74. Connection – Elastica

This song came onto the radio the other day as I was driving my son to rugby practice, and by the time the chorus rolled around he already knew it, and was happily singing along: he was caught out by the stutter at the end, but otherwise he’d nailed it. A 6 year old owning a song within the first play could be seen as an insult, but it could alternately be the biggest compliment to a song there can be.

When this came out Justine was already pretty well known to readers of Melody Maker (I used to buy a copy every week and, although it was 8 weeks late by the time it made it to Australia, it was still way ahead of radio or the local mags, who presumably also had a subscription so as to look authoritative to their own readers) as the former guitarist of Suede (and girlfriend of Brett Anderson) and then girlfriend of Damon Albarn of Blur: it was rumoured to be a slight on Anderson, but once that itchy, wirey intro kicked in all anyone wanted was the boom that followed.

This was also the theme song from Trigger Happy TV, which I’d forgotten, the top track on an indie extravaganza of comedy and downbeat music. She was also (at least partially) responsible for some Blur’s finest moments, including Bettlebum and much of their beautiful album 13, my favourite of theirs despite being weary beyond its years.

The common perception is Elastica’s first album was great, their second one reflected that they had become lost in the hype, and if they were never to make a song as great as this again, well, at least they made a connection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bte0AAfDXIE