Tuesday, February 15, 2011

C86 / CD86


It was 1986, and the UK's New Music Express (NME) put out one of the best "mix tapes" in rock history. In a 2006 issue of World Magazine ex NME stafer Andrew Collins described C86 as "The most indie thing to have ever existed". It's also arguably what led to a flourish of girl bands and girl musicians thanks to its exposure of groups such as The Shop Assistants, The Primitives, Miaow and others.
Although I have no shame in saying that I'm an out of the closet Twee fan, it's unfair to call this a "twee comp". Sure there's jangly guitar pop, but many tracks are drenched in noise and guitar fuzz. Listen to the Jesus and Mary Chain song or the very early Pop Will Eat Itself tune, "Black Country Chainsaw Massacre". This is indie pop music without the homogonized indie pop formula.
I wish I could say that in 1986 this tape changed my life, but by the time I heard it somewhere in the late 90s via the internet, I was already a fan of many of the featured bands. When I bought this new 48 track CD comp (that BTW is different and better than the original C86 comp -should I have mentioned that earlier??) I got a ton of great stuff I'd missed out on and the best thing in my "various artists" iTunes category.

C30 C60 C90 Go! (cd1)
C30 C60 C90 Go! (cd2)

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