When I heard this on the radio back in the 90's it blew me away - there was nothing like it - in your face rock/pop - bought the single - and that was that. Wanted so much more from them! Anyone else think the band name was the flaw?
Possibly. The name was probably quite ‘edgy’ at the time but it didn’t age well. But it’s an absolute fucking belter - I’d forgotten all about it until a couple of days ago
The name certainly got them a lot of media hype (whether that was good or bad hype is a matter of opinion) - 'Gay Dad' was considered by the media of the day to be quite an edgy name for a band in that era... Obviously, edgy only takes you so far, until the edge is gone...... At the start of 1999, they were being pushed by the media, alright - by the end of the year, the same media who had lauded them initially had completely turned against them in an absolutely savage backlash.... The band name was definitely one factor, as - and I can't quite believe I'm typing this next bit! - with the benefit of a quarter of a century 😱 worth of hindsight, the name does indeed sound very crass; but another was the fact that many regarded them as a very poor live act, and their performances I concert garnered largely negative reviews... I liked this song at the time, although it sounds very dated now - but, from the safety of my mid-40s - for the nostalgia of being a 19-year-old who thought he knew it all but who now realises at age 44 that he actually knew diddly-squat, I still remember it with fondness, and simply can't dislike it! 😂
The name certainly got them a lot of media hype - Gay Dad was quite an edgy name for a band in that era... Obviously, edgy only takes you so far, until the edge is gone......
R&R with a extra large dose of irony... the music press hated them mainly because the band leader was a former music jourmalist. The debut album is gold.
Remember in early 1999, Gay Dad were being hyped up to the outer limits and back as the next big thing - by the end of the year, the same media / press who'd built them up at the start of the year had completely backlashed against them... What went wrong?
I remember the Gay Dad "debate". It was one of several bitterly-fought debates that raged in the pages of the NME and Melody Maker during the period; the others included The Manics Debate ("Are the Manic Street Preachers still 'credible' after "This is My Truth..."?") and The Robbie Debate ("Is Robbie Williams a 'credible' artist?", as absurd as that seems now). As I remember it, Gay Dad materialised out of nowhere on a major label with a massive advertising blitz that saw their logo plastered all over the London tube, without having paid their dues on the live circuit or been vetted by the music weeklies - much to the chagrin of those self-appointed gatekeepers of taste, no doubt. The controversy was about whether Gay Dad were a real ('credible') band or had come straight off the record industry production line. From their press photos, they always looked to me like a Made-For-TV band, like the one in the roughly contemporaneous Channel 4 show "The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star". But, for all that, until now I'd never actually heard a Gay Dad song. And boy, do they ever suck. The parts where he starts screaming make me shudder. I'd much rather listen to Jocks Wa Hey doing "Why Won't You Shag Me?". Debate closed - at least for me. Now, onto Terris. (Remember that idol - and as it turned out, idle - threat?)
Agreed - I think they called themselves Gay Dad as a deliberate attempt to try and be edgy, but the novelty of the edgy name is only as good as the time it takes for the edge to disappear
