The band's first single, The Trumpton Riots, topped the British Independent Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform a set at the Glastonbury Festival, rapidly becoming tipped as the 'next big thing'. Their sound at the time was very much in the post-punk tradition, with similarities to Josef K or The Fall. After the first record, someone in the band learnt to tune a guitar, which some feel removed something of the particular character of the music. So, as their second single "Dickie Davies Eyes" entered the national top 40, lead singer Nigel Blackwell announced his retirement claiming that rock and roll success had led to him missing too much daytime television. 1986 saw the release of a compilation album and Nigel's return to the dole.
The band reformed in 1990, beginning to tour and give interviews. Their third album, McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt, showed a move forwards in terms of musical technique, and a wider musical palette. Since then, the band have produced a new album every two or three years, and remain a much loved fixture on the British music scene.
Half Man Half Biscuit were long championed by DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded twelve sessions before Peel's death in 2004, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return.
The band played live more and more infrequently, preferring one-off gigs to tours, driving home each night to sleep in their own beds and arranging concerts to coincide with Tranmere Rovers' away fixtures, a football team supported by Neil and Nigel. Half Man Half Biscuit famously turned down the chance to appear on seminal 80s rock show The Tube, as Tranmere were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter to the game following their take in the studio.
The band's musical styles often parody popular genres, while their lyrics are dense with cultural allusions, usually to UK popular culture and geography (Blackwell often refers to North Wales, often in the context of hillwalking in Snowdonia; he also appears fond of Shropshire, East Anglia and Oxfordshire) or to the more obscure backwaters of the lower divisions of British or international football. Blackwell's enthusiasm does not only encompass popular culture; to give just a few examples, explicit references to Sylvia Plath, the works of Thomas Hardy, and the Bible are all to be found in his lyrics. In the context of HMHB's enthusiasm for football, Blackwell's close resemblance to footballer Jaap Stam has been frequently commented upon.
As the nineties progressed Nigel's love of blues and folk became more and more apparent both in musical style and lyrical references, as befits a group who perhaps more than any other record the minutiae of everyday life and culture. In 2002 Andy Kershaw dubbed them "the most authentic English folk group since the Clash". Bassist Crossley's musical tastes include many late-70s/early-80s new wave or post-punk bands, and at gigs HMHB have been heard to perform covers of tracks by acts as diverse as Joy Division, Tim Buckley, The Beach Boys and Tiffany.
Blackwell has also started making references to various fictional bands who appear not only on the sleeves of HMHB releases (for example "Joe Public And The General Consensus") but also in the songs -- a long essay on "Evil Gazebo" (and that band's relationship to "Pankhurst") appears on the liner notes of Trouble Over Bridgwater and both bands are mentioned in the songs. Assorted fake cover version acts have also been mentioned in HMHB songs such as "I Can't Believe It's Not Focus". In interviews Nigel has alluded to the possibility of there being an HMHB tribute band called "It Ain't Half Man, Mum", most recently in a BBC Radio 3 interview with Andy Kershaw prior to summer 2007's appearance at the Brampton Live folk festival, where they headlined on Saturday night. However as yet no one has come forward with any evidence to support the existence of said tribute act, and the likelihood is that the whole thing is one of Nigel's own creations to amuse or confuse journalists and fans. The tribute band Half Arsed Half Biscuit do exist.
In 2001, Nigel Blackwell provided the voice over for a BP television advert.
The band's first release since 2005's album Achtung Bono is titled CSI:Ambleside, and was released on April 28, 2008.
In April 2010, the band's 2005 song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from Achtung Bono was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get it to #6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of indie station BBC 6 Music. The song only peaked at #56 on 11 April 2010, but this was the first UK Top 75 chart appearance for the band in their history. It also reached No.3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week and was No.1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on Friday 16 April, knocking Ultravox's Vienna off the top - itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.
Lyrics are steadily being transcribed and argued over at The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project.
Footprints
Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Harlequin tourniquet matricide …Adge Cutler
Earlier shepherds came and talked about …The Shend
Concubine mortuary Daktari wallpaper
One night, a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonged to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand, and he noticed that many times along the path of his life, there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life. This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it: "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way. Yet I have noticed during the most troublesome times of my life, there's only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."
The Lord replied: "My precious precious child, I love you, and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, that must have been when I was appearing on…
Junior Kickstart…"
The teenager awoke at mid day. He walked into the back garden. Everything was peaceful except for the complaining note of the woodcrest dying in the leafy thickness. He walked up to the patio chair where his father sat.
"Father?"
"Yes son?"
"I want to borrow your golf clubs."
The lyrics of the Half Man Half Biscuit's song Footprints are a surreal assemblage of seemingly unrelated phrases, which in reality follow a logical pattern of association. The band creates a collage of words that evoke a sense of mortality, with references to funerals, mausoleums, and mortuaries. The first verse mentions names of deceased celebrities: Bert Royal, a British comedian who died in 1971, and Adge Cutler, a musician and founder of a British country-rock band who died in 1974. The second verse makes a reference to the shepherd in the biblical parable of the lost sheep, who symbolizes Jesus Christ's mission to save the lost souls. However, in the song, the shepherd is represented by The Shend, the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Cravats. Finally, the last verse adds another layer of weirdness to the song through the juxtaposition of "concubine" and "Daktari wallpaper" (Daktari was an American TV series set in an animal reserve in East Africa in the 60s).
The last lines of the song, "Junior Kickstart," appear to be disjointed from the rest of the song. However, they bring a surprising twist to the song's interpretation. The lyrics quote the opening lines of a British TV show for children titled Junior Kickstart, which aired from 1979 to 1988. The show featured young motorcycle riders competing in stunt performances. The lyrics implicitly suggest that the singer of the dream sequence, who is worried about the one set of footprints in his life, is not alone at all, but in the company of someone who has a "wild side." Hence, the single set of prints during his darkest moments belongs not to the Lord, but to the "Junior Kickstart" figure, an antihero who guides him through the difficult moments of his life.
Line by Line Meaning
Ethereal requiem mausoleum …Bert Royal
Bert Royal's funeral was beautiful and ghostly
Harlequin tourniquet matricide …Adge Cutler
Adge Cutler is a fool for wanting to kill his mother and his crazy plan will fail
Earlier shepherds came and talked about …The Shend
The Shend has a mysterious and intriguing reputation, talked about by many before
Concubine mortuary Daktari wallpaper
The wallpaper at the mortuary looks like it belongs in a tent for keeping concubines and is reminiscent of a TV show about a vet in Africa
Junior Kickstart…
This is where the Lord was during the troubled times in the man's life
The teenager awoke at mid day.
The beginning of a new day
He walked into the back garden.
The teenager went outside
Everything was peaceful except for the complaining note of the woodcrest dying in the leafy thickness.
The only sound was the unpleasant noise of a dying bird
He walked up to the patio chair where his father sat.
Approaching his father sitting outside
"Father?"
Direct quote of what the teenager said to his father
"Yes son?"
Direct quote of the father's response
"I want to borrow your golf clubs."
Direct quote of the teenager's request
Contributed by Elena E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jasonmarshall9941
"Includes one of the funniest lines in the history of popular music". Stuart Maconie, BBC 6Music 2/5/2020. JUNIOR KICK START!!!
@roberttrombetta6566
This is great stuff, and one of the best and most apt title and cover photo combinations ever.
@Cavitation68
They’ve only gone and done it…..again !
😂
Homage to VU - Lady Godivas Operation…