aband that made brilliant records relating your relative 'uncoolness' to the Talking heads and coming to the conclusion you weren't cool is bizzare. To most people being in a band like XTC is very cool esp. as you haven't a'la Page, McCartney, John, Jagger gone and licked the cunt of the glorious granny at her palace on the mall. ha ha ha. Byrne worked too hard at being cool a/w. He reeked of it and he had a weird horrible singing voice. The only thing about you that wasn't cool was the whole 'stagefrigtht' thing and I only say that in contrast to say isrealies who've got to do National service..y'know...I love you man but FFS it's just a stage...get out there and sing yer songs and stop pussying about like a pussy!

Nice. Thoughtful, considered and tasteful in all respects.

[Nowhereman437]

Thanks, Don - and goodnight! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

A medical 'reality check' for Nowhereman:
Yelling "Don't be a pussy" ISN'T an effective treatment for depression or exhaustion.
Careful judging those whose shoes you can't walk in.

"People think pop stars have this marvelous life - but in reality, it's hell."
- George Martin, The Beatles Anthology

No one who's managed to achieve what Andy has achieved has got serious depression or any kind of serious mental health problems or even any kind of serious problems at all for that matter. That's a medical reality check for you Jeff. At least Andy had his music and his wife and girlfriend and kids who are both seem happy and healthy people and his toy soldiers of course. I wouldn't have put that about him being a pussy if I was sober but that's what I think and always have about the whole stage fright thing but I've said it now so that's that. I'm not going to apolgize or grovel. As far as I'm concerned Andy has had a very very good life and is a very very lucky person so that's why I don't have any sympathy for him, or anyone else, just 'cause his life hasn't been one long blissful dream come true.

This post has been edited by Nowhereman437: Nov 21 2011, 09:44 AM

[Andy Partridge]

Please don't presume to tell me what problems I've had or haven't had,and don't imagine you have any inkling as to what my life is like.You are a very uninformed person.

Do you think Laurence Olivier was a pussy when he said he was quitting stage work at the peak of his career,or Donny Osmond,or Donald Fagen,or Brian Wilson,or Glenn Gould,or Andrea Boccelli,or Kate Bush,or soprano Renee Fleming,or Thomas Jefferson,or Frederic Chopin,or Vladimir Horowitz,or Percy Grainger,or Barbra Streisand,or Carly Simon. I'll tell you what Nowhereman,I'll make it even easier for you......

Abraham Lincoln
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Charles Schultz
Isaac Asimov
John Mellencamp
Lucille Ball
Sigmund Freud

All of the above have suffered from stage fright from 50 to 100%,are they all 'pussies' ?

You sir have stepped over a line

[Mr Tein]

Nowhereman. Can I suggest you beg, borrow or steal the book "A Life Too Short – The Tragedy of Robert Enke ". Its about the german Goalkeeper, who played for barcalona and was the german international goalkeeper, was being seleceted as the number 1 Goalkeeper for the world cup. He had a beatiful wife and had just adopted a child who he adored. He committed suicide. You may understand better. Then re read your statement above. In mental health terms you just used the equivalent of the "N" word. Just cant let that pass I am afraid.

[MarmaladeArmy]

Nowhereman - incredibly tasteless post, drunk or not. As a fella who has dealt with anxiety issues my whole life I take a burn to your "pussy" characterization. For the anxiety types sometimes just getting out of the house is a herculean task that a "non-pussy" type takes for granted. You have no idea what you are talking about.

[Nowhereman437]

Please don't presume to tell me what problems I've had or haven't had,and don't imagine you have any inkling as to what my life is like.You are a very uninformed person.

Do you think Laurence Olivier was a pussy when he said he was quitting stage work at the peak of his career,or Donny Osmond,or Donald Fagen,or Brian Wilson,or Glenn Gould,or Andrea Boccelli,or Kate Bush,or soprano Renee Fleming,or Thomas Jefferson,or Frederic Chopin,or Vladimir Horowitz,or Percy Grainger,or Barbra Streisand,or Carly Simon. I'll tell you what Nowhereman,I'll make it even easier for you......

