They were founded in 1990 by songwriters Tim Gane (guitar, keyboards), formerly of the band McCarthy, and Laetitia Sadier (sometimes credited as Seaya Sadier; vocals, keyboards, trombone, guitar), who is from France and sings in both English and French.
Over the years, Gane and Sadier have enlisted a large number of other musicians to accompany them on stage and on record. The initial line-up featured Martin Kean, formerly of The Chills, on bass, and Joe Dilworth (from their Too Pure label-mates Th’ Faith Healers) on drums, with Russell Yates (of Moose) and Mick Conroy (ex-Modern English) also appearing at early live shows. In 1993 they recruited Andy Ramsay (drums), who has remained in the group line-up ever since, and Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion). Hansen’s distinctive backing vocals became an important aspect of the Stereolab sound, and she remained a regular feature of the line-up until her death in a cycling accident on December 9, 2002. Multi-instrumentalist Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas has also been a frequent contributor, particularly with string, brass and keyboard arrangements to the band’s studio albums. John McEntire (Tortoise) has also contributed keyboard, electronic effects and studio help over the years. Other members have come and (in some cases) gone over the years, including Duncan Brown, Dave Pajo (from Tortoise), Richard Harrison and Simon Johns (all bass); Gina Morris (vocals); and Katharine Gifford and Morgane Lhote (both on keyboards).
Early Stereolab material displayed a heavy influence of krautrock sounds, particularly Neu! and Faust, characteristically relying on droning, repetitive guitar or keyboard riffs, with or without vocals. Early heavy use of distorted Farfisa combo-organ sounds were also reminiscent of early recordings by The Modern Lovers. As the band developed, they incorporated new instrumentation, and an increasingly complex sense of rhythm and structure, frequently making use of irregular time signatures as well as unorthodox chord progressions and melodic intervals. The band has often made copious use of female backing vocal lines.
Lyrically, Stereolab’s music is quirky (song titles evoke memories of 1950s science fiction stories, and are often borrowed directly from old films and records of the period, but have nothing to do with the song’s content), but highly politically and philosophically charged, sometimes with a decidedly Surrealist or Situationist bent. (Sadier notes the libertarian Marxist theoretician Cornelius Castoriadis as a particular inspiration.) Sadier’s lyrics, in both French and English, often read like highly condensed sociological texts, standing in deliberate and distinct counterpoint to the lush hedonic pop sound of the band. A prime example would be “Ping Pong” from Mars Audiac Quintet, which is an explicit restating of Marxist theory concerning the relationship between economic cycles and war cycles.
Stereolab earned a minor place in the Britpop movement, with their sound proving influential to bands like Blur: occasional keyboard-driven b-sides and singer Damon Albarn’s love of retro keyboards showed the influence, and in recognition Laetitia Sadier was invited to provide vocals on “To The End” from Parklife.
Despite the band’s fan base and critical acclaim, Stereolab has not achieved high levels of financial or popular success. On June 7, 2004, suits at the Warner Music label (to whom the band was signed in the U.S.) announced they were dropping Stereolab in response to the poor sales (40,000 to that date) of Margerine Eclipse. This was part of an ongoing effort by Warner to cut costs; The Breeders and Third Eye Blind were also dropped from the label for this reason. Laetitia Sadier is now also a member of Monade, which is essentially expressive of her own singular musical goals.
Spark Plug
Stereolab Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There is no sense if one cannot see in them before anything else,
The life it's capacity to founded upon itself
There is no sense in being interested in an ill person
Or unwell a society if one cannot believe their readiness
And the capacity for proper recovery
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The lyrics to Stereolab's "Spark Plug" delve into the idea of being truly interested in things that matter. The song suggests that it is pointless to be interested in a child or society if one cannot see anything beyond the surface level. The lyrics question the point of caring for an ill person or an unwell society if one cannot believe in their capacity for recovery. The song proposes that life's true capacity is in its ability to self-sustain and renew itself, which is why it makes no sense to dote on something if one cannot recognize this.
These lyrics can be taken as a commentary on the shallowness of modern society, where people focus on surface level aspects, rather than attempting to understand the deeper meaning and potential in things. It urges the listener to seek out the hidden gems and deeper meanings in life, rather than focusing on superficialities.
Overall, "Spark Plug" is an intensely thought-provoking song that urges the listener to reflect on their priorities and the things that truly matter in life.
Line by Line Meaning
There is no sense in being interested in a child a group or in a society,
It's pointless to take an interest in children, groups or society unless you can see beyond their superficial traits.
There is no sense if one cannot see in them before anything else,
If you can't see beyond their appearance, there's no point in being interested in them.
The life it's capacity to founded upon itself
Life is self-sufficient and self-propagating.
There is no sense in being interested in an ill person
It's pointless to take an interest in an ill person unless you believe in their ability to recover.
Or unwell a society if one cannot believe their readiness
Similarly, there's no point in being interested in a sick society unless you believe in its ability to improve.
And the capacity for proper recovery
The sick person or society must have the ability to recover and improve for any interest to be worthwhile.
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This line appears to be unrelated to the rest of the song, and its meaning is unclear.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: LAETITIA SADIER, TIMOTHY JOHN GANE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind