Look who's 55 today: Andy "Stagefright" Partridge, the elusively reclusive frontman for XTC that spends way too much time playing with toy trains instead of doing something more important: like making fucking records.
There are numerous examples of Partridge acting like an asshole (the conflict with Todd Rundgren during Skylarking, guitarist Dave Gregory leaving, initiating a "strike" against Virgin records) but even more examples of this asshole putting out some pretty awesome music.
Undoubtly one of my favorite bands of all time, XTC put together a string of albums that I would consider to be vital additions to anyone's record collection.
2 comments:
"Asshole" might be a bit strong... definitely difficult to work with. Here I go sounding like an apologist again, but the thing with Rundgren was a personality conflict between two stubborn pricks; neither one was a saint in the situation, from all accounts. And the strike against Virgin? Andy says that the band went to the label in hopes of renegotiating what they thought were some prehistorically bad royalty rates. When Virgin refused, thus ensued the strike. I don't think that's necessarily an asshole-ish move in and of itself, more a protest. You have to think, though; XTC in the best of circumstances wasn't a HUGE seller. The fact that they stopped touring didn't improve that fact. A strike by the band against their label (obviously preventing the release of new material which could spur the interest and sales of old material) wouldn't necessarily be entered into lightly by a band who only commands a cult following, even if it is large by those standards.
Either way, happy birthday, Mr. Partridge!!!
They couldn't release an album under a different name? Like the Dukes or something? It pisses me off that the problems with the label means that fans too have to suffer.
Post a Comment