Rich kids

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Rich kids
General information
Genre (s) Power pop , new wave , punk rock
founding 1977
resolution 1979
Founding members
Glen Matlock
Rusty Egan
Guitar , vocals
 Steve New
Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Midge Ure
Live members
Vocals, guitar
 Mick Jones

Rich Kids was a short-lived British rock band that was formed in the spring of 1977 in London by bassist Glen Matlock after he left the Sex Pistols .

history

Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren sent a telegram to the New Musical Express on February 28, 1977 , announcing Matlock's separation from the Sex Pistols. Matlock responded to the telegram by announcing that he would form a new band called Rich Kids to realize his own musical ideas. In May 1977 the group consisted of Matlock from Rusty Egan on drums and Steve New on guitar. Steve New had been guitarist with the Sex Pistols for about a month in 1975 and was no stranger to Matlock. The rich kids were looking for a singer. At times, Paul Weller , Howard Devoto , Kevin Rowland and Mick Jones were in conversation. Mick Jones, who was previously with The Clash , also made a few appearances with the Rich Kids. However, he was dissatisfied with the development of the band and went back to the Clash. Ultimately, Midge Ure was hired as a singer. Ure was previously courted by Malcolm McLaren as a singer for the Sex Pistols in 1975. He had canceled McLaren at the time because he was tied in the teenage pop group Slik . It had since dissolved and Ure was able to join the Rich Kids in October 1977. In the same month, the now completed band signed a record deal with EMI . Glen Matlock had previously signed a contract with the Sex Pistols at EMI, which EMI canceled in January 1977 with economic losses. Jon Savage interpreted the overlap with Matlock's past at the Sex Pistols as an afterthought to the decisions of Malcolm McLaren, who turned down Steve New, Midge Ure couldn't win and failed at EMI.

During her brief career from March 1977 to December 1978, Rich Kids released one album and three singles. The first single, Rich Kids , reached number 24 in the UK charts. The two subsequent singles could not build on this success. The album Ghosts Of Princes In Towers reached number 51 and only stayed in the charts for a week. For the album, Ian McLagan from Small Faces supported the band on a few tracks. The critic Adrian Thrills complained in the British Sounds magazine of August 2, 1978 about the muffled sound of Mick Ronson's production .

Even before the album was released, there were discussions within the band about the content. Matlock and Steve New disagreed with the more poppy material Midge Ure contributed. Midge Ure defended his pieces vehemently and argued with his many years of experience in the music business. As a result, the band drifted apart. In the spring of 1979, Matlock and New formed a new band, initially called Jimmy Norton's Explosion and later The Specters . Rusty Egan and Midge Ure joined the new romantic scene and formed the band Visage with Steve Strange . The official dissolution of the Rich Kids was announced in mid-1979.

Rich Kids was one of the first British exponents of power pop - a retro style that was influenced by groups from the 1960s such as Small Faces or The Who and equipped with modern production techniques and the energy of punk . In doing so, the band intentionally distanced themselves from the punk scene.

The band gave a concert on January 7, 2010 at the O2 Academy in Islington to support Steve New, who had cancer. Steve New succumbed to cancer on May 24, 2010.

Discography

Singles

  • Rich Kids / Empty Words (January 1978, # 24 UK )
  • Marching Men / Here Comes the Nice (live) (March 1978)
  • Ghosts of Princes in Towers / Only Arsenic (August 1978)

Albums

  • Ghosts Of Princes In Towers (August 1978, produced by Mick Ronson , # 51 UK)
  • Burning Sounds (1998, EMI) compilation album
  • Best of the Rich Kids (2003, EMI) compilation album

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Vernon Joynson: Up Yours! A Guide To UK Punk, New Wave And Early Post Punk , Borderline Productions, Wolverhampton 2001, pp. 306-307 and p. 360. ISBN 1-899855-13-0
  2. ↑ a b George Gimarc: Punk Diary - The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide To Underground Rock 1970-1982 , Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2005, p. 98. ISBN 0-87930-848-6
  3. ↑ Punk77: The Rich Kids - Discography. , accessed August 25, 2009