Finally remembered who this Ultrasound band are that Dan Hancox has been tweeting about.
If I remember correctly – and I'd long since stopped reading the NME regularly by this stage (circa 1999?) – Ultrasound were generally written about through the lens of its frontman, Tiny. And as I recall, the tenor of even the most positive of the write-ups veered into a discourse in which you didn't so much enjoy the band directly as enjoy it mediated through the unlikely success of someone with such an unlikely pop body. That is, the triumph of Ultrasound was to be experienced almost Avatar-style, by placing oneself in Tiny's shoes and vicariously feeling the victory of the underdog.
There must be an article/essay/paper/MA thesis to be written here – essentially on how fat people in pop are written about – a kind of discourse analysis, perhaps in four parts, comparing features on Ultrasound with those on Beth Ditto, and outside indie, on Michelle McManus and Rik Waller. Maybe Adele too... I don't think anyone ever raises Ceee-Lo's weight in profiles or interviews.
But this all hangs on that initial IIRC. And maybe I Don't Recall Correctly.
3 comments:
I mentioned their reformation to a friend who worked in the industry around that time. We watched a youtube video, and she remembered with incredulity the bidding war that they managed to instigate... I mean, they were awful, no?
(also, if you look at the comments on their youtube videos, you can find what appear to be the seeds of their re-appearance being sown...)
Ah yes, the glorious history of the music industry bidding war.
Yet again, the market fails us!
Sweet jesus. Ultrasound. I'm getting all sorts of memory tremors of Gay Dads and Select magazines and such like. I honestly don't think I would have ever thought of Ultrasound again in my life if it weren't for this - so, thanks, I guess!
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