The band took their name from an episode of The Goon Show. The band were noted for an extremely unusual two bass player line up. Bass player Alex Griffin played melody lines high up on one bass, and Mat cheslin played the regular basslines on the other. This gave the band a tense and highly driven sub-hardcore sound with distorted indie guitars and complicated Baggy drum beats. The band were also noted for their extremely young ages. The band formed while at sixth form college, and recorded their first album while still teenagers. This led to a strong teenage fanbase with a reputation for enjoying stage diving and moshing at their gigs. The band were also noted (and sometimes ridiculed) for their early image which consisted of uniformly crimped hair, short trousers and t shirts. The Neds (as their fans referred to them) were well known for their T shirts and produced over 80 different designs within three years.
The band quickly gathered a strong fanbase after being noticed by local superstars The Wonder Stuff and offered a support slot on a UK tour. A top 50 hit Kill Your Television followed. They recorded their debut album God Fodder shortly afterwards and had top ten hits with "Until You Find Out" and "Happy" in 1991. Several years of hard working touring followed, playing with, amongst others Mega City Four, Senseless Things and Jesus Jones. During this period they recorded their second album Are You Normal in 1992, which was promoted by the singles Not Sleeping Around and Intact.
The band spent the next few years on a worldwide tour before recording their final album Brainbloodvolume. The album had a more adult sound than before (because they were, after all, no longer teenagers), together with a more diverse sound including samplers and keyboards. Their record label released the album in America before the UK, so most fans bought in on import leading to a poor UK chart position when it was eventually released leading to tensions within the band and with the label. The poor chart showing may have also been to do with a changed music scene now fully in the swing of Britpop. The band had one last UK top 40 single with All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together in 1995 following an appearance on The Word. The band split in 1995. Singer Jonn Penney formed a new band, Groundswell who had little success.
The band reformed with a different line up in 2000, for a show in Dudley. The show was a success and the band have done a christmas show every year since then, including a four date tour in 2004 where the band performed several new songs. In 2005 they again played a few late-December gigs, and in June of 2006 their first new single in 11 years, "Hibernation" was released reaching No 23 in the UK Indie Chart. The "NedFest" weekend gigs to coincide with this at Birmingingham Barfly and London Forum were filmed for a DVD "Neds Dont Exist".
In June 2007 the DVD was released and Neds returned to headline the Glastonbury Left Field Stage on the Friday night of the festival following some low key warm up gigs.
On 12 May 2008 the band announced that the original line-up of Jonn, Rat, Mat, Alex, and Dan would be performing live together for the first time since 1995 on 6 December 2008 at the Astoria London.
Until You Find Out
Ned's Atomic Dustbin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I'm back on the real scene
And all the things that I don't do
Just make me laugh, 'cause they irritate you
And what you don't know
Ain't gonna hurt you
While you don't know
And what you can't see
Until you find out
I think we're all tarred with the same brush
It's not so easy to get in between us,
I think we're tired of the same things
Like being locked out when the phone rings
The lyrics of Ned's Atomic Dustbin's song You may seem quite ambiguous and elusive at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they reveal a certain attitude towards life and relationships. The first line "All you need to is catch me" suggests that the singer is running away or avoiding something, and needs to be caught to be brought back to reality. The phrase "when I'm back on the real scene" implies that the singer may be living in some kind of illusion or fantasy, and needs someone to pull them out of it.
The next line "And all the things that I don't do, Just make me laugh, 'cause they irritate you" may be read in two ways. On one hand, it could indicate that the singer is aware of their own shortcomings and failures, but they find them amusing or trivial, and don't want to take them too seriously. On the other hand, the line could also suggest that the singer is being judged or criticized by someone who is easily irritated or annoyed by their behavior. In that case, the singer's response is to laugh it off and not give the other person the satisfaction of getting upset.
The following lines "And what you don't know, Ain't gonna hurt you, while you don't know, And what you can't see, Ain't gonna kill you, Until you find out" may be interpreted as a warning or a piece of advice. The singer is telling their listener that ignorance is bliss, and that they shouldn't worry too much about things they don't know or can't see. However, the last line "I think we're all tarred with the same brush, It's not so easy to get in between us, I think we're tired of the same things, Like being locked out when the phone rings" adds a layer of complexity and ambiguity to the message. The phrase "tarred with the same brush" suggests that the singer and their listener are in the same situation or share the same flaws and weaknesses. The idea of being "locked out" when the phone rings could be seen as a metaphor for feeling excluded or left out of something important. All in all, the song seems to be about the difficulties of communication and understanding between people, and the need to be patient and accepting of each other's differences.
Line by Line Meaning
All you need to is catch me
I need someone to support me when I'm down
When I'm back on the real scene
When I'm back up to my normal self
And all the things that I don't do
All the things I'm not capable of doing
Just make me laugh, 'cause they irritate you
My inability to do things that others can do causes frustration, but I find it amusing
And what you don't know
The unknown
Ain't gonna hurt you
Not knowing something won't physically harm you
While you don't know
As long as you're not aware of it, it won't affect you
And what you can't see
Blind to something beyond your perception
Ain't gonna kill you
Lack of knowledge about something won't put you in danger
Until you find out
When you become aware of it
I think we're all tarred with the same brush
We're all grouped together unfairly
It's not so easy to get in between us
It's difficult to separate us
I think we're tired of the same things
We're fed up with the status quo
Like being locked out when the phone rings
Feeling left out of something that we should be a part of
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: ALEXANDER THOMAS GRIFFIN, DANIEL CHARLES WORTON, GARETH JOHN PRING, JOHNATHAN PENNEY, MATTHEW RICHARD CHESLIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Matt Jammy
the best band that ever came out of the U.K.....still going strong!
Panagiotis Charalampopoulos
what a sound, what a group. they never got what they deserved. their first eps where extraordinary. what a period
Alex Oyarzabal
Just discovered this amazing band.
k sturmer
Still one of the best bands to listen to, during Lockdown in 2020.
Ray Lehto
What u can't see aint gonna kill u ..until y find out.... - I just absolutely love it. - it has great guitar work - 2 bass gives great depth.
mrsmanicart
friggin love playing neds bass lines :) proper 90s basslines. really oomphy and proper turned up so you can hear the bass melody.
darchz
I think "Until you find out" goes like this - { verse: B, D, A }, {chorus: B, C#, A, C#, B, A}. In the Key of B minor.
darchz
Can you post their bass lines? I cannot hear what the low bassist plays. I wish their songs were on Songsterr
Lee
Just loved that base line back in the day. To be 21 again ! Sheff Sound City '93 too
XBuryBoy
Oh, what I would give to return to 1991.