Something Old: Biff Bang Pow!

Loves Going Out Of Fashion



Biff Bang Pow! were an oddity. Starring Alan McGee, they formed in around 1983 and between then and 1991 released 6 albums and a handful of incredible singles. Love's Going Out Of Fashion, was their third single from 1984. It's carrion call delivery is clearly at the upper limits of it's singer's ability but the strained sadness only serves to haunt your memory of the hook. Clipping, electro-acoustic six strings sounding like Spanish guitars twist in and around the entire song, ill mixed as they are, until it finally gives into a wailing harmonica that it's fought with throughout. "Love's going out of fashion", he sings, almost shouting, and you believe him. You could be in the throes of a deeply passionate romance and, unbelievably, Alan McGee has just made you think twice.
Perhaps this is part of the problem with this bands legacy though, the sticking point that Alan McGee is a fairly unlike-able man and maybe somebody that you wouldn't ask for relationship advice in the first place. He certainly isn't a fashionable influence to name check any more.

That aside, the song that follows is one of the finest pieces of throwaway, half-finished jangle pop that I have ever heard.

Sunny Days