add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
The Soup Dragons were a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s, named after a character in the 1970s children's TV show, Clangers, and best known for their cover of the Rolling Stones' I'm Free.
[edit] HistoryThe Soup Dragons formed in Bellshill, a town near Glasgow, in 1985.[1] The line up was Sean Dickson (vocals, lead guitar), Jim McCulloch (guitar, second voice) who replaced Ian Whitehall and Sushil K. Dade (bass). The original drummer, Ross A. Sinclair, left the group after the first proper album, This Is Our Art, to pursue a career in art, and was replaced by Paul Quinn. Most of their songs were written by Dickson, while some were co-written with McCulloch. The band recorded their first demo tape, You Have Some Too, after playing a few local gigs, and this was followed by a flexi disc single "If You Were the Only Girl in the World".[1] Originally inspired by Buzzcocks and lumped in with the C86 movement, along with fellow members of the Bellshill Sound, such as the BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub, they went through a number of stylistic changes in their career. The band signed to Subway Records in early 1986 and their first proper single (The Sun in the Sky EP) was Buzzcocks-inspired pop-punk. The band's big breakthrough came with their second single for Subway, "Whole Wide World", which reached #2 on the UK Independent Chart in 1986.[2] Dickson and McCulloch also moonlighted in BMX Bandits at this time.[1] The band were signed by former Wham! co-manager Jaz Summers' label Raw TV with further indie hits (and minor UK Singles Chart hits) following during 1987 and 1988.[3][2] Over the course of six singles (the first three collected in 1986 on a U.S. only compilation, Hang Ten), they gradually developed a more complex rock guitar sound, which culminated in their first album proper This Is Our Art, now signed to major label Sire Records. After one single from the album "Kingdom Chairs" failed to chart, the band were dropped by Sire and returned to Raw TV. In the year following This Is Our Art their sound underwent a change from an indie rock sound, to the rock-dance crossover baggy sound, popular at the time with the release of the album Lovegod. This change mirrored that of fellow Scottish band Primal Scream, and can be attributed to the rise of the ecstasy-fueled acid house rave scene in the UK. In 1990, they released their most successful hit single in the UK, "I'm Free", an up-tempo cover of a Rolling Stones song with an added toasting overdub by reggae star Junior Reid, which reached #5.[3] This single featured on the Happy Daze compilation. Subsequent albums continued the rock-dance crossover sound. In 1992 they enjoyed their biggest U.S. hit with "Divine Thing" which reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] It also hit #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band split in 1995 with Quinn joining fellow Bellshill band, Teenage Fanclub.[1] Sushil K. Dade formed the experimental post rock band Future Pilot A.K.A., and singer Sean Dickson formed The High Fidelity.[1] Jim McCulloch joined fellow Glaswegians Superstar,[1] and has since formed musical collective Green Peppers. He writes and records with Isobel Campbell. Sean Dickson is now based in London. He DJs at some of London's night clubs under the name of HI-FI Sean. Dickson writes and produces songs for Glasgow based electro group The Record Playerz. [edit] Discography[edit] Albums
[edit] Singles
[edit] References
[edit] External links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
