Half Man Half Biscuit
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"Andy Kershaw: Can you make a living being Half Man Half Biscuit?" |
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Half Man Half Biscuit are a folk band, with a big smattering of parody thrown in, from Birkenhead near Liverpool. Active since 1986, they have released 12 albums and a number of singles / EPs.
They have a pretty large cult following, but saying which of their songs is most famous is difficult, although the only one to chart is Joy Division Oven Gloves, which reached #56 after a Facebook campaign.
Legendary DJ John Peel was a fan, and they recorded a number of sessions for his radio show. Andy Kershaw once called them "The most authentic English folk group since The Clash".
Tropes include:
- Affectionate Parody - Often. The one that comes to mind is With Goth On Our Side, a parody of Bob Dylan's With God On Our Side.
- Christmas Songs - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, It's Cliched To Be Cynical At Christmas.
- Doing It for The Art - See the page quote, and also famously turned down a chance to appear on Channel 4's music show The Tube. Apparently because Tranmere Rovers were playing that night.
- Folk Music - Is not a perfect description, but it will do, and they have covered folk songs in the past.
- List Song - Quite a few.
- Literary Allusion Title - The song Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not (A reference to Tess of the D'Urbervilles), among others.
- Long Title - All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune, 99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd, I Love You Because (You Look Like Jim Reeves), Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show, Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years, and so on.
- Pun Based Title - Most of their albums, and a good number of their songs.
- Reference Overdosed - Good luck catching everything they mention, and not just lyrics either but sometimes tunes. A lot of them are explained on their website: http://www.hmhb.co.uk/
- Take That - Just as often as Affectionate Parody.
- The Beautiful Game - Comes up quite often in their songs.