Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading bands of the indiepop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed in 1986 when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in Oxford. Their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher, her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff, Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Pursey left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott.
Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
Even As We Speak is an Australian indie band from Sydney. Formed in the mid-1980s, founding members Matthew Love and Mary Wyer were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass) Anita Rayner, Paul Clarke and Julian Knowles.
14 Iced Bears are a British indie pop band associated with the C86 music scene. Formed in Brighton in 1985, by Robert Sekula and Nick Emery the band featured a shifting line-up of musicians across their seven-year existence, centred on songwriter and vocalist Rob Sekula and guitarist/songwriter Kevin Canham. Their jangly indie pop was characterised by a fuzzy protopunk-influenced guitar sound, and saw them receive modest critical acclaim in Britain's music press as well as prompting disc jockey John Peel to recruit them to record a couple of sessions for his programme on BBC radio. The group released a handful of singles, including "Come Get Me" on the influential Sarah label, and two full-length albums: the eponymous 14 Iced Bears (1988), and Wonder (1991).
The Wolfhounds are an English noise pop band formed in Romford, Essex, in 1985 by Dave Callahan, Paul Clark, Andy Golding, Andy Bolton and Frank Stebbing, and originally active until 1990. The band reformed in 2005 and continues to write, record and play live, releasing new albums in 2014, 2016, and 2020.
Black Tambourine was an American indie pop band and one of the earliest Slumberland groups of the early 1990s. Formed in Silver Spring, Maryland, the band comprised vocalist Pam Berry and instrumentalists Archie Moore, Brian Nelson and Mike Schulman. Along with Tiger Trap, Lois, Honeybunch, Tullycraft, and Beat Happening, they are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the American twee pop movement.
Girls at Our Best! were an English post-punk band, founded in Leeds, England in 1979 under the name The Butterflies. They had several UK Independent Singles Chart hits during their three-year existence.
The Hit Parade is a music group from London that has released eight LPs and fourteen 7" vinyl records. The group has been described as "the very definition of twee Eighties style indie".
The Pooh Sticks were a Welsh indie pop band from Swansea, Wales, primarily recording between 1988 and 1995. They were notable for their jangly melodiousness and lyrics gently mocking the indie scene of the time, such as on "On Tape", "Indiepop Ain't Noise Pollution" and "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well". The band changed direction on their 1991 U.S breakthrough The Great White Wonder, eschewing the 'twee' British indie pop sound for a more American-styled power pop sound, akin to bands such as Jellyfish and Redd Kross. Subsequent albums included Million Seller, released on 11 January 1993, considered by some power pop fans to be the band's best work, and Optimistic Fool, released on 24 April 1995, followed in this style.
McCarthy were a British indie pop band, formed in Barking, Greater London, England in 1984 by schoolmates Malcolm Eden and Tim Gane with John Williamson and Gary Baker (drums). Lætitia Sadier later joined the band on vocals for their final studio album.
Folk Devils were an English 1980s post-punk ensemble born of the Notting Hill, West London music scene.
Are You Scared To Get Happy? was an influential music fanzine published from Bristol, United Kingdom between 1985 and 1987 by Matt Haynes and Mark Carnell. Haynes later went on to found Sarah Records with Clare Wadd. It concentrated on what would now be termed twee pop bands, and was notable for its hardline approach to the independent ethic, as well as its expansive, lyrical writing style. Many subsequent fanzines were influenced by AYSTGH, and it was also a key influence on record labels such as Unpopular.
The Chefs were an English indiepop/punk band which formed in Brighton in 1979, relocating to London in 1981, and finally splitting up in 1982. The band consisted of Helen McCookerybook, Carl Evans, James McCallum and Russell Greenwood.
King of the Slums were a British alternative rock band. Formed in Greater Manchester in the mid-1980s, the band specialised in a kind of electric violin and guitar-driven rock music, and released their debut single in 1986. Whilst the band earned some critical acclaim from the UK music press, commercial success eluded them and the group disbanded in the early 1990s following the release of their second studio album, Blowzy Weirdos (1991). An album of new material plus some older songs appeared in 2009 credited to both King of the Slums and Slum Cathedral User, which was the original name of the group. Three more albums followed, Manco Diablo (2017), Artgod Dogs (2018) and Encrypted Contemporary Narratives (2020) before the death of frontman Charley Keigher in 2021.
BOB were an indie pop band from North London, England, formed in 1986.
Formed in the mid-1980s by two brothers, Martin and Paul Kelly, East Village were an indie pop band from Princes Risborough, England.
CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop is a compilation album of artists from the original C86 era, released in 2006 by Sanctuary Records. It is compiled by Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne.
The Blanche Hudson Weekend is a UK-based indie band, originating from Leeds and formed in 2009. The band is named after the fictional character portrayed by Joan Crawford in the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which itself is based on the Henry Farrell novel of the same name. The band was formed by Darren Lockwood and Caroline McChrystal after the split of their former band The Manhattan Love Suicides in July 2009. Allmusic's Margaret Reges described the band as "[...] a twee pop outfit whose blissfully buzzy, girl group-influenced tunes drew heavily from seminal twee pop acts like the Shop Assistants, Dolly Mixture, and Talulah Gosh", and the band have cited the British indie pop band The Primitives as an influence.
Party Day were an English goth/indie rock band formed in 1981 in Wombwell near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, originally a four-piece consisting of guitarists Martin Steele, Greg Firth, bassist Carl Firth and drummer, Mick Baker. Their sound was described as being "hard knuckleduster goth with post-punk overtones".
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 music genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. 2014 saw the original compilation reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
