Who remembers Battle? Yeeeaaaaahhhhh – wait, no? I can’t blame you. The band wasn’t around for too long. Two years apparently. And this is the only song of theirs that played on any kind of medium as far I can recall.
“Children” did not make it onto either of the two albums that Battle made, being a single-only release.
The video played on MTV2, and I thought it was alright. I remembered the line, “If we are the only ones, I will disappear” for a while. I wasn’t able to listen to it for some time once the video stopped circulating on the channel, cos downloading sites had no idea who the band was and YouTube had only just become a site.
I was amused when the lead singer randomly started screaming too….. Thinking about it, screaming probably isn’t the right word. If there is a word for putting a lot of effort into the delivery of lines, it would have been useful. Here areother songs the band have written.
I undertook on a Blur marathon earlier this year. Putting my Premium Spotify account to good use, I decided to listen the band’s discography. It was not a continuous action so marathon may not be the right word, but it took me a weekend to get from “Leisure” to “Think Tank“. It was not just those original albums either; they included the bonus discs including B-Sides, demos and live material that accompanied each album as part of the “Blur 21” compilation. It was a lot of hours well spent. That ‘event’ also helped me to realise how much good music the band actually made. Before, I just had the Best Of compilation and thought that was fine, but the deep cuts are just as good. Buy albums. Compilations are useless. Blur is probably one of my favourite bands now, and it only took a weekend of their music to make me see the light.
That’s enough of that.
“Chemical World” is a tune from the band’s ‘fuck you America’ album “Modern Life Is Rubbish“. It was also released as its second single in 1993.
Like many other songs I have on my iPod, this was one that I first heard/saw when its video played on MTV2. Then, I didn’t think much of the song. That’s how I feel with pretty much everything I listen to. But its chorus was quite memorable and embedded itself in my head, even though I had no idea what Damon was singing in the verses.
Fast forward a few years later and do what I describe in the opening paragraph, I couldn’t wait for the song to start because it was the only song – apart from “For Tomorrow” that I would be familiar with. Well, that and “Sunday Sunday” but that’s a different story.
Listening to the lyrics now, still not sure what it’s about. I initially assumed it was a song about the environment seeing as it was called “Chemical World” and mentions of “putting the holes in”. It may be about drugs – it’s all very metaphorical.
When watching MTV2 in 2007, the video for “Cheer It On” played in a program showing all the brand new music that was coming out at the time. I heard it that one time and liked it a lot, but the video was barely played on the channel again. I saw the last few seconds of it by chance when I switched the TV using the remote, but then never saw it the channel again.
Thank goodness for YouTube, which at this point did exist, as I could watch it over and over again without having to wait for another music video to finish. The song is only two minutes long, is performed at a rapid rate and the video has no fancy concept so the track never got tiresome.
Essentially the tune is the band’s theme song – being released on their first EP as the first track.
I was hoping the band would become one of my new favourites but it was not meant to be. I was very excited when “Your English Is Good” came out, that is a fine piece, but… I don’t know. Maybe I should listen to “Elephant Shell” again. It is not too late.
It is 2006 again, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs release their new album “Show Your Bones”. MTV2 were really happy that the band had returned. It was three years since YYYs released their debut, and the channel dedicated a day to the band by showing the video for “Gold Lion” every hour.
But this post isn’t about that song. No. Obviously. It’s about “Cheated Hearts”. Fast forward a few months later after the album’s release, and the video for the new single was being shown quite frequently.
The band appear in it for a few seconds, but it is mostly made up of clips of fans who are imitating them. They make a real effort of it too.
MTV2 censored a part when some dudes look like they are using an iron on someone’s back, and when the same three people each show the ‘fuck off’ sign to the camera, even though they are meant to be symbolising the YYY sign. It was all very strange.
But yeah, the video would play on the channel and I eventually grew to like the song. I present it to you now.
This is one of my favourite songs by Supergrass. It is one of my favourites from “In It for the Money”. The only problem I have with it is that compared to other songs on the album, it is too short. It is probably for the best though.
I am very sure that “Cheapskate” was in a holiday advert from years and years ago that was on the television. I know it has been used in a film or two, but I am certain I remember it being played for about 30 seconds somewhere else…
The music video was never shown in the United Kingdom. It was a US only single though and got into one of the many music charts that the country has. The band also chose not to release the video on their ‘best of’ DVD for reasons unknown.
The opportunity for me to see the ‘lost’ Cheapskate video was back when I was twelve or so. I randomly searched ‘Supergrass – Cheapskate’ into YouTube, and to my surprise it was there. The version here is what I watched, and is quite different to the one above. The speakers for the family computer were busted, so I had to make do with opening iTunes and playing the song along with the video. A minor inconvenience, yes, but it all worked out well in the end.
But why do I like “Cheapskate” so much? Well the song starts off with this funky groove, apparently influenced by Kool & the Gang according to the band themselves, which carries on through the verses before launching into an atmospheric chorus where the guitar blares out its chords and the overall volume of the song just rises. That along with its lyrics, “I need someone to be around ‘cos I’m breaking into life/Somebody stop me, ‘cos I’m looking for my high.”, just makes me feel warm and very happy inside.
What is the song about? Haven’t got a clue. Why is it called “Cheapskate”? The word isn’t mentioned once in the lyrics, so your guess is as good as mine. What matters is, I like it, you should probably listen to it, and try and find that advert that I talked about because it is really bugging me just thinking about it.
The Music in My Ears 