The Hit Parade
Encyclopedia
The Hit Parade is a British
pop music
group, based in London
, England
. Named after the NBC
US
television program
me, Your Hit Parade
, which was broadcast across America in the 1950s as a showcase of the best of chart music, The Hit Parade was formed in 1984, by three schoolfriends Raymond Watts, Matthew Moffatt and Julian Henry. The group have released six album
s and eleven singles
to date.
and Einstürzende Neubauten
, who were both recording there at the time. The Hit Parade's early records "My Favourite Girl" and "The Sun Shines In Gerrards Cross" became 'Singles of the Week' in Melody Maker
and Record Mirror
, and were played on BBC Radio 1
by DJs including John Peel
, David "Kid" Jensen
and Janice Long
.
The Hit Parade have never been commercially successful, in part because, the three core members have been occupied in other careers. Watts moved to Berlin
in 1989 to record with industrial rock acts, Henry developed a successful career in marketing and journalism, while Moffatt founded his own film lighting company. But they have continued to release records to the current day. They proclaim the Latin motto "Semper Eadem" ("always the same") on their records
.
in the UK, producing 7" vinyl singles in limited editions. The first six of these singles, carrying the catalogue reference JSH 1 through to JSH 6 have become collectible. In 1985, The Hit Parade became the last group signed to Stiff Records
by label chief Dave Robinson. Material was recorded for Stiff, but the label went out of business before anything (other than a track on a compilation album
) was released.
In 1988, él records label boss Mike Alway introduced Henry to Jessica and Miranda Griffin of indie band Would-be-goods
. Henry arranged nine of the original twelve songs on the band's first album, The Camera Loves Me. In the 1990s, The Hit Parade signed to the Sarah Records
label, and recorded "In Gunnersbury Park", an ode to Gunnersbury Park
, the West London civic garden. Henry, and Harvey Williams from Another Sunny Day
, performed at the Sarah Records farewell concert on board the Thekla Boat, permanently moored in Bristol
, in 1995.
In the mid 1990s, The Hit Parade started to become popular in Japan, as a part of a neo acoustic movement that celebrated British indie bands such as The Pastels
and Haircut One Hundred. The Hit Parade signed to Vinyl Japan and later Polystar Records. They had a Top 20 indie hit with "Hello Hannah Hello". They toured Japan several times, performed at the opening of the Virgin Megastore
in Shinjuku, Tokyo, appeared on MTV
Japan and other TV shows. They signed to Minty Fresh
Records, Chicago
, in the United States
and released their first US single, "Hello Hannah Hello".
In 2006, The Hit Parade released The Return Of The Hit Parade, their fifth album. It was the result of a three year collaboration between Henry and St Etienne producer / engineer / musician, Ian Catt. Their ninth single "My Stupid Band" was released at this time. The album also contained two songs set in coastal villages in Penwith
, West Cornwall; "The Queen of Mousehole
" and "Born in St Ives
". In the same year, the Hit Parade single "You Didn't Love Me Then", appeared on Sanctuary Records
C86
double album
Cd86: The Birth Of Indie Pop. In 2009, various new songs set in Penwith, Cornwall, have appeared on the band's MySpace page, including "Garage In Drift", "Treen Girl" and "Rainy Day In Newlyn".
The band released their tenth single in October 2010, a duet featuring Cath Carroll and Julian Henry named "I Like Bubblegum" b/w "Zennor Mermaid" on 7" vinyl on JSH Records. The single raised money for the Porthmeor Studio in St Ives Cornwall restoration fund. It was voted one of the best singles of 2010 by Drowned In Sound. In May 2011 they released their 11th single 'There's Something About Mary', described as 'a bona fide pop smash' by Drowned In Sound. The B-side contains a tribute to 90s Sarah Records
signing Brighter, named 'The Boy Who Loves Brighter'.
, Mexico), "Huebos Mexica" (Zona Rosa, Zocalo, Mexico City
), "Road To Beaconsfield" (Beaconsfield
, Bull Lane Tennis Club Gerrards Cross
), "Wipe Away the Tears" (Acton, London), "So This Is London" (London, Regent's Street), "Born In St Ives" (St Ives, Cornwall
), "The Queen Of Mousehole
" (Mousehole
, Cornwall
), "Westbourne Terrace W2", "Autobiography" (Goodwin Sands
, Kent), "Gunnersbury Park", West London, "So Said Kayo" (Nagoya TV Tower
, Mr Donut, Tokyo Hands Dept Store).
The Hit Parade song, "Grace Darling", tells her heroic story
, and appeared on their fourth album, The Sound of The Hit Parade.
