Television Personalities (band)

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The Television Personalities
Dan Treacy in 1982
Dan Treacy in 1982
Background information
Origin England
Genre(s) Post-Punk
Punk Rock
Indie pop
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards
Years active 1978 - Present

Television Personalities is an English post-punk group with a varying line up. The only constant member is singer/songwriter Dan Treacy.

One of the original punk rock groups, their first release (January 1978) was the single "14th Floor / Oxford Street W1". Their second release, the EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? features one of their best known songs: "Part Time Punks".

Their first album And Don't the Kids Just Love It was released in 1981. It set the template for their subsequent career: neo-psychedelia, an obsession with youth culture of the 1960s, a fey, slightly camp lyrical attitude, and the occasional classic pop song. Their second album Mummy Your [sic] Not Watching Me demonstrated increased psychedelic influences. Their third album, ironically entitled They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles showed Treacy's sense of irony: the TVPs (as they are affectionately known) were never to have any major commercial success. The first three albums featured Treacy and schoolmate Ed Ball; Ball left the band to found The Times, but rejoined in 2004.

The 1985 album The Painted Word was unexpectedly dark in content, reflecting Treacy's despair at Thatcherite Britain and his personal circumstances.

Various line up changes prevented their next album (Privilege) from appearing until 1990. Their next album Closer to God was a combination of fey sixties style pop and darker material, similar in tone to The Painted Word.

The album Don't Cry Baby, It's Only a Movie was released in 1998. Since then Treacy has battled mental health problems, and his addictions to heroin, amphetamine and alcohol. He has been homeless on various occasions and was briefly arrested and imprisoned in 2003/2004. However, since his release, Treacy has attempted to get his life back together and in February 2006 a new TVPs album My Dark Places was released. Despite their small sales the TVPs were very influential on British music in the 1980s, especially the so-called C86 generation and many of the bands on Creation Records.

In an article in The Guardian on April 24 2006, it was implied that Dan Treacy is in some way behind the Arctic Monkeys, although this is based on little more than a perceived similarity between their lyrical style and that of Treacy, and the fact that the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys is mysteriously not credited with their songwriting.[1]

Contents

[edit] References to Popular Culture

Treacy is notorious for the numerous popular culture references and in-jokes scattered throughout the TVPs' lyrics, album titles and record artwork. Most of the references are to (mostly British) cult films, 1960s culture and forgotten or underappreciated musicians and celebrities.

What follows is a partial list of the these references.

[edit] Film

  • Woody Allen — The song "Little Woody Allen" is named after the American filmmaker. He is also mentioned in "Salvador Dali's Garden Party."
  • The Angry Silence — The first song on the TVPs' debut full-length is called "This Angry Silence."
  • Dr. Strangelove — "How I Learned to Love the Bomb" is named after the full title of this Stanley Kubrick film.
  • The Elephant Man — "Arthur the Gardener" features a quote from this David Lynch film.
  • Girl on a Motorcycle — The TVPs have a song named after this Marianne Faithfull/Alain Delon film.
  • Grand Illusion — "Le Grande Illusion" (the film's original French language title) is the name of a song on the TVPs' debut album.
  • If... — The Lindsay Anderson film (starring Treacy favorite Malcolm McDowell) is quoted in several songs, including "Paradise Is For The Blessed" and "Not Even a Maybe."
  • King & Country — The TVPs named a song after this film by Joseph Losey. Several other Losey films are referenced in the TVPs' work, and "I See Myself in You" mentions Losey by name.
  • A Life of Her Own — The song "A Life of Her Own" is named after this George Cukor film.
  • Look Back in Anger — The last song on the TVPs' debut full-length is named after the film version of this famous play.
  • Privilege — The name of the band's fifth album is taken from this 1967 by Peter Watkins. The band's third album credits Steven Shorter](the main character of Privilege) as producer.
  • Smashing Time — One of the TVPs' early singles was named after this Swinging London comedy.
  • A Taste of Honey — A major character from this popular "kitchen sink drama," Geoffrey Ingram, shows up in a lot of the Television Personalities' early work. See the In-Jokes section for the entry on him.
  • Being John Malkovich — the 1999 film is mentioned in "The Eminem Song."

