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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Billy Childish began playing guitar in the Pop Rivets and the Milkshakes, two Canterbury-based bands led by Mickey Hampshire that were part of the early 80s Sixties Revival.
The former recorded two albums, Greatest Hits (Hypocrite, 1979) and Empty Sounds (Hypocrite, 1979); the latter recorded about ten albums in four years
Talking 'Bout Milkshakes (Milkshakes, 1981) and 14 Rhythm (Upright) are too amateurish and patchy to define a style, beyond borrowing from 60s genres. Between 1983 and 1984, increasingly exciting modern garage-rock records were released: After School Session (Upright, 1983), In Germany (Wall City), Nothing Can Stop These Men (Milkshakes), Revenge (Hangman, released only in 1987), They Came They Saw They Conquered (Hangman), Thee Knights Of Trashe (Milkshakes, 1986), and two cover compilations. With the Prisoners, they still managed to record two of their roughest works, The Last Night Of The M.I.C. (Empire) and Thee Milkshakes Vs The Prisoners (Media Burn); then they disbanded. Childish, who had already begun building his publishing empire, found himself with a perfect infrastructure to churn out books and records in impressive quantities. After playing briefly with the Delmonas (who had been the Milkshakes backing singers), he convinced the old Milkshakes, minus Hampshire, to return under the new name Thee Mighty Caesars. On records like their 1985 debut (for Milkshakes), Beware The Ides Of March (Big Beat), Thee Caesars Of Trash (Milkshakes, 1986), Acropolis Now (Milkshakes, 1986), Live In Rome (not live), Wiseblood (Ambassador, 1987), John Lennon's Corpse Revisited (Crypt, 1989), Surely They Were The Sons (Crypt, 1989), amid dozens of anthologies and bootlegs, it was difficult to notice any difference from the Milkshakes.
Childish, unsatisfied with that work pace, then launched several side projects: he began recording blues albums under his own name (on his Hangman label, most of them so poorly produced they seemed like demos), starting with I've Got Everything Indeed (Hangman, 1987) and I Remember (Hangman, 1987); he backed the poet Sexton Ming on a trio of barely musical albums; recorded under the pseudonym Jack Ketch; formed the Blackhands, the Natural Born Lovers, and the Thee Headcoats.
There are discographic records of all these metamorphoses to the point of saturation. In general, they were merely pretexts for Childish to indulge his blues impulses (and with the Blackhands, to explore the roots of American popular music, especially Cajun), but one of these transformationsthe Headcoatsproved decisive.
After three Headcoats albums that were mere imitations of 1960s garage rockHeadcoats Down (Hangman, 1989), Beach Bums Must Die (Crypt, 1990), and The Earls Of Suavedom (Crypt, 1990)The Kids Are All Square (Hangman, 1990) was released, a collection of pop songs with the cynical edge of punk: it marked the decisive turning point.
Childish was "discovered" by the alternative press and became an international hero. However, the quality of his records did not improve. The best of the period were probably the second Blackhands album, The Original Chatam Jack (SubPop, 1992), which followed Captn Calypso's Hoodoo Party (Hangman, 1988 EM, 2007), works that sounded as if they had been recorded in Chicago by Delta musicians during the years of the Great Depression; and Conundrum (SuperElectro, 1994) by Thee Headcoats, in the first, sparkling punk-rock style of the Clash (Every Bit Of Me).
Far too predictable, on the other hand, were Heavens To Murgatroyd (SubPop, 1990), Headcoatitude (Shakin' Street, 1991), and The Good Times Are Killing Me (Vinyl Japan, 1993) by Thee Headcoats, which basically just changed the titles of famous '60s songs and sang them more melodically than usual. The Headcoats kept going with a tribute to Bo Diddley, W.O.A.H (Get Hip). Elementary is a compilation of Thee Headcoats singles.
