Back to the 80s again… When I was having a look at some old editions of Record Mirror online, I hoped that there would be some more groups to discover that I previously wasn’t familiar with. I did come across an article that jumped out at me, because some people who looked interesting were featured, and I was pleased to find out that, even though they never made the Top 100, they did make a good single or two.
Hey! Elastica (not to be confused with a very similarly-named group who did have some success on the chart in the mid-90s) were a Edinburgh-based group where it seemed that having big red hair was a part of the style. In October 1982 their first single “Eat Your Heart Out” was released. Smash Hits seemed to be rather impressed by this, and presumed that an appearance on Top Of The Pops wouldn’t be too far away (although we now though that this wasn’t to be).
It seems that they did perform this on TV. I found out that they appeared on a BBC1 show called BA In Music, hosted by pop star BA Robertson, so I would presume that it’s from that? The picture quality isn’t very good though, maybe they were pretty underground. This was something that I enjoyed though, and I was keen to discover more from them.
In March 1983 “Suck A Little Honey” was released, which got a less positive review from Smash Hits, and this was followed in October 1983 by “Party Games”, which was more appreciated, as the critic said “there’s always something interesting going on”. These weren’t hits either though, and they don’t seem to have a video either. In January 1984, their final single “This Town” was released.
There was a video made for this one, and you see can it on their Vevo and everything. Not long after, their only album “In On The Off Beat” was released, but wasn’t a hit (and I presume that their singles that were released in a few European countries weren’t hits there either), and it seems that they went their separate ways not long after. But the story doesn’t end there.
When trying to find out some more about 90s pop music, I was watching a video from a group that I wasn’t familiar with. I noticed that one of the comments said “is that the woman who used to be in Hey! Elastica?”. I was intrigued, and I had to find out more. The Apples were a Scottish group, who featured former members of Win, best-known for their song “You’ve Got The Power”, which was used on a famous advert for McEwan’s Lager, and seemed to be shown in every other advert break on TV for about five years.
The line-up also featured someone called Samantha, who indeed had previously been a member of Hey! Elastica. And look at her hair! The Apples released a few singles, and in March 1991 “Eye Wonder” reached no. 75. It took almost a decade, but she had finally featured on a hit single. And again, they released only one album which wasn’t a success, before coming to an end.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 