Abraham Lincoln
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Charles Schultz
Isaac Asimov
John Mellencamp
Lucille Ball
Sigmund Freud

All of the above have suffered from stage fright from 50 to 100%,are they all 'pussies' ?

You sir have stepped over a line

You're asking me to care about those peoples problems? Fuck off! No one who can accomplsh what they've accomplished can possibly have serious emotinal and mental health problems. They , like you,all, did the one thing people with serious mental health problems can't do...they fuckin' coped! You can't say you can cope with one untaxing situation such as writing and perfming songs in a studio but then suddenly can't cope doing the exactly the same thing in front of people. You might not have liked it but that's all it was. How on earth did you cope in the studio? Did somone have a gun to your head making you do it? How on earth did you manage to raise children or did you spend the past 30 yrs. in the corner while your wife brought them up? See. You're a normal healthy person and normal healthy people should just get on with things in untaxing siutations and i'm talking about in contrast to someone like having to be an Isrealie soldier doing National service. How would you have coped with that? They don't get the chance to just walk off stage and ask Palestinans nicely to not wipe their country off the face of the earth.

[Suzi]

Nowhereman.....

You have the ignorant and apathetic rantings of a person who subscribes to Scientology (IMG:style_emoticons/default/angry.gif)

What colour is the sky in your world because it isn't the same as the rest of ours and I suggest you quit while you're ahead.

I've read some ridiculous things on here in my day but this takes the cake. Now you're taking shots and Andy's parenting and his wife ????

Unbelievable (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Jeff Truzzi]

I don't care that Nowhereman doesn't care about anyone except himself, or obviously lacks empathy and intelligence.
I DO care that he just told the host of this site - the front man of the band he supposedly likes, Andy Partridge - to fuck off.
He certainly named himself aptly.

Well Nowhereman, fuck you AND your fuckin' ignorant bullshit opinions.
But let me know if you ever come to San Diego, so I can personally beat the living fucking shit out of you.

[Jeff Truzzi]

You see, I have my own issues - anger management obviously being one.
But I'm not in denial, like Nowhereman is about his.

[Nowhereman437]

N You may understand better.

His daughter died. That's got nothing to do with what I'm talking about which is people, basically normal healthy people who can cope and acheive things like someone like Andy can and has in some untaxing, or reltavely untaxing, situations but not in other relatively untaxing situation. Depression and anxiety in and of themselves in most people outside of major heavy situations like a child dying or something isn't a big deal and most people are under an obligation to cope with it and as is obviously the case with Andy he has been able to cope when he stopped touring he did more than cope...he acheived!!!! People with serious mental health problems just can't cope.Period.EVer! They just can't cope. Anyone who does cope with things isn't suffering from a serious mental health problem if they were they couldn't cope could they? There's only two kinds of serious mental illness. Ones that people can't cope with in any circumstances and non-existant ones! Andy Partridge is not and never was when he walked off stage mentally ill therefore he doesn't deserve any compassion esp. as he ended up being able to put a roof of his head and raise a family while avoiding doing the thing that stressed him out. Jeez! For all I know when he stopped touring he led quite a happy life happier than most other people for all we know or has he spent the last 30 yrs wishing he'd been a bricklayer? or maybe he wishes he'd been born with Malaria and died at the age of 3 months like some people do...same goes for all those people Andy listed. Poor ol lucille ball if only she'd been born with polio or had died in a car crash so she didn't have to deal with stagefright. The poor thing.

[Nowhereman437]

Nowhereman - incredibly tasteless post, drunk or not. As a fella who has dealt with anxiety issues my whole life I take a burn to your "pussy" characterization. For the anxiety types sometimes just getting out of the house is a herculean task that a "non-pussy" type takes for granted. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Good luck getting sympathy with that. I'm sure most people are just dying to help you.

[Jeff Truzzi]

There's a mental illness term for the behavior Nowhereman is displaying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy