John Peel Wiki

Changes to the look of John Peel Wiki will take place in the near future due to a new skin being rolled out over Oct/Nov across Wikia. Please see the Wikia Staff Blog for further details. On this site, the changes will affect the navigation from the left menu, as well as introduce a fixed page width with narrower content space. Please be patient while adjustments are made for the switch to the new system.

UPDATE: As the change is now in force for some users, I have switched the navigation to the simplified one for the new system. Please check Navigation in the Help section if you can't find things. I also initially made small adjustments to the front page layout, but have now reverted to the old look until all users are on the new system.

COUNTDOWN: Just a reminder for people still using Monaco that the final switch to the new skin is due on Nov. 3. After that, it will no longer be offered as an option. Sorry. Nothing to do with me.

Steve W

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John Peel Wiki
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Associates

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Related page: Billy Mackenzie

The Associates were a new wave duo founded in Dundee, Scotland in 1976 by Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine. Their debut single was a cover of David Bowie's Boys Keep Swinging, released in June 1979 just six weeks after Bowie's original. Their ploy worked: they secured a publishing deal with Bowie's publishers and a proper record deal. By 1980 they were touring with the Cure and signed to Fiction Records, for whom they recorded the LP The Affectionate Punch. At the turn of the year they relocated to Situation Two and put out a string of singles, later compiled on the album Fourth Drawer Down, recorded using money from major labels who were expecting demos to be produced with their money. In tandem with their increasing consumption of coke and speed, the groups' music became increasingly deranged and experimental. John Murphy and Mike Dempsey (ex-The Cure) became official members.

The Associates signed with WEA in 1982 and Martha Ladly joined as back-up singer. Billy and Alan immediately scored a string of UK top 20 chart hits, including Party Fears Two, which was used as the theme tune for Radio 4's satire show Week Ending. The album Sulk made the UK top 10, winning album of the year awards in the UK music press. However, the group's drug use was at a peak - Billy & Alan's behaviour was becoming somewhat erratic. On the eve of their biggest ever UK tour MacKenzie pulled out. A US deal with Island was consequentially lost. Deciding that he couldn't continue, Alan Rankine left the group. This proved disastrous for the band's career, as they were being courted by Seymour Stein of Sire Records who soon lost interest when Mackenzie refused to tour.

Mackenzie continued to write and record music under the name Associates until 1990. The albums Perhaps, The Glamour Chase (which the record company refused to release, considering it not commercially viable) and Wild and Lonely were made during this period. However, recordings were sporadic and subsequent Associates records failed to reach the charts in the UK and sold far fewer than their early albums.

Links to Peel[]

In a Smash Hits interview [1] in 1982, both band members claimed that Peel was their favourite DJ, although Rankine wished he wouldn't play so much reggae. They recorded two sessions for Kat's Karavan, with MacKenzie recording a further one under his solo aegis. With the benefit of hindsight, Peel commented on the first on its release in 1989:

"It's a curious thing about these session reissues, because a lot of the ones which seemed dead radical now sound, you know, rather tiresome, really, and other ones which you assume, now, when you kind of look...People say, 'Well, the Associates, kind of tunes and things,' it actually sounds quite radical." [2]

Reflecting the zenith of their popularity, they achieved two entries in the yearly Festive Fifty chart of 1982, one of which, their top 10 chart hit Party Fears Two, Peel admitted to being glad to hear again. He retained an enduring liking for their debut LP The Affectionate Punch and played a track from it in tribute to MacKenzie following his suicide in 1997.

When Simon Raymonde came to select records from Peel's collection for his entry in the Record Box series, he chose the Associates single White Car In Germany, played by Peel toward the end of 1981 and again in 1986.

Festive Fifty Entries[]

Sessions[]

1. Recorded: 1981-04-28. First broadcast: 04 May 1981. Repeated: 21 May 1981, 02 March 1982

  • It's Better This Way / Me Myself And The Tragic Story / Nude Spoons / A Matter Of Gender / Ulcragyceptimol

2. Recorded: 1982-03-06. First broadcast: 19 April 1982. Repeated: 17 May 1982, 25 May 1982, 13 October 1982. Featured on Karl's Tape - April 1982 a.

  • Waiting For The Love Boat / Australia / Love Hangover / A Sever Case Of Career Insecurity

Other Shows Played[]

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
  • 14 August 1985: 'Would I... Bounce Back (LP-The Affectionate Punch)' (Fiction)
1986
1987
1989
Later

Top Of The Pops[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

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