Various Hit Parade songs refer to writers and their work, including "The Road To Beaconsfield" (George Orwell
, Enid Blyton
), "As I Lay Dying" (William Faulkner
), "House Of Sarah" Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited
), "Huebos Mexicana" (Jack Kerouac
, William S. Burroughs
, Ernest Hemingway
, Malcolm Lowry
, Ken Kesey
), "See You In Havana" (Hemingway) and others. The band's artwork features literary locations including Eric Blair (George Orwell
), Wordsworth (Grasmere
, Cumbria), Derek Jarman
(Dungeness), Colerige (Alfoxden Park), Ian Fleming & Noel Coward
(St Margarets Bay).
Several of the Hit Parade's songs reference other indie pop landmarks including "Harvey", "House Of Sarah", "Are You Scared To Be Happy?", "Boy Who Loves Brighter" and others as was referenced in the Guardian article in June 2011.
The band's 10th single 'I Like Bubblegum' features a duet between Julian Henry and Cath Carroll
.
During the 1990s, The Hit Parade toured Japan four times, playing concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. They toured with Billy Childish
and his group the Milkshakes, and later with Edwyn Collins
.
The last time The Hit Parade played live, was in 2006 in London. Henry and Williams played several concerts in London and Oxford in 2009, including at the London Indiepop Festival where they were given a warm welcome.
, releasing seventeen albums. As well as touring extensively in North America, Japan and Europe, Watts has recorded many albums with KMFDM
, including a platinum selling track on the video game movie Mortal Kombat. In 2009, Watts co-produced the music for fashion designer Alexander McQueen
's last Paris show.
The Hit Parade's drummer, Matthew Moffatt, runs a London based film lighting company, working with directors including Mike Leigh
, Kathryn Bigelow
and Paul Greengrass
. Moffatt is credited on several Hollywood and British produced films including the Oscar winning Hurt Locker, and the Oscar nominated Vera Drake
and United 93
.
The Hit Parade's guitarist, Julian Henry
, founded the public releations agency Henry's House, is a trustee of The Institute of Contemporary Arts
(ICA, London), is an advisor to Simon Fuller
, and has written for periodicals including NME
, Music Week
and The Guardian
on both music and marketing.
Other members included Cath Carroll, Harvey Williams and Mike Watts.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group, based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Named after the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
me, Your Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...
, which was broadcast across America in the 1950s as a showcase of the best of chart music, The Hit Parade was formed in 1984, by three schoolfriends Raymond Watts, Matthew Moffatt and Julian Henry. The group have released six album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s and eleven singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
to date.
Background
The Hit Parade are from the suburbs to the west of London. The band recorded their first three singles in the Raymond Watt's garage, working alongside experimental noise groups Psychic TVPsychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
and Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
, who were both recording there at the time. The Hit Parade's early records "My Favourite Girl" and "The Sun Shines In Gerrards Cross" became 'Singles of the Week' in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
and Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
, and were played on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
by DJs including John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, David "Kid" Jensen
David Jensen
David "Kid" Jensen , is a Danish Canadian-born, British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in a Danish family residing Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in...
and Janice Long
Janice Long
Janice Long is an English radio broadcaster currently working on BBC Radio 2. Her show is on Sunday to Thursday nights from midnight to 02:00. She is the older sister of TV and radio personality Keith Chegwin.-Early career:...
.
The Hit Parade have never been commercially successful, in part because, the three core members have been occupied in other careers. Watts moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1989 to record with industrial rock acts, Henry developed a successful career in marketing and journalism, while Moffatt founded his own film lighting company. But they have continued to release records to the current day. They proclaim the Latin motto "Semper Eadem" ("always the same") on their records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
.
Recordings
The Hit Parade record for the JSH record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in the UK, producing 7" vinyl singles in limited editions. The first six of these singles, carrying the catalogue reference JSH 1 through to JSH 6 have become collectible. In 1985, The Hit Parade became the last group signed to Stiff Records
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
by label chief Dave Robinson. Material was recorded for Stiff, but the label went out of business before anything (other than a track on a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
) was released.
In 1988, él records label boss Mike Alway introduced Henry to Jessica and Miranda Griffin of indie band Would-be-goods
Would-be-goods
Would-be-goods are a British indie pop band fronted by singer Jessica Griffin, noted for her precise received pronunciation accent when singing . Their name was inspired by the 1899 adventure story by children's author E...
. Henry arranged nine of the original twelve songs on the band's first album, The Camera Loves Me. In the 1990s, The Hit Parade signed to the Sarah Records
Sarah Records
Sarah Records was a UK independent record label active between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop.The label was formed in Bristol in 1987 by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, and grew out of the fanzine scene at the time, Haynes having previously edited Are You Scared To Get...
label, and recorded "In Gunnersbury Park", an ode to Gunnersbury Park
Gunnersbury Park
Gunnersbury Park is a park in the Brentford ward of the London Borough of Hounslow, in west London, England. Purchased for the nation from the Rothschild family, it was opened to the public by Neville Chamberlain, then Minister of Health, on 21 May 1926...
