- Play Dead sessions: 1982-84

As you can see, Goths were very cool

Play Dead were an English Goth rock group from Oxford that emerged from English punk scene in the early '80s. Though the band identified with other Goth groups, they felt they didn't really belong under the 'Goth' label. The band made three studio albums for a few different small labels before forming their own label, 'Tanz', for their final album, Company Of Justice, which appeared in 1985.

The original lineup was Rob Hickson (vocals), Pete Waddleton (bass), Mark "Wiff" Smith (drums), and Re-Vox (guitar). In July 1981, Re-Vox was replaced by Steven Green. The band recorded 3 Peel sessions between 1982 and 1984.

28th January, 1982

23rd June, 1983

18th January, 1984

Cheers to Martin Wheatley for these.

- Embarassing Music Fads from my Youth #1

As much as it pains me to admit it, I own 2 (two) Fields of the Nephilim albums: the 1987 debut 'Dawnrazor' and the classic (!) 1988 follow up 'The Nephilim'. Neither have graced my cassette player in over 15 years I have to say, by way of redemption. To be fair, lead singer Carl McCoy had one hell of a Goth voice, reight up there with Peel favourite Andrew Eldritch. I feel I should stop writing right now, as I doubt I have any credibility left with you guys. This is where I'd add an embarassed smiley if the notion of smilies wasn't so bloody crap.

Pierluigi Collina:The Sisters of Mercy Years

The pinnacle of my love for this bunch of cretins, once referred to by the NME as 'the Monkees' of Goth, came with the release of the two singles 'Moonchild' and 'Psychonaut Liberator III'.

To discover how truly pants they were, give this a listen:

Here are some of the gushing tributes that accompany the youtube video:

'From one of the best albums of all time. Completely original and ethereal descriptions of worlds forever lost' notes AlexPxr8. evan711heaven continues in a similar vain: 'its all by the power of the Lord either by his power or that allowed under satan's authority. All those creatures of old found from after they became extinct after the flood of noah and shortly after those who hunted man have been increasingly found not just as beasts, but as giants of men who hunted the various tribes of israel. lets pray for help and guidance.' Another load of bollocks is contributed by my9thtime, who witters, 'I believe a homunculus is a human before he is born. And i believe that Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard tried to create a moonchild at some point.'

In my defence, I was heavily into the films of Sergio Leone at the time. Honest.