Like a lot of people who got into indie music via Britpop, ‘Alright’ was the first Supergrass track I ever heard, but it’s the awesome ‘Mansize Rooster’ that I will be featuring today. When I talk about the era I often refer to the excitement and positivity of the times… Well, this storming track has it all: a combination of jaunty Blur/Madness music hall bounce and a blast of British punk fury during the chorus. Thrilling indeed.
From my recollections of 1995, a passage reads: “Supergrass were another band who arrived into my musical world during that summer of 1995, albeit in an unexpected way. My family had a habit of holidaying in Lyme Regis, since I used to be fascinated with prehistoric life, and was keen on fossil hunting. But the lack of a campsite in Lyme Regis meant that we stayed at the Newlands Holiday Park in nearby Charmouth, a place that ended up becoming an annual holiday destination for us. I can’t quite remember if it was that year or maybe one that shortly followed it, but ‘Boom Boom Boom’ by The Outhere Brothers could be heard almost repeatedly blasting from a nearby funfair for hours. It probably was that year, since that atrocity was everywhere at the time. Having become a DJ myself, visiting the campsite’s bar and club meant spending much of the night criticising the DJ for playing too much kiddy-pop and not enough club tracks. Of course I more than enjoyed the growing number of indie songs that were spun, but when I saw this annoying family up on their feet singing along to this unfamiliar track, it irritated me and intrigued me in equal measures. I thought they were sad and needed to get a life, trying so hard to make the rest of the place aware that they were fans of this song. But what was this song? It was jolly, fun and very catchy indeed. And to my ears it sounded French for some reason. I soon heard the song again on the radio. It was ‘Alright’ and it was by Supergrass. After arriving back from the holiday I soon bought a copy of the CD single from American Dream, the small comic and CD shop in Corsham… My Dad’s friend John’s ex-wife worked as a rep for EMI and was frequently given promo CDs, a lot of which ended up in John’s hands. In fact, he could pretty much get hold of anything new-ish for free as long as it was released through EMI, and knowing that I was really keen on Supergrass, he managed to get me my own CD copy of ‘I Should Coco’ for free. At this point it MAY have been the very first CD album I ever owned, and a bloody good one it was too…” Read more of my memories from 1995 HERE.
‘Mansize Rooster’ was released as the second single from ‘I Should Coco’. It reached #20 in the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for three weeks. According to Wikipedia: “The song, although this not necessarily obvious from the lyrics, is said to be about someone who has a large penis despite their young age.” Well I never. It was played as Supergrass’ first ever live television performance on The Word in 1995 (which can be seen below).