, the West London civic garden. Henry, and Harvey Williams from Another Sunny Day
Another Sunny Day
Another Sunny Day were a London-based indie pop band on Sarah Records, best known for the somewhat Smiths-esque single "You Should All Be Murdered" and for the single whose title perhaps best epitomises the Sarah Records output "I'm in Love with a Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist".-History:The band...
, performed at the Sarah Records farewell concert on board the Thekla Boat, permanently moored in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, in 1995.
In the mid 1990s, The Hit Parade started to become popular in Japan, as a part of a neo acoustic movement that celebrated British indie bands such as The Pastels
The Pastels
The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.Their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records, had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time...
and Haircut One Hundred. The Hit Parade signed to Vinyl Japan and later Polystar Records. They had a Top 20 indie hit with "Hello Hannah Hello". They toured Japan several times, performed at the opening of the Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastores is an international chain of record shops, founded by Sir Richard Branson on London's Oxford Street in early 1971. Virgin Megastores are best described today as entertainment retailers....
in Shinjuku, Tokyo, appeared on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Japan and other TV shows. They signed to Minty Fresh
Minty Fresh
Minty Fresh is a Chicago-based record label, founded in 1993 by Jim Powers with Anthony Musiala. The label is known for launching the careers of Veruca Salt. They also gave the Swedish band The Cardigans their first US release and released the debut single by Liz Phair...
Records, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and released their first US single, "Hello Hannah Hello".
In 2006, The Hit Parade released The Return Of The Hit Parade, their fifth album. It was the result of a three year collaboration between Henry and St Etienne producer / engineer / musician, Ian Catt. Their ninth single "My Stupid Band" was released at this time. The album also contained two songs set in coastal villages in Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
, West Cornwall; "The Queen of Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...
" and "Born in St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
". In the same year, the Hit Parade single "You Didn't Love Me Then", appeared on Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
C86
C86 (music)
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...
double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
Cd86: The Birth Of Indie Pop. In 2009, various new songs set in Penwith, Cornwall, have appeared on the band's MySpace page, including "Garage In Drift", "Treen Girl" and "Rainy Day In Newlyn".
The band released their tenth single in October 2010, a duet featuring Cath Carroll and Julian Henry named "I Like Bubblegum" b/w "Zennor Mermaid" on 7" vinyl on JSH Records. The single raised money for the Porthmeor Studio in St Ives Cornwall restoration fund. It was voted one of the best singles of 2010 by Drowned In Sound. In May 2011 they released their 11th single 'There's Something About Mary', described as 'a bona fide pop smash' by Drowned In Sound. The B-side contains a tribute to 90s Sarah Records
Sarah Records
Sarah Records was a UK independent record label active between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop.The label was formed in Bristol in 1987 by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, and grew out of the fanzine scene at the time, Haynes having previously edited Are You Scared To Get...
signing Brighter, named 'The Boy Who Loves Brighter'.
Songs
The Hit Parade's songs have referenced locations including "See You In Havana" (ZihuatanejoZihuatanejo
Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Politically the city belongs to the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the western part of Guerrero, but both are commonly referred to as Zihuatanejo...
, Mexico), "Huebos Mexica" (Zona Rosa, Zocalo, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
), "Road To Beaconsfield" (Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...
, Bull Lane Tennis Club Gerrards Cross
Gerrards Cross
Gerrards Cross is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the south of the county, near the border with Greater London, south of Chalfont St Peter. Gerrards Cross is also a civil parish within South Bucks district, which was known as the Beaconsfield district from 1974 to 1980...
), "Wipe Away the Tears" (Acton, London), "So This Is London" (London, Regent's Street), "Born In St Ives" (St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
), "The Queen Of Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...
" (Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
), "Westbourne Terrace W2", "Autobiography" (Goodwin Sands
Goodwin Sands
The Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile-long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east off Deal in Kent, England. The Brake Bank lying shorewards is part of the same geological unit. As the shoals lie close to major shipping channels, more than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked...
, Kent), "Gunnersbury Park", West London, "So Said Kayo" (Nagoya TV Tower
Nagoya TV tower
The is an electric wave tower in Nagoya, central Japan.- History :It is the oldest TV tower in Japan, and was completed in 1954. It is located in the centre of Hisaya Ōdori Park. The tower is 180 metres high, and has two main observation decks at the heights of 90 metres and 100 metres...
, Mr Donut, Tokyo Hands Dept Store).
The Hit Parade song, "Grace Darling", tells her heroic story
Grace Darling
Grace Horsley Darling was an English Victorian heroine who in 1838, along with her father, saved 13 people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire.-Biography:...