Better, at least in terms of humor and verve, were the albums credited to Thee Headcoatees (though all the songs were by Childish): Girlsville (Hangman, 1991), Have Love Will Travel (Vinyl Japan, 1992), Ballad Of The Insolent Pup (Vinyl Japan, 1994). As prolific as he is monotonous, Childish is certainly an institution in the British music scene (and not only musically: he has also written about twenty books of poetry and painted hundreds of canvases), but his records are just as certainly chapters of an institution rather than standalone musical works. Not a genius, but certainly a Stakhanovite.
Short discography of the 1980s and 1990s
THEE MIGHTY CAESARS
Thee Mighty Caesars (Milkshakes, 1985)
Beware the Ides of March (Big Beat, 1985)
Little by Little EP (Media Burn, 1986)
Thee Caesars of Trash (Milkshakes, 1986)
Acropolis Now (Milkshakes, 1986)
Live in Rome (Big Beat, 1986)
Wiseblood (Ambassador, 1987)
Don't Give Any Dinner to Henry Chinaski (Hangman, 1987)
Punk Rock Showcase (Hangman, 1987)
Thusly, Thee Mighty Caesars English Punk Rock Explosion (Crypt, 1988)
John Lennon's Corpse Revisited (Crypt, 1989)
Surely They Were the Sons of God (Crypt, 1989)
BILLY CHILDISH
I've Got Everything Indeed (Hangman, 1987)
The 1982 Cassetes (Hangman, 1987)
Laughing Gravy (Empire, 1987)
Which Dead Donkey Daddy? (Hangman, 1987)
Plump Prizes and Little Gems (Hangman, 1987)
Ypres 1917 Overture (Verdun Ossuary, 1987)
Play:Captain Calypso's Hoodo Party (Hangman, 1988 - EM, 2007)
Poems of Laughter and Violence (Hangman, 1988)
Long Legged Baby (Hangman, 1989)
50 Albums Great (Hangman, 1990) comp.
I Am the Billy Childish (Sub Pop, 1991) comp.
Native American Sampler (Sub Pop, 1993) comp.
Singing Loins At The Bridge (Damaged Goods, 1993)
Made With A Passion Kitchen Demo's (Sympathy, 1996)
Devil in The Flesh (Sympathy, 1998)
Crimes Of The Future (Sympathy, 1999)
In Blood (Wabana, 1999)
WITH SEXTON MING
Which Dead Donkey Daddy? (Hangman, 1987)
Plump Prizes And Little Gems (Hangman, 1987)
Ypres 1917 Overture (Hangman, 1988)
The Cheeky Cheese (Damaged Goods, 1999)
JACK KETCH AND THE CROWMEN
Brimfull of Hate (Hangman, 1988)
BLACK HANDS
The Original Chatham Jack (Subpop, 1992)
Live In The Netherlands (Hangman, 1993)
NATURAL BORN LOVERS
Long Legged Baby (Hangman, 1989)
THEE HEADCOATS
Headcoats Down! (Hangman, 1989)
The Earls of Suavedom (Crypt, 1990)
The Kids Are All Square--This Is Hip! (Hangman, 1990)
Beach Bums Must Die (Crypt, 1990)
Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Sub Pop, 1990)
Headcoatitude (Shakin' Street, 1991)
Bo In The Garage/ W.O.A.H (Hangman, 1991)
The Wurst Is Yet To Come (Tom Product, 1992) live
The Good Times Are Killing Me (Vinyl Japan, 1993)
Conundrum (SuperElectro, 1994)
Knights of The Baskervilles (Overground, 1995)
In Tweed We Trust (Damaged Goods, 1996)
Messerschmitt Pilot's Severed Hand (Damaged Goods, 1998)
17% Hendrix Was Not The Only Musician (Slab O' Concrete, 1998)
Brother Is Dead But Fly Is Gone (Vinyl Japan, 1998)
I Am The Object Of Your Desire (Buff Medway, 2000)
THEE HEADCOATEES
Girlsville (Hangman, 1991)
Have Love Will Travel (Vinyl Japan, 1992)
Ballad Of The Insolent Pup (Vinyl Japan, 1994)
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
A virulent alcoholic, Childish cleaned up in the second half of the Nineties,
and, surprisingly, the Headcoats' records started sounding like the records he
was listening to when he was a teenager:
Knights of The Baskervilles (Overground, 1995),
In Tweed We Trust (Damaged Goods, 1996),
Messerschmitt Pilot's Severed Hand (Damaged Goods, 1998),
with the confession of I Suppose I'm A Poseur,
17% Hendrix Was Not The Only Musician (Slab O' Concrete, 1998),
Brother Is Dead But Fly Is Gone (Vinyl Japan, 1998),
I Am The Object Of Your Desire (Buff Medway, 2000)
are punk-rock albums, virulent, sardonic and badly recorded.
