I Can Dream
It was really wonderful to read recently that this lovely lady picked up her O.B.E. and good for her, she did it in her usual un-compromising style, which I think didn't seem to bother our new 'slightly more liberal and laid back' King who presented it to her. You can read the article and catch her 'look' on The Metro website. The award was evidently a complete surprise to her and it also has to be noted from the article she has sung for The Dalai Lama and also duetted with Pavarotti (she gets about a bit!).
I Can Dream is taken from the Album Paranoid and Sunburnt on the One Little Indian/Independent Record Label.
The Band & Formation
- Deborah 'Skin' Dyer - lead vocals, guitar, theremin
- Martin 'Ace' Kent - guitar, backing vocals
- Richard 'Cass' Lewis - bass, guitar, backing vocals
- Mark Richardson - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Evidently the name "Skunk Anansie" is taken from Akann folk tales of Anansi the spider-man of Ghana with the Skunk bit added on to make it sound a bit nastier.
They were formed in 1994 and their first U.K. Single 'Little Baby Swastikkka' was released on the 'One Little Indian' a.k.a. 'One Little Independent Records' label. It was a label set up by Derek Birkett formerly of Anarcho-Punk Band Flux, you can catch more about him and their sound on this blog at the post link Flux, Neu Smell, the band were also on the Independent Crass Records label. Skunk Anansie's first single for the label highlighted how children can be 'indoctrinated' into racist beliefs from an early age, really quite good lyrically and exploding into that wall of sound the band has, for a debut single it was a pretty good first go and certainly hooked me in.
Debut Album
Skunk Anansie released their first album on the same label called 'Paranoid & Sunburnt' in 1995, which we went out and brought, really on the strength of the track 'I Can Dream'. I wasn't disappointed, the debut album was really good. I guess it made a change to see a misfit of a band fronted by a female singer rather than the stereotypical white male dominated alt rock for a change as was beginning to get pumped out via the whole 'Britpop Scene' at the time. The band made 'angry' sounding music, the sort that gets you bouncing around 'mosh-pits'.
Track List
- Selling Jesus
- Intellectualise My Blackness
- I Can Dream
- Little Baby Swastikkka
- All In The Name Of Pity
- Charity
- It Takes Blood & Guts To Be This Cool But I'm Still Just A Cliche
- Weak
- And Here I Stand
- 100 Ways To Be A Good Girl
- Rise Up
For a track by track analysis of the album with quotes from Skin and other band members check out WithGuitars website.
Concert Memories
We got lucky and saw them back in the day at Brixton Academy back in the 90's. The gig was quite 'explosive' I was blown away by the voice and the musicianship of the band and obviously the 'look'. It was good to get to see them 'live' after buying and listening to all their stuff on vinyl.
We had brought the album 'Stoosh' and 'Post Orgasmic Chill for me both great 'Light Metal/Alt Rock with Attitude' kind of sound and surprisingly my wife also liked them, it wasn't traditionally her kind of sound, but she still thinks they are awesome even today and it's usually the 'go to' type of sound chosen if we want to annoy the neighbours after having to listen to them play their rubbish music very loudly in the garden in the summer.😁
Finally, to sign out of this post leaving you with another of my favourites by them with a little bit of Hedonism, a beautiful and not so heavy track by them taken from the 1996 album 'Stoosh'.
Photo & Video Thanks
Photo by Jaron Nix on Unsplash
Picture Source: Discogs.com
Video Source: [email protected]