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Ian Dury and The Blockheads: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Music.IanDuryAndTheBlockheads 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Music.IanDuryAndTheBlockheads, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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An unlikely star, Dury contracted polio at the age of seven, which left him with a crippled arm and leg. He studied art and subsequently became an occasional painter and art teacher. The death of the rockabilly star Gene Vincent, of whom Dury was a big fan, prompted him to Dury start his own band in 1971 called Kilburn and the High Roads. The group became a popular act on the pub circuit and released a critically acclaimed album but never rose above cult status and soon broke up. His second group, Ian Dury and the Kilburns, was short lived but introduced him to a young [[Funk]]-influenced guitarist and pianist named [[The Man Behind the Man|Chaz Jankel]], who subsequently became his main songwriting partner.
In 1977, Dury released his first solo album with Stiff Records consisting of songs written with Jankel, ''New Boots and Panties!!'', which featured the single ''[[Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll|Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll]]''. However, the album was a success and Dury was invited to perform on the Live Stiffs Live tour alongside Nick Lowe and [[Elvis Costello]]. A backing band was quickly formed consisting of guitarist Johnny Turnbull, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, drummer Charlie Charles, keyboard player Mick Gallagher and Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. The Blockheads were born, taking their name from one of the songs on the album.
In 1978, the band reached its peak with the top ten singles ''Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'' and ''Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3'' as well as the hit album ''Do It Yourself''. However, Dury's [[Small Name, Big Ego|increasingly difficult]] behaviour during the recording sessions prompted Chaz Jankel to leave the Blockheads for a solo career in America. Teaming up with guitarist Wilko Johnson, the Blockheads couldn't match their earlier success with their next album, ''Laughter'', and officially disbanded.
Having performed together sporadically in the eighties, the band reformed to play a series of benefit concerts in support of Charlie Charles after his diagnosis with cancer. In the mid-nineties, Dury himself was diagnosed with the same illness, galvanising him to release one last album; the critically acclaimed ''Mr. Love Pants'' in 1998, now joined by drummer Dylan Howe (son of Steve Howe of [[Yes]]) and the controversial Israeli saxophonist Gilad Atzmon. Unfortunately, Ian Dury died in 2000 before his next half-finished record was released.
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* [[Careful With That Axe]]: Dance Of The Screamers features some pretty horrifying screams.
* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: Ian Dury's contribution to 1981's International Year Of Disabled Persons, ''Spasticus Autisticus'', was banned from BBC airplay for being offensive - they weren't aware of Dury's polio-afflicted disabilities.
* [[Dual
* [[Funk]]: Chaz Jankel, who wrote most of the music, was a big fan of funk music. About half the songs on ''New Boots And Panties!!'' had significant funk influences.
* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: ''Hit Me With Your Rhythmstick'' contains lines in German and (maybe) French.
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* [[Punk Rock]]: The Blockheads' popularity peaked during punk and New Wave eras. Songs like ''Plaistow Patricia'' and ''Blockheads'' reflect the punk influence. After the original group broke up, Mick Gallagher and Norman Watt-Roy played with [[The Clash]] on the ''Sandanista!'' album (apparently, they were promised writing credit on ''The Magnificent Seven'' but never actually got it).
* [[Rockstar Song]]: ''What A Waste'' and ''Sex & Drugs and & Rock & Roll''.
* [[Self
* [[Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll]]: Possibly the [[Trope Namer]], or at least the song writer. However, Dury later explained in interviews that he didn't write it to glorify the lifestyle, but to ask if this was all there is to it. He himself had problems with drugs and alcohol during the middle point of his career.
{{reflist}}
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