C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK. The name C86 was a play on the labelling and length of blank compact cassettes—commonly C60, C90 and C120—combined with 1986.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Tracklisting
- Side 1
- Primal Scream: Velocity Girl
- Mighty Lemon Drops: Happy Head
- Soup Dragons: Pleasantly Surprised
- Wolfhounds: Feeling So Strange Again
- Bodines: Therese
- Mighty Mighty: Law
- Stump: Buffalo
- Bogshed: Run To The Temple
- A Witness: Sharpened Sticks
- Pastels: Breaking Lines
- Age Of Chance: From Now On, This Will Be Your God
- Side 2
- Shop Assistants: It's Up To You
- Close Lobsters: Firestation Towers
- Miaow: Sport Most Royal
- Half Man Half Biscuit: I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart)
- Servants: Transparent
- MacKenzies: Big Jim (There's No Pubs In Heaven)
- Big Flame: New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)
- We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: Console Me
- McCarthy: Celestial City
- Shrubs: Bullfighter's Bones
- Wedding Present: This Boy Can Wait (A Bit Longer!)
Links to Peel
In its time, the C86 scene became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel-coined description celebrating the self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement. Despite this, Peel supported the C86 scene and played many tracks from the compilation album on his shows in 1986. All of the bands featured on the cassette did sessions for Peel, including future long-term show stalwarts Half Man Half Biscuit and Wedding Present.
Discussing Peel's 04 June 1986 show in "Good Night And Good Riddance" (p381), author David Cavanagh describes the DJ as "the man who has done more than anyone else to popularise the C86 movement."[1]
Sessions
All of the bands featured on C86 did sessions for Peel:
- A Witness: (4 sessions, 1986-88)
- Age Of Chance: (2 session, 1985-86)
- Big Flame: (4 sessions, 1984-86)
- Bodines: (1 session, 1987)
- Bogshed: (5 sessions, 1985-87)
- Close Lobsters: (1 session, 1987)
- Half Man Half Biscuit: (12 sessions, 1985-2004)
- MacKenzies: (2 sessions, 1986)
- McCarthy: (3 sessions, 1986-88)
- Miaow: (2 sessions, 1986-87)
- Mighty Lemon Drops: (1 session, 1986)
- Mighty Mighty: (3 sessions, 1986-87)
- Pastels: (4 sessions, 1984-99)
- Primal Scream: (2 sessions, 1985-86)
- Servants: (1 session, 1986)
- Shop Assistants: (2 sessions, 1985-86)
- Shrubs: (2 sessions, 1986-87)
- Soup Dragons: (2 sessions, 1986)
- Stump: (4 sessions, 1986-88)
- We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: (2 sessions, 1986)
- Wedding Present: (13 sessions, 1986-2004)
- Wolfhounds: (3 sessions, 1986-88)
Festive Fifty
Two of the tracks featured on C86 entered the 1986 Festive Fifty:
- Bodines, Therese, #19
- Wedding Present: This Boy Can Wait, #18
The same annual listing also included other C86 bands, with songs from different releases:
- Age Of Chance, Half Man Half Biscuit, Mighty Lemon Drops, Mighty Mighty, Pastels, Shop Assistants, Soup Dragons, We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It
Shows Played
C86 - Cassette Compilation(1986)
- 1986
- 04 June 1986: Close Lobsters: Firestation Towers
- 04 June 1986: Shop Assistants: It's Up To You
- 04 June 1986: Stump: Buffalo
- Peel 036 (BFBS): We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: Console Me
- Peel 036 (BFBS): McCarthy: Celestial City
- Peel 036 (BFBS): Wedding Present: This Boy Can Wait (A Bit Longer!)
- Peel 036 (BFBS): Bog-Shed: Run To The Temple
- 10 June 1986: Age Of Chance: From Now On, This Will Be Your God
- 11 June 1986: Wedding Present: This Boy Can Wait (A Bit Longer!)
- 11 June 1986: We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: Console Me
- 16 June 1986: Stump: Buffalo
- 17 June 1986: Mighty Lemon Drops: Happy Head
- 02 July 1986: Miaow: Sport Most Royal
- 14 July 1986: Big Flame: New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)
See Also
- Ron Johnson Records: The Nottingham label had five tracks on C86, the highest number of any label.
