Bad Manners
Posted by Thurston in Bad Manners, MCA, Ska
Bad Manners are a long-established English 2 Tone ska band. Fronted by Buster Bloodvessel (born Douglas Trendle), the band was formed in 1976 while the members were together at Woodberry Down Comprehensive School near Manor House, North London, and among their early incarnations were known as Standback or Stoop Solo & The Sheet Starchers.
None of the members had any formal musical training, however they were accomplished musicians. Bad Manners were at their most popular during the late 1970s and early 1980s, during a period when lots of similar ska bands filled the charts such as Madness and The Specials.
Some of Bad Manners more notable hits include "My Girl Lollipop", "Lip Up Fatty", "Ne Ne Na Na Na Na Nu Nu", "Special Brew", "Lorraine", "Just A Feeling", "Walking In The Sunshine" and the "Can Can". Bad Manners are perhaps most renowned for their song, "Special Brew". The song is ambiguous in meaning, but the most common interpretation is that it is a love song to the famous alcoholic drink after which it appears to be named.
One of the main reasons for their notoriety was due to their outlandish, larger-than-life, huge tongued and shaven-headed frontman, Buster Bloodvessel. His manic exploits got them banned from the British BBC TV chart show Top of the Pops[citation needed](which included dressing as Henry VIII and singing to a blow-up doll for the song "Lorraine", pouring a large can of baked beans over his head, and dressing in a can-can dancer's dress to promote their single "Can-Can"). They were also banned from Italian TV when Buster had decided after a particularly successful concert that he should moon the crowd, having been told that the Pope was watching on TV.[1]
Bad Manners spent 111 weeks in the British singles charts between 1980 and 1983.
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