It is 1988. I am on the dancefloor of The Sugarhouse, Lancaster University's Student Union nightclub. It is a Thursday night, Indie night...of course. There are three of us dancing to McCarthy, we are the only people dancing but we are 'in the know', we are 'cool'. We are the Crucial Three....bagsy I'm not Pete Wylie.
At university friendships are often forged through music. A common interest in non-metal guitar based music released on small labels defined my closest friendships at university. If that sounds shallow that's because we were! Brothers in Mozzer quiffs and DM's, footsoldiers in the Indie Wars of the late '80's. McCarthy really fitted the bill, they were obscure, they were political and they were....really ace. I cannot tell a lie, my younger brother introduced me to McCarthy, when I got back from my first term he had 'I am a wallet' their debut album. It's a real 'strawberry switchblade' if the vicious revolutionary lyrics took some time to digest you could always understand their sweet guitar pop and often delicate music.
McCarthy- Should The Bible Be Banned
I saw McCarthy play live at Manchester Uni, they were brilliant, I knew all the songs and all the lyrics. I even wrote to their lead singer, Malcolm Eden asking if they could play in Lancaster naively believing that all they had to do was jump in their van and turn up to play at The Sugarhouse unannounced (these were the days when I still believed bands lived like The Monkees or The Beatles in 'Help').
Of course McCarthy did not trigger the fall of Western capitalism but they remind me of a time when ideas and music were important and most importantly a lot of fun.
Buy McCarthy- 'That's all very well but....'
McCarthy lyrics site
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