Best albums of 1988: #2 The Wonder Stuff “The eight legged groove machine”

You can pretty much file this album under nostalgia for me. I won’t deny it. The Wonder Stuff weren’t particularly ground-breaking or influential but I was a rabid fan of the band throughout the 90s. In truth, I fingered them as my favourite band for a great many years. Much of this leads back to my initial discovery of the band, way back in 1990.

A friend at the time, Elliott, loaned me a cassette tape copy of “The eight legged groove machine”. This friend was mostly into thrash metal and hardcore punk so I was a bit dubious. However, he assured me that The Wonder Stuff weren’t of that ilk and that the only reason he had the album at all was that he had liked its cover (yes, we used to do that in the old days). I think I had the album for about a week before I put it on while doing some chores around the house. What struck me immediately was the band’s energy. After a few songs, the lyrical content caught my attention even more. With titles like “Give, give, give me more, more, more” and “It’s yer money I’m after baby”, they were songs that weren’t being played on commercial radio and they appealed to my typically instilled angst and ennui. It was love at first listen.

The Wonder Stuff formed in 1986 in Stourbridge, England and came out of the music scene based in the Midlands, curiously titled ‘Grebo’, that also spawned such luminaries as Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. This scene was popular in England at the time but never really took hold here in North America. The Wonder Stuff released a total of four albums before splitting up in 1994, much to my chagrin.* After a few years in which the band members undertook various solo projects, the band re-formed in 2000 as they were at dissolution in 1994, with the exception of the bass player (the original bass player, Rob Jones, had died in 1993 and Paul Clifford wasn’t included in the reunion). Miles Hunt, Malc Treece, Martin Gilks, and Martin Bell, along with Pete Whittaker and a new bass player, played a series of sold out shows at the Forum in London. Since then, there have a been a number of lineup changes and a few new albums released but the only constant from the original lineup now is frontman, Miles Hunt.

“The eight legged groove machine” was The Wonder Stuff’s debut album. Running in at just under 40 minutes in 14 tracks, it was snarling, raucous pop, music that snuck up behind you and sucker punched you every time. The songs were short, fast, rabidly catchy, and the lyrics biting but playful. Each song is a large part of my memories of my late teen years because they were so often the soundtrack that accompanied me on my walkman in those days. Admittedly, the album sounds a bit dated when I listen to it now but there are tracks here that I still count amongst my favourite tracks. Here are my three picks for you, along with some of the Miles Hunt lyrical gems contained within.

”Give give give me more more more”: The cash register ka-ching that starts the song, feels like an echo throughout its three minutes, and frontman Miles Hunt starts in. “Well I hope I make more money than this in the next world. I hope there’s a lot more in it there for me. I’d like my trousers pressed and my shoes shined up by a rich girl, who’s only care in the world is me.” Never demanding much, is he, that Miles. Just everything and more. And it becomes a clarion call with the pounding beat and rifling guitars that bounce and climb, not-so-gently requesting everyone into some pogo action (just don’t stage dive, whatever you do).

”A wish away”: A danceable beat and jangly guitars and you want to jump out on the dance floor to sing along with the repeated chorus line. It all feels so happy and upbeat but the song is anything but about all that. Like much of this album, the short, energetic jolts have dark and cynical undertones. The singer here is never really needing his lover around except at his low times. “But now I need a hug and now I need a love and I really, really wish you were here.” On the title, frontman Hunt has said that they came up on it by way of a recording accident and hearing the vocals sung backwards. The extra line to include it at the end was just a tease.

”It’s yer money I’m after baby”: There’s one thing you can say for Miles Hunt and his lyrics. He doesn’t really use vagaries, at least not in his early work, but he always could deliver a line. “Don’t give me love, oh no none of that stuff ‘cos it’s yer money I’m after, baby.” What The Wonder Stuff as whole does, though, is take the biting wit and sugarcoat it in rip-roaring and peppy pop tunes. Like the previous two, this track clocks in around the three minute sweet spot and deliveries on the catchy and the danceable. The acoustic strumming, the wiry bass line, the almost silly electric guitar high, and of course, Martin Gilks’ super fun drumming. Just another great track that I would listen to over and over again as a teen and that I still know word for word today.

Check back next Thursday for album #1. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. The Sugarcubes “Life’s too good”
9. Erasure “The innocents”
8. Billy Bragg “Worker’s playtime”
7. Jane’s Addiction “Nothing’s shocking”
6. Leonard Cohen “I’m your man”
5. R.E.M. “Green”
4. Pixies “Surfer rosa”
3. The Waterboys “Fisherman’s blues”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

*True story: I learned of The Wonder Stuff’s break up on a camping trip, while cutting down a tree for firewood. After my friend Tim mentioned this piece of news, the tree came down in short order.