I have owned two items in my lifetime which I would classify as being ‘Fine Young Cannibals-related’. The $2 Indonesian bootleg tape of their sophomore album, The Raw And The Cooked, easily enough fits that description, however a 2007 ‘Pet of the Year’ edition of Australian Penthouse Magazine usually requires a little further explanation.
My introduction to the Fine Young Cannibals, as with most new music during 1989, was through a bootleg cassette. I would like to think that my father brought that cassette back from Indonesia at my behest, and that I played it the whole way through as a child, however I’ll admit that both of these are unlikely. As I recall it, after initially battering the singles She Drives Me Crazy and Good Thing, the tape was retired from my oversized 80’s boombox to the purgatory of my music storage cupboard, where it would sit unplayed for the following 14 years waiting to be rediscovered.
During the early part of this decade my music tastes expanded considerably, and by 2004 I was just beginning to become comfortable enough in my own musical skin to openly like great commercial pop songs again. Admittedly though, it did still help if I could justify them somehow.
Drawn back to The Raw And The Cooked by the promise of pop gold, I also found more than enough justification to (again?) fall in love with the album’s ten near-perfect pop gems. Starting from the end, the album concludes with a cover of the Buzzcocks’ punk anthem Ever Fallen In Love? Added to this was the fact that FYC had risen from the ashes of ska band the Beat (known as the English Beat in the US courtesy of a Phil Collins lawsuit). Thanks to Solid Steel stalwarts DJ Food and DK, the Beat’s hit Mirror In The Bathroom was fresh on my mind in the form of a bootleg version which topped it with an early Roni Size d’n’b number to rousing effect.
Clocking in at a little over half an hour and spanning at least six genres, The Raw And The Cooked took some surprising directions for a chart-topping pop album, particularly in the form of Don’t Let It Get You Down. Listening to the tech bassline and the acid squelches in the chorus I was convinced that I had found a long lost tech-pop gem. Having only been properly introduced to Detroit Techno and Acid that year, I felt that this song tied FYC to respected and renowned acts such as Inner City, produced by Detroit originator Kevin Saunderson. The four bars of Kraftwerk-esque sounds at 2:58 were an added bonus. To this day, it remains one of my two favourite FYC tunes.
The other song is unquestionably She Drives Me Crazy. There was an all-too-long period of my life in which it inhabited some sort of purgatorial space created specifically for ghosts of pop songs past, and it took a co-starring role in my sole bongo magazine purchase of this decade to seal its immortality.
Disappointed by the prevalence of plastic-based lifeforms in the 2007 ‘Pet of the Year’ Edition of Australian Penthouse, I was trying to wring the most out of my $12 investment by reading the articles. In a written account of the Penthouse Pet of the Year competition at Crown Casino, the author detailed his astonishment at a conversation that took place between him and his friend, which I have paraphrased as follows:
*Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy begins playing on the P.A.*
friend: “I haven’t heard this song for ages. It really is incredible!”
author: “You are sitting here in front of these 12 women on stage and you comment on the music?”
friend: “Seriously though, listen to that beat!”
Predictably enough, the author concluded the article with a poorly written punchline wholeheartedly dissing the Fine Young Cannibals, and calling into question his friend’s sexuality.
I, however, concur with the friend.
Album:
Fine Young Cannibals - The Raw And The Cooked
Tracks:
The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love? (With Someone You Should'nt've)
The Beat/Mask - Mirror In The Bathroom/Square Off
Rhythm Is Rhythm - It Is What It Is
Inner City - Ain't Nobody Better
Kraftwerk - Numbers
