The Ting Tings, championed here on ELM, held off Madonna to hit Number 1 in the UK Pop Pickers chart yesterday. Which is weird, because the song (‘That’s Not My Name’) wasn’t exactly all over the radio, has been out before and it is a strange, arthythmic thing. ELM Towers are off to see the band at a sold-out but small venue on Saturday night and it is going to be a strange experience as it will be now filled with young people. Young people annoy me at the best of times, but at gigs? Fuck me. Get away from the bar! Shut the fuck up during quiet songs! Pull your fucking trousers up!
It also brings up the question – will we still like them now everyone else does? Let’s face it, we all deny it, but how many of you have never succumbed to the ‘big-is-bad’ mentality? I have metaphorically scratched the face off people for doing it in th past – ‘just like what you like, what does it matter if they sell a lot of records, you’re only saying it to be cool’….but, yeah, I have lost interest in bands when they’ve committed the mortal sin of, erm, making a good record and selling a few copies of it. Nirvana were a great case in point. As soon as we saw girls in school with Kurt Cobain t-shirts, then it was all Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr. round our way. ‘Sell-Outs!’ we scream. And why? Because we are jealous that OUR wee secret has been found. We hate that people who don’t invest anywhere near as much time in music as we do can just come in and steal our bands. It just seems so…..easy.
So is this simply an unavoidable side-effect of being a self-confessed music snob? Is there anything which can be done for those of us afflicted, or do we simply clutch our impossibly cool and rare SST albums and accept our fate? Who knows. If my review says ‘Fucking Ting-Ting Sell-Out Cunts’ then you will know what has happened!
Filed under: General Stuff | Tagged: great DJ, Nirvana, Sellout., that's not my name, Ting Tings
Well, you once left a comment on my site saying that “video killed the radio star” was a great song, so I think that you are more in touch with bland taste than you care to admit!
Just kidding…
Honestly…
…I know that you would admit it!
The other explanation, of course, is that you are a serious tastemaker and it is no coincidence therefore that they are #1 after featuring here!
Either that or Westend Wookie has just spent all of his pocket money getting them to the top spot!
‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ is the finest three minutes you will ever hear. FACT.
Saw the ting tings on Jules Holland a couple of months back, never heard of them before then.
They played “That’s not my name”
I loved it.
Don’t give a flying fuck about the charts or whether a band is popular or not, life’s too short. If you like, you like.
Sharing a venue with little squealing teeny bastards is another matter though, that’s just fucking annoying…
Seriously? Video killed the radio star…wtf!
You’d be as well recommending shite like ‘Hey Micky’
Perfect Pop, Chucky, Perfect Pop!
I do love TTT’s….I admit it. It’s just when they start to appear in the Daily record and get played by Chris Moyles….they can’t help but lose some allure.
Though if they get really big and she feels like getting her paps out for a mag, well, there’s a cilver lining to every cloud.
Oh, and LO, I like the thought that it was ELM wot won it for the Ting Tings!
As much as I’d like to take the credit…
I will. Yes, i admit it, it was me. I bought the lot.
I now have 30,000 unused and unwanted Ting Tings singles in my basement, next to the well, a small dog, a copy of ‘Goodbye Horses’ by Q Lazarus, and a bottle of lotion…………..
I fear I may have said too much.
You may get the hose alright!
That raises an interesting point….no not the lotion!
How many singles did they sell to get to #1?
Only sources I can find are from the industry/charts themselves so I’m extremely sceptical about anything those lying cunts say… but last year there were 9 singles which shifted in excess of 100k units. Another industry source said that a typical single shifting 120k units will make #1 and 25k units the top 10.
Complete and utter shoite! For a start those figures are I’m guessing to retail and not over the counter so all those dusty rudebox albums which were sent to china to make new roads have actually been counted as ‘Sales’….
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/rudebox%20to%20pave%20chinese%20roads_1056430
now that’s fuckin hilarious.
Secondly, I don’t think they are referring to download sales either as like any dinosaur they haven’t quite caught up to the technological 00′s (naughties
)
If I had to guess how many physical copies of the ting tings single were sold in shops to actual humans (I use that term loosely), my guess would be about 7.5k tops … anyone care to refine that?
