The Darling Buds

The Darling Buds
General information
origin	Newport , Wales
Genre (s)	Indie pop , twee pop , punk
founding	1986
resolution	1993
Founding members
singing	Andrea Lewis
guitar	Harley Farr
bass	Chris McDonogh
Drums	Richard Gray ('Bloss') (until 1990)
former members
guitar	Matt Gray (1992-1993)
Drums	Jimmy Hughes (1990-1993)
Drums	Jon Lee (1992)
Drums	Dennis McCarthy (1993)

The Darling Buds was a Welsh Independent - band from the region Caerleon near Newport . The band was formed in 1986 and named after the novel The Darling Buds of May by the English writer Herbert Ernest Bates . This title comes from the third line of verse from Sonnet 18 by the English poet William Shakespeare : " Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May " (German: "Stroke through May blossoms rauhe winds").

history

The band first appeared in the context of the 1986 music sampler C86 . Her debut single If I Said , released in February 1987 under her own label , was frequently played on BBC Radio 1 after the reissue on Native Records . At the end of the 80s the first two albums were produced, which were influenced by the catchy sound of the early Beatles and contained short melodic titles.

The external appearance - blonde lead singer and dark-clad male musicians in the background - as well as the style of music, also known as bubble pop , were reminiscent of bands such as The Primitives , Transvision Vamp and The Heart Throbs , who were active around the same time. The commercially successful second album Pop Said… reached number 23 on the British album charts and helped make appearances on popular British music shows such as Top of the Pops and Going Live! . In addition, the band appeared twice on the front page of the music magazine Melody Maker . However, there was no breakthrough in other countries.

In the 1990 released third album Crawdaddy the style of music changed to more demanding arrangements, which led to different reactions from the audience. Founding member Richard Gray was replaced on drums by Jimmy Hughes, who previously played for Black . In 1992 the fourth and final album Erotica was released , which was not able to show any noteworthy chart positions due to the album of the same name produced by Madonna a few weeks later . After all, the single Long Day In The Universe was included in the soundtrack for the US feature film Darling, are you holding the ax? recorded with Mike Myers . After a year-long promotional tour of the United States , the band turned their backs on the music business after a dispute with the record company and broke up.

Singer Andrea Lewis started a new career as a theater actress and acting coach in Cardiff . In the mid-1990s, she also hosted a music show called The Slate for the BBC in Wales. Drummer Jon Lee, who was involved in two B-sides for the single Sure Thing , formed the rock band Feeder in 1992 with singer Grant Nicholas .

The album Pop Said… was re-released in 2006 with nine bonus tracks by Cherry Red Records .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1989	Pop Said ...	UK23 (3 weeks) UK	First published: February 1989

more publishments

• 1990: Shame on You
• 1990: Crawdaddy
• 1992: Erotica

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1988	It's All Up to You Pop Said ...	UK86 (3 weeks) UK	First published: May 1988
	Burst Pop Said ...	UK50 (5 weeks) UK	First published: September 1988
	Hit the Ground Pop Said ...	UK27 (6 weeks) UK	First published: December 1988
1989	Let's Go Round There Pop Said ...	UK49 (4 weeks) UK	First published: March 1989
	You've Got to Choose Pop Said ...	UK45 (4 weeks) UK	First published: July 1989
1990	Tiny Machine Crawdaddy	UK60 (3 weeks) UK	First published: May 1990
	Crystal Clear Crawdaddy	UK85 (3 weeks) UK	First published: August 1990
1992	Sure Thing Erotica	UK71 (1 week) UK	First published: August 1992

More singles

• 1987: Spin
• 1987: If I Said
• 1988: Shame On You
• 1990: It Makes No Difference
• 1992: Long Day in the Universe
• 1992: Please Yourself

Web links

• The Darling Buds on Allmusic (English)
• The Darling Buds at Discogs (English)
• Biography and Discography (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK