60SO MUCH TO ANSWER FOR WALESof the Italian political theorist Antonio
Gramsci, the Scritti’s rough and ready
debut Skank Bloc Bologna EP (1978)
was one of the key DIY releases of the
era, with a sleeve that broke down the
costs of making the record.
Later, Green honed his songwriting
skills to become a bona-fide pop star
in the 1980s, the surface brightness
of singles such as “The Sweetest Girl”
(1981, and covered by Madness in
1986) sneaking personal-political
messages into the mainstream.
Young Marble Giants were less
commercially successful, and released
just one album, Colossal Youth for Rough
Trade in 1980. To quote Simon Reynolds
(Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk
1978–1984), writing the reissue liner
notes: “The Cardiff trio’s one-and-only
album contains not a wasted note,
barely a blemish.” He’s right. The trio of
Alison Statton, Philip Moxham and Stuart
Moxham made delicate music that,
if you’re looking for a contemporary
reference, brings to mind a lo-fi The xx.Yet as Reynolds also argues, for all
its understated qualities, there was a
“subliminal rock’n’roll element in YMG
music”, albeit “rock’n’roll Anglicised, the
urge to cut loose checked by a native
reserve and inhibition”.
As Stuart Moxham has conceded: “In
a lot of ways, I was a frustrated rocker.
A lot of those riffs would sound great on
loud, distorted guitars in a conventional
band.” His words are a reminder that
musical histories aren’t always as
straightforward as they first appear.
In this context, one of the problems
with seeing Welsh pop and rock as
a parade of famous names is that it
ignores a rich vein of songs sung in
Welsh. “There has been a Welsh-
language pop scene since the 60s,”
says Dr Sarah Hill, senior lecturer
at the School of Music, Cardiff
University. “It just never got any notice
outside of Wales until the late-80s,
when John Peel started playing bands
like [experimental rock band] Datblygu
and [punk band] Yr Anhrefn.”WHEN WORD GOT AROUND
Labels such as Ankst, formed in 1988 at
the University of Wales in Aberystwyth
by Alun Llwyd, Gruffudd Jones and
Emyr Glyn Williams, documented bands
that fell in a lineage also represented
by singers such as Dafydd Iwan, Meic
Stevens and Geraint Jarman, figures
whose careers were, in the words of
Hill, “completely tied up with language
activism and language politics”.
But while the Welsh-language singers
of previous generations never really
succeeded, bands such as Catatonia
(whose guitarist/songwriter Mark
Roberts played in Welsh language indie
band Y Cyrff), Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
and Super Furry Animals came through
as Britpop was in its pomp.
“That’s what makes 90s Welsh pop
so interesting,” says Hill, “the music was
good, it fit into the broader mainstream
culture, and it also showed that it was
possible for a Welsh band to succeed.
It just raised a whole bunch of questions
in some quarters about the fate of the
language, and the concern that Welsh
bands would abandon the language for
a chance at mainstream success.
“That’s why Super Furry Animals’
Mwng (2000) was such a landmark
album: it was in Welsh, but it was
well-received by the British music press
regardless. That never would have
happened 10 or 15 years earlier.”
Super Furry Animals, fronted by Gruff
Rhys, enjoyed a string of hits with tracks
such as Something 4 The Weekend and
Northern Lites; while Gorky’s Zygotic
Mynci, having started out on Ankst,
signed to Fontana had eight Top 75
singles without cracking the Top 40.ENTER THE WELSH DRAGON
If the Furries and Gorky’s
specialised in the kind of pastoral-
tinged psychedelic pop currently
being performed with aplomb
by Cate Le Bon, Catatonia
proved to be a more
mainstream proposition.Super
Furry Animals’ Mwng
was such a landmark
album: it was in Welsh, but
it was well-received by
the British music press
regardless
Stereophonics scored
their first UK Top 10
single in 1998 with The
© Getty Images Bartender And The ThiefCP30.SoMuch_Wales.print.indd 60 07/06/2017 17:25