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The June Brides
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Their time was short, but they filled it with jangling.

The June Brides

This week is Indie Week on MOJO, and every Disc Of The Day will reflect that theme.

You always remember magazines’ cover “aberrations” more vividly than their successes, and maybe somewhere out there there’s someone who thinks as fondly of MOJO’s Gomez disaster as I do of NME’s June Brides brainstorm. Doubtless it was a “slow week” in September 1985 that introduced Phil Wilson’s indie avatars – artfully dotted across an English lawn, looking a bit glum – to the nation’s newsstands (note to self: must ask Mat Snow). Yet retrospect reveals that they deserved nothing less for this collection of serrated pop nuggets, riven with self-dissatisfaction (“my body just won’t do what it’s supposed to do”), bee-in-ear guitar strummage and wobbly singing. They weren’t the only group of pencilnecks-in-turtlenecks bemoaning the superficiality of contemporary culture (“every conversation is the same,” they lilted) but the June Brides’ trump card was trumpets. Trumpets upon trumpets, madly parping as if they’d heard the “I heard your bugle playing” bit on Orange Juice’s Dying Day and decided that that would do them nicely. Sadly, all my pre-’87 NMEs were chucked onto the street the moment I left for University, but I’ve mourned the June Brides cover more than any other. Given the rum stuff that made it onto the cover quite regularly back then (Sam Fox, Zodiac Mindwarp, “youth suicide”) perhaps that’s not quite as crazy as it sounds.

Danny Eccleston

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 05/02/2008

Further Listening

Various ArtistsIt’s Different For Domeheads (Creation)

JamesVillage Fire EP (Factory)

Orange JuiceThe Glasgow School (Domino)


What’s YOUR favourite UK indie album? Enlighten us below...


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The June Brides

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