[edit] Television

[edit] Celebrities, Musicians and Artists

  • Syd Barrett — The band's debut album features a song called "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives." In imitation of Barrett's own solo work, the song is significantly calmer than the rest of the album, and features mildly psychedelic studio effects (such as chirping birds).
  • The Byrds — The Byrds song "Eight Miles High" is frequently quoted both lyrically and musically by Treacy. The guitar solo on "King & Country" is based on the one in "Eight Miles High." Byrds member Roger McGuinn is also mentioned in the song "You, Me and Lou Reed."
  • Salvador Dalí — The TVPs' fifth album, Privilege, features a song called "Salvador Dali's Garden Party."
  • David Hockney — "David Hockney's Diaries" is the name of a song on the band's second album.
  • The Jam — In "Geoffrey Ingram," Geoffrey and the narrator go to see The Jam play at the Marquee Club. Jam song titles are also quoted in TVPs lyrics, and the song "And Don't The Kids Just Love It" mentions Jam bassist Bruce Foxton getting all the girls.
  • Roy Lichtenstein — The TVPs' label, Whaam!, was named after one of Lichtenstein's paintings. "Lichtenstein Painting" is the name of a song on the band's second album. An earlier version of the song (released by Treacy under the name The Gifted Children) was called "Lichtenstein Girl."
  • Joan Miro — "An Exhibition by Joan Miro" is a song on the band's fifth album.
  • The Monochrome Set — Treacy references this band, contemporaries of the Television Personalities.
  • Joe Orton — The British playwright's death at the hands of his lover Kenneth Halliwell is referenced in the song "God Snaps His Fingers" (the song's title is itself a quote from a novel co-written by Orton and Halliwell). The song "The Good and Faithful Servant" is named after one of Orton's plays.
  • Poly Styrene — The lead singer of X-Ray Spex is mentioned in "Happy Families," along with Joe Strummer.
  • Rita Tushingham — The actress is mentioned in "Favourite Films." Several films of her films from the 1960s are also mentioned in TVPs songs.
  • Victor Vasarely — The painter is mentioned in "The Painter Word Pt. 2." Fellow Op Art artist Bridget Riley has a song named after her ("I Remember Bridget Riley").
  • Andy Warhol — The Pop Art maverick is often mentioned in Television Personalities songs.
  • The O-Level — Ed Ball's other band at the time, mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • The Lurkers — Punk band mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • The Clash — Legendary punk band mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • Siouxsie And The Banshees — Punk band led by Siouxsie Sioux mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • John Peel — Influential UK radio DJ and early champion of the band, mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • In the song "Goodnight Mr. Spaceman," Treacy relates that he wishes he'd signed to Alan McGee's Creation label (McGee was an avid supporter of the TVPs), feels like Edvard Munch, and can't dance like Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie.

[edit] In-Jokes

  • Geoffrey Ingram — Ingram (sometimes spelled Ingrams) is a character from Shelagh Delaney's play "A Taste of Honey" (which was made into a popular film starring Rita Tushingham in 1961). He is often quoted and referenced in the TVPs' early work. The TVPs' debut album has a song about him (titled simply "Geoffrey Ingram").
  • Fake Producers — The band's self-produced albums often credit fictional producers. (Example: The first album is "produced" by "Vic Hammersmith-Broadway," a amalgamation of Jam producer Vic Coopersmith-Heaven and a lyric from "Geoffrey Ingram": "Geoffrey's got a nice new suit, he bought it yesterday/Ten pounds in an Oxfam shop near Hammersmith Broadway")

[edit] Other

  • Carnaby Street — Treacy visits the site of the the 1960s' most fashionable boutiques in "Smashing Time."
  • The Glittering Prizes
  • The Perfumed Garden — The song "In A Perfumed Garden" is named after John Peel's pirate radio show (itself named after a work by Shaykh Nefzawi).
  • King's Road — Referenced in several songs (including the seminal "Part Time Punks"), this Swinging London locale is close to where lead singer Dan Treacy was born.
  • Read About Seymour — A song by their contemporaries Swell Maps mentioned in "Part Time Punks".
  • Rough Trade — Popular London record store, later expanded and included a record label and distribution company. Mentioned in "Part Time Punks".

[edit] Discography (studio albums)

  • And Don't the Kids Just Love It - 1981
  • Mummy Your Not Watching Me - 1982
  • They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles - 1982
  • The Painted Word - 1985
  • Privilege - 1990
  • Closer to God - 1992
  • I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod - 1996
  • Don't Cry Baby, It's Only a Movie - 1998
  • And They All Lived Happily Ever After - 2005
  • My Dark Places - 2006
  • Are We Nearly There Yet? - 2007

See also a more complete discography here.

[edit] External links

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