1 post tagged “can u dig it?”

The day was a Monday, the year was 1989. I had just started to earn my own money and had decided that music was the answer to my problems (tiny as they were).  The outlet for my cravings was Tracks Records, a small independent record store in my childhood town of Doncaster. After school, I took the bus with mates into the centre of town and sought to satisfy my desires.

I had heard of a new style of punk band band from the West Midlands called Pop Will Eat Itself, as they had covered the (in my mind) classic Sigue Sigue Sputnik's Love Missile F1-11. So when I saw their major label debut on the shelf of Tracks, resplendent in all of it's 7" vinyl glory, complete with shrink wrapping and 'free' sew-on patch, I knew I just had to have it. Can U Dig It? was the first record I bought with my own money. I paid my 99p and gleeful carried it home the waiting needle of my Schneider music system. I carefully unwrapped it and dropped the needle on the record.

My ears exploded with joy. This was uncharted territory for my musical tastes, new and exciting sounds burst from the speakers... Riffs, samples, rapping, very metal noises, speach from old movies, name-checks from the past, all wrapped up in an electric package of sheer energy. This was rock music you could dance to. Or was it dance music you could rock to? But it had rapping and scratching...... my head my have been confused but my ears were in heaven.

Imagine a meal where all your favourite dishes appear on one plate. Mine would be lasagne, with roast potatoes and apple crumble, hummus and gazpacho. With custard of course! Sounds horrible doesn't it? This is what Can U Dig It? should be like, but it's not... Instead of a cacophony of noise, it's a perfect blend of the above, like Heston Blumenthal has distilled all the flavours you love and made them into a simple, joyous sorbet of sound.

My love of PWEI has never ceased, and there is much more to say about the packaging from the Designer's Republic, their love of the sample and the vocal politics of their last studio album. This, however, is where it all started. Tracks Records, Doncaster, 9th February 1989.

"We love the music, we like the disco sound...."