, and appeared on their fourth album, The Sound of The Hit Parade.
Various Hit Parade songs refer to writers and their work, including "The Road To Beaconsfield" (George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
), "As I Lay Dying" (William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
), "House Of Sarah" Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...
), "Huebos Mexicana" (Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, Malcolm Lowry
Malcolm Lowry
Clarence Malcolm Lowry was an English poet and novelist who was best known for his novel Under the Volcano, which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.-Biography:...
, Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
), "See You In Havana" (Hemingway) and others. The band's artwork features literary locations including Eric Blair (George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
), Wordsworth (Grasmere
Grasmere
Grasmere is a village, and popular tourist destination, in the centre of the English Lake District. It takes its name from the adjacent lake, and is associated with the Lake Poets...
, Cumbria), Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
(Dungeness), Colerige (Alfoxden Park), Ian Fleming & Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
(St Margarets Bay).
Several of the Hit Parade's songs reference other indie pop landmarks including "Harvey", "House Of Sarah", "Are You Scared To Be Happy?", "Boy Who Loves Brighter" and others as was referenced in the Guardian article in June 2011.
The band's 10th single 'I Like Bubblegum' features a duet between Julian Henry and Cath Carroll
Cath Carroll
Cath Carroll is a British musician and music journalist.-Career:Carroll was raised in Swansea, then Manchester. She played guitar in post-punk band Property of... in 1978, which also included former Warsaw drummer Tony Tabac. In 1979 she formed the band Glass Animals with her friend Liz Naylor...
.
Concerts
The first time that the Hit Parade played live was at The Mean Fiddler in North London in 1990. Since then they have played concerts in London at The Moonlight Club, The Rock Garden, The Borderline, New Cross Gate, Goldsmiths College, The Railway Tavern, The Falcon and other small venues. They have also played across the UK.During the 1990s, The Hit Parade toured Japan four times, playing concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. They toured with Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
and his group the Milkshakes, and later with Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...
.
The last time The Hit Parade played live, was in 2006 in London. Henry and Williams played several concerts in London and Oxford in 2009, including at the London Indiepop Festival where they were given a warm welcome.
Line up
The Hit Parade's bass guitarist, Raymond Watts, is known for his industrial group PIGPIG (band)
Raymond Watts is the founding and sole member of the post-industrial music project PIG, sometimes written as '....
, releasing seventeen albums. As well as touring extensively in North America, Japan and Europe, Watts has recorded many albums with KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
, including a platinum selling track on the video game movie Mortal Kombat. In 2009, Watts co-produced the music for fashion designer Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
's last Paris show.
The Hit Parade's drummer, Matthew Moffatt, runs a London based film lighting company, working with directors including Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
, Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
and Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
. Moffatt is credited on several Hollywood and British produced films including the Oscar winning Hurt Locker, and the Oscar nominated Vera Drake
Vera Drake
Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions...
and United 93
United 93 (film)
United 93 is a 2006 fact-based historical drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Greengrass that chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11 attacks...
.
The Hit Parade's guitarist, Julian Henry
Julian Henry
Julian Henry is a Public Relations executive and media writer based in London UK. He has worked in music PR and journalism since the 1980s, during which time he has released several CDs with the group The Hit Parade...
, founded the public releations agency Henry's House, is a trustee of The Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
(ICA, London), is an advisor to Simon Fuller
Simon Fuller
Simon Fuller is a British artist manager, television producer and creator of the Idol franchise, first seen as Pop Idol in the UK. Fuller is also the co-creator and executive producer of the Fox TV reality show So You Think You Can Dance and other U.S...
, and has written for periodicals including NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on both music and marketing.
Other members included Cath Carroll, Harvey Williams and Mike Watts.
Singles
| Year | Title | 1984 | "Forever" | JSH 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | "My Favourite Girl" | JSH 2 |
| 1985 | "The Sun Shines in Gerrards Cross" | JSH 3 |
| 1985 | "You Didn't Love Me Then" | JSH 4 |
| 1986 | "See You in Havana" | JSH 5 |
| 1987 | "I Get So Sentimental" | JSH 6 |
| 2004 | JSH 7 | |
| 2005 | "Born in St Ives" | JSH 8 |
| 2007 | "My Stupid Band" | JSH 9 |
| 2010 | "I Like Bubblegum" | JSH 10 |
| 2011 | "There's Something About Mary" | JSH 11 |
Albums
| Year | Title | 1988 | With Love From The Hit Parade | JSH Records: JPEW 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | More Pop Songs | Vinyl Japan |
| 1992 | Light Music | Polystar Records Japan |
| 1994 | The Sound Of The Hit Parade | Polystar Records Japan |
| 2006 | The Return Of The Hit Parade | JSH Records: JPEW 2 |