His solo albums at the turn of the century are:
Made With A Passion Kitchen Demo's (Sympathy, 1996),
Devil in The Flesh (Sympathy, 1998),
Crimes Of The Future (Sympathy, 1999).
Plus The Cheeky Cheese (Damaged Goods, 1999), a fourth
collaboration with Sexton Ming.
This Is This (2001) inaugurated a new trio, the Buff Medways.
25 Years Of Being Childish (Damaged Goods, 2002) is a career retrospective.
The Buff Medways, renamed
the Buffs, released
Steady (Transcopic, 2002),
1914 (Transcopic, 2003) and
Medway Wheelers (2005).
In Blood (Wabana, 2007) is a collaboration with Thee Headcoats'
female vocalist Holly Golightly.
My First Billy Childish Album (Damaged Goods, 2007) is a career retrospective.
Punk Rock At The British Legion Hall (2007) launched yet another project:
the Wild Billy Childish and The Musicians of the British Empire.
Fiercely independent and proudly irreverent, Childish embodies the
spirit of punk like punks did only in 1976.
Childish also became a painter (co-founder of the Stuckist art movement), a poet, a photographer and a film-maker,
He wrote the novels
"My Fault" (1996), "Notebooks of a Naked Youth" (1997), "Sex Crimes of the Futcher" (2004) and "The Idiocy of Idears" (2007).
The Chatham Singers are documented on
Heavens Journey (2005),
Juju Claudius (2009),
Kings of the Medway Delta (2020).
The Musicians of the British Empire released
Punk Rock at the British Legion Hall (2007),
Christmas 1979 (2007) and
Thatcher's Children (2008).
The Vermin Poets released
Poets of England (2010),
and
the Spartan Dreggs (with whom he playes bass) released
Forensic R & B (2011),
Dreggredation (2012),
Coastal Command (2012),
Tablets of Linear B (2012),
A Tribute To A. E. Housman (2013),
Archeopteryx vs. Coelacanth (2014).
Musicians of the British Empire mutated into CTMF who released:
All Our Forts Are With You (2013),
Die Hinterstoisser Traverse (2013),
Acorn Man (2014),
SQ1 (2016),
Brand New Cage (2017),
Brand New Cage (2017),
Last Punk Standing (2019),
Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows (2021),
Failure Not Success (2023).
During the covid pandemic
he launched the project
William Loveday Intention, documented on
People Think they Know Me But They Don't Know Me (2020),
Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief? (2020),
The New Improved Bob Dylan (2020),
Set of 8 lathe cut 7" singles released by L-13 and Hangman Records (2020),
The Bearded Lady Also Sells the Candy Floss (2021),
Blud Under The Bridge (2021),
The New Improved Bob Dylan, Vol 2 (2022),
Where The Black Water Slid (2022),
Cowboys Are SQ (2022),
The New Improved Bob Dylan, Vol 3 (2022),
They Wanted The Devil But I Sang Of God (2022),
The Baptiser (2022),
Paralysed By The Mountains (2022).
The Thee Headcoats were resurrected for Irregularis (2023).
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