Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Sixty-eight guns

Do you remember 'The Alarm'? They cranked out a lot of good music in the 80's, but I hadn't heard anything recent from them. Turns out they are still around, though, and they've still got some fighting spirit.

Last week the NME's UK single's chart featured 'The Poppy Fields', a teenage boy-band with an edge whose single '45 Rpm' jumped onto the charts out of nowhere. It turns out The Poppyfields are actually The Alarm, who dubbed the video of the teenage band over the soundtrack of one of their own songs.

Singer Mike Peters told BBC news the release was to show that image was important in today's musical climate.

He commented: "We decided we would do something where it was judged purely on its own musical value. The Alarm as an entity have been going for 20-odd years and history can go against you - we wanted to break the barrier down. We wanted the song to be judged on its merits and stir up the water a little bit, break the mould."

Looks like they did just that.