The Darling Buds are an indie rock band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and were named after the H. E. Bates novel The Darling Buds of May – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May". Influenced by the catchy simple sound of the early Beatles as well as that of Blondie, the band created melodic, hook-driven, short-duration singles. They were considered part of the short lived "Blonde" movement (indie rock band fronted by blonde female singer with all other members being dark-haired males) along with the likes of The Primitives and Transvision Vamp, but also referenced the C86 scene of a few years earlier.
Links To Peel[]
Peel played the band's debut single in 1987 and continued supporting the group through the late 80's. In an interview with Eyeplug, singer Andrea Lewis mentioned one of the highest point in the band's career was doing sessions for John Peel's show:
"Doing the John Peel sessions was a particular high as we all looked up to him so much, and when he played our first single on his show we couldn’t believe it."[1]
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- 1988 Festive Fifty: Shame On You #47
- 2017 Festive Fifty: Evergreen #43
Sessions[]
No known commercial release. (Although two sessions are available on an unofficial release called Peel Sessions 1987 (cassette, Not On Label, 1988)
The Darling Buds - I Couldn't Remember (Peel Session '87)
1. Recorded: 1987-03-29. Broadcast: 08 April 1987. Repeated: 28 April 1987, 28 December 1987
- I Couldn't Remember / It's All Up To You / Mary's Got To Go / The Other Night
2. Recorded: 1987-08-23. Broadcast: 02 September 1987. Repeated: 21 September 1987, 14 December 1987
- Shame On You / Think Of Me / My Valentine / Spin
3. Recorded: 1989-02-07. Broadcast: 20 February 1989. Repeated: 15 March 1989
- The Things We Do For Love / Different Daze / She's Not Crying / It's All Up To You (Flip Flop)
Other Shows Played[]
- 1987
- 24 February 1987: Just To Be Seen (7" - If I Said) Darling Buds
- 03 March 1987: Just to Be Seen (7" - If I Said) Darling Buds
- 15 March 1987 (BFBS): 'Just To Be Seen (7"-If I Said)' (Darling Buds)
- 29 September 1987: Spin (split 7" flexi with Bubblegum Splash - Two Groovy Pop Songs) So Naive BONK ON 001
The Darling Buds - Shame On You
- 1988
- 09 March 1988: Shame On You (12") Native
- 21 March 1988 (BBC World Service): Shame On You (7") Native
- 25 March 1988 (BFBS) / Peel 082 (BFBS): 'Shame On You (7")' (Native) (JP: 'Rather like them, I must say. You could argue that there's a lot of that sort of thing about in the recent past, but the Darling Buds do it better than most, I think.')
- 30 March 1988: Shame On You (7") Native
- 11 April 1988: Shame On You (7") Native
- 20 April 1988: Shame On You (7") Native
- 24 May 1988: It's All Up To You (7") Native
- 06 June 1988: It's All Up To You (7") Native
- 11 June 1988 (BFBS): It's All Up To You (7") Native
- 20 June 1988: Think Of Me (single - It's All Up To You) Native NTV 33
- 05 July 1988 (BFBS): Think Of Me (single - It's All Up To You) Native NTV 33
- 20 September 1988: Burst (7") Epic
- 21 September 1988: Burst (7") Epic
- 28 September 1988: Burst (7") Epic
- 04 October 1988: Burst (7") Epic
- 19 October 1988: Burst (single) Epic
- 13 December 1988: Hit The Ground (LP - Pop Said...) Epic
- 20 December 1988: 'Shame On You (7 inch)' (Native) FF #47
- 1989
- 03 January 1989: Hit The Ground (CD Single) Epic
- 13 January 1989 (BFBS) / Peel 096 (BFBS): 'Hit The Ground (7")' (Epic)
- 30 January 1989: Just To Be Seen (7" - If I Said) Darling Buds
- 31 January 1989: Things We Do For Love (album - Pop Said) Epic
- 01 February 1989: Spin (CD - Pop Said...) Epic
- 06 February 1989: The Other Night (album - Pop Said) Epic
- 08 February 1989: Let's Go Round There (LP - Pop Said...) Epic
- 10 February 1989 (BFBS) / Peel 099 (BFBS): 'The Other Night (LP-Pop Said...)' (Epic)
- 13 February 1989: She's Not Crying (album - Pop Said) Epic
- 05 August 1989 (BFBS) / Peel 112 (BFBS): 'You've Got To Choose (12")' (Epic)