#21

‘Spiders’ was the first or second album I ever bought. Absolute textbook “write 4 singles and then pad it out with any old crap” 90s album. Utter, utter tosh. The lyrics to the song Major Pager haunt me to this day major

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#22

It’s not padding. It’s just total ignorance.

#23

Woah, don’t think i’ve thought much about space since i saw them in 1997 - my 16 year old self didn’t mind them but my word, the 16 year old me didn’t have a clue.

I’m closed minded enough not to listen to the new lp thats for sure.

I always thought he said ‘deadlier’ also.

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#24

It’s categorically not padding, you’re right…

What they were, back then, was ludicrously experimental. They were messing about in praccy rooms and just creating all sorts of mad stuff. Spiders and Tin Planet are actually full of tracks from Tommy (which includes most of the hits), but also tracks from lead-guitarist Jamie Murphy, and lots of input from other members of the band like Franny, Yorkie .etc

Single releases invariably came on 2 cds, which usually meant 2/3 b-sides and a host of remixes. There’s tons of other tracks that never even made it to being B-sides. They’ve never been short of material, so there’s been a case of churning stuff out to “fill and album”…

That said, obviously, whether we like something or not is personal taste… but yeah… they’ve never cranked out anything for the sake of it. This last album has taken since 2012 or something, for example.

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#25

The stuff that they’re doing nowadays is WAY better than what they did BACK IN DA 90s.

#26

I should hope so!

If a song appears embedded in this thread i will click on it and listen but i will go no further than that.

#27
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#28

I love that… but that was a while ago now mind. That album was 2004.

“Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab” was 2012 (so a while ago too).
This is a video I chopped for them out of fan footage (and a little of my camera).

The album version is much slicker obvs.

#29

Haven’t listened to Space since 6th form. Seem like a good bunch of lads, though.

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#30

In all seriousness: for balance @TrippyDippy and @AtomicFilmmaker, have a look at the My Vitriol thread. I guess Space seem like one of those bands that haven’t been in the public eye for a good 15-20 years or so (when was The Ballad Of Tom Jones released?) but don’t dick their fans around and churn out an album of genuine new material once every so often. Fair play to them.

(Female Of The Species was a late-Britpop classic, too).

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#31

I cannot help but cringe when the words ‘Space’ and ‘Britpop’ are mentioned in the same breath, cuz for me what they were doing was totally ahead of the whole ladrock/geezers with guitars game. In the pre-Kid A days they were amongst the first groups to consciously mash up rock, electronica, hip-hop and whatever style of music they could get their hands onwhich was a brave thing to do especially in a time when it was considered sacrilege for any of those camps to even coexist. I’m well aware that people nowadays will find the material on Spiders and Tin Planet tasteless and outdated, but I like to think that they helped to bridge a lot of divides and pave the way for a lot of interesting music to come.

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#32

I’m so with you…

The band never considered themselves to be Britpop - but they certainly have been grouped into that by the media.

It’ll be a taste thing for anyone who listens to them, but for me they just don’t sound like anyone else… and unlike most Britpop, nearly every song sounds totally different to the next - and the albums are vastly different from one another in style/form/genre/type.

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#33

I get what you two are saying, but:

  • they were a band who rose to fame in the later flushes of the Britpop era;
  • they were an English guitar-based indie rock band;
  • they benefitted from the general tide of enthusiasm toward music in the mid-90s (e.g. appearances on TFI Friday and so on);
  • whilst they might have been musically more diverse than, say, Oasis or Shed Seven, they still shared similar 60s/70s influences.

So I wouldn’t define them as a Britpop band but I’d define Spiders as a late-Britpop album. And it’s easy to see why the casual observer (like me!) would do so.

I think that the majority of bands of that era would probably attempt to argue that they weren’t Britpop, though.

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#34

I’d agree with that. Makes sense.

#35

Weell, SFA were doing it as well. And also Athlete - although Athlete were garbage. (Not the band).

#36

Athlete didn’t arrive til the early 2000s, and the Super Furries only really started to embrace the electronics around the time of Radiator in '97, one year after Spiders came out.

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#37

Fair enough, couldn’t remember when Athlete wee about. Always thought Fuzzy Logic has a fairly electronic sound though - been a while since I’ve heard it though!

#38

This isn’t true though

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#39

I think there are hints of electronics on there but they’re used far more subtly than how they’d be used later on.

#40

The earliest EPs were sonically diverse and included electronic elements:

E.g. Dim Brwys Dim Chwys; Blerwytirhwng.

I guess I have a slight problem with bands distancing themselves from Britpop when it was Britpop itself that launched their careers.

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