Which raises the question; why, lotion boy did you buy 30 fucking thousand of those bad boys?
Tell you what I cant stand…….festivals. T In the Park, particularly. You know, all those cunts who NEVER go and see bands go and get them all in the one weekend. It’s the gig-going equivalent of shopping at The Big W. All the “young people” at my work get all excited about going to T (as they refer to it) and think that they’re music fans. Fuck off and die. It makes me understand the motivation of the Columbine killers a bit better. “Oh, yeah, Tabatha, the Kaisers were sooooooo good!” And dont you just hate the way they shorten every band name?
Go and see a band on a Wednesday when its fucking raining you cunts.
Rant over. That feels better.
Perfect pop….that somehow isnt cool at the same time ?
Mr Blue Sky by ELO .
Cant believe Ive shared my dirty little secret !
Don’t like The Ting Tings. They appear to be shite, but that’s just me. Gigs are okay as long as they’re not too busy, you can get to the bar, people don’t talk through them etc. Festivals are a nightmare. Young people are a nightmare. I agree with howling…we need a cull from time to time. Keep the c***s in society down to manageable numbers.
Can I just ask, how the fuck did you get from how many single sales it get to number 1 to culling young fuckwits in two comments? Drugs hae been consumed, me thinks.
Can I just ask, how the fuck did you get from how many single sales it get to number 1 to culling young fuckwits in two comments? Drugs hae been consumed, me thinks.
Actually, if you read the thread again, we have gone from singles sales to psycho comments to singles sales to psycho comments. The two definitely go hand-in-hand!
Vintage style rantings of a well loved lunatic. Educational – yet hilarious. I’m so glad I subscribed.
Having been off the planet in an alcohol soaked haze these past few weeks on paid leave, I am now faced with screeds to study up on – ELM – I appreciate your angst at the burgeoning popularity of one of your (until recently) well kept pop/hottie secrets hitting no.1, but this is kind… of…. what your perpetuating with this site, lol.
I actually take heed of your recommendations, be they be afternoon bletherings, or your articulations of the wee hours. The site is fab, I love it, the posts are often hilarious, if a little gross (I swear – the blog with the phrase “swallowing a cup of menstrual fluid” still haunts me) and more often than not, I’m learning something.
Strangely more about new music than old, (I know more than I thought I did for an 80′s child), and it’s excellent. Keep it up, and I’ll sure as damnit keep reading
Good god,man;
Because we are working out how many young fuckwits we could cull through remote detonation cd single fragmentation devices.
Evangelisti, thank you very much. We try at ELM to appeal to the lovers of the scabrous and loathers of the inane. Your kind words are much appreciated!
I loved the Jam unerrringly throughout my teenage years and they were frequently no1 in the charts. however I did maintain my “cool status” by liking other obscure bands which no other fucker had ever heard of. usually there was a reason for that – they were generally pish. Most obscure purchase ever?
I am Cold by Rip Rig and Panic
I bought it on the strength of an absolutely top tune called Storm the Reality Asylum and the rest of it is god-awful
most obscure purchases might be a good thread mr ELM?
That doens’t count – there was a time in the mists of the past where you got to number 1 because you were good and sensible people bought your records, not because Daddy put £40 in your download account.
1. People should really stop worrying about who’s number one and how that reflects on the cool status of a band. I rarely keep up with the charts nowadays as it effects me and my taste in music so little that you might as well pick them out of a hat (which I suspect they do anyway.)
2. Festivals are amazing and I love going to them. I am poor and can’t afford to go to proper gigs and so going to the festivals lets me save up my pennies and see everyone in one go. Does this make me less of a music fan?
No, Pac, it doesn’t. In some ways it makes you a bigger person than some of us.
What i would say is your festival idea is a wee bit of a false economy really. Depending on the festival, you’re talking close to £200 for a ticket, plus travel and the cost of camping etc. If you are genuinely interested in seeing some great live music, and not hanging about in a field with your mates, you’d be better concentrating on gigs at smaller venues wherever you are, and keeping your eye out for bands on the way up – its a much cheaper (and more intimate) way to see some great stuff all year round.
Unless you live in London, then I’d suggest you move.
I’m a regular at gigs costing well under a tenner. How you imbibe your music is up to you, so long as you do Pac!