Their first release (January 1978) was the single "14th Floor / Oxford Street W1". Their second release, the EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? features one of their best-known songs, "Part Time Punks".
The Television Personalities' first album And Don't the Kids Just Love It was released in 1981. It set the template for their subsequent career: neo-psychedelia, an obsession with youth culture of the 1960s, a fey, slightly camp lyrical attitude, and the occasional classic pop song. Their second album Mummy Your Not Watching Me [sic] demonstrated increased psychedelic influences. Their third album, ironically entitled They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles showed Treacy's sense of irony: the TVPs (as they are affectionately known) were never to have any major commercial success. The first three albums featured Treacy and schoolmate Ed Ball; Ball left the band to found The Times, but rejoined in 2004.
The 1985 album The Painted Word was unexpectedly dark in content, reflecting Treacy's despair at Thatcherite Britain and his personal circumstances.
Various line up changes prevented their next album (Privilege) from appearing until 1990. Their next album Closer to God was a combination of fey sixties style pop and darker material, similar in tone to The Painted Word.
The album Don't Cry Baby, It's Only a Movie was released in 1998. Since then Treacy has battled mental health problems, and his addictions to heroin, amphetamine and alcohol. He has been homeless on various occasions and was briefly arrested and imprisoned in 2003/2004. However, since his release, Treacy has attempted to get his life back together and in February 2006 a new TVPs album My Dark Places was released. Despite their small sales the TVPs were very influential on British music in the 1980s, especially the so-called C86 generation and many of the bands on Creation Records.
In an article in The Guardian on April 24 2006, it was implied that Dan Treacy is in some way behind the Arctic Monkeys, although this is based on little more than a perceived similarity between their lyrical style and that of Treacy, and the fact that the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys is mysteriously not credited with their songwriting.[1]
Anxiety Block
Television Personalities Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For two weeks now and I'm feeling faint
Is there anything I can do?
Is there anything you can do?
I try and concentrate but my body aches
And my head goes round and my hands begin to shake
Is there anything I can do?
Perhaps I could have some little blue pills
Like you gave me when I was ill
Oh I hope you can stop
This feeling that I've got
Please help me
Please help me
Doctor I haven't been able to sing
For three weeks now and I feel poorly
Is there anything I can do?
Is there anything you can do?
I get on the stage and I see the crowd
And suddenly everything's twice as loud
Anything you can do?
Anything you can do?
Perhaps I could have some little blue pills
Like you gave me when I was ill
Oh I hope you can stop
This feeling that I've got
Please help me
Please help me
My heads going round and round
"Anxiety Block" by Television Personalities is a song that depicts the struggles of an artist who is experiencing a creative block due to anxiety. The artist talks to a doctor and expresses their inability to paint or sing due to the physical symptoms of anxiety such as body aches, a spinning head, and trembling hands. The artist hopes that the doctor can prescribe some "little blue pills" to help them overcome this issue. The song concludes with the artist pleading for help as their head goes round and round.
The lyrics of "Anxiety Block" are quite straightforward and clearly convey the feelings of someone experiencing anxiety. The song sheds light on the creative blocks that artists might face when dealing with anxiety, and the emotional toll it can take on them. It is a relatable song that resonates with anyone struggling with anxiety and creative blocks. The song's somber tone and slow-paced rhythm add to the sense of helplessness and desperation expressed in the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Doctor I haven't been able to paint
For two weeks now and I'm feeling faint
Is there anything I can do?
Is there anything you can do?
The patient feels faint and unable to paint for the past two weeks and seeks help from the doctor.
I try and concentrate but my body aches
And my head goes round and my hands begin to shake
Is there anything I can do?
Is there anything you can do?
The patient has difficulty concentrating due to body aches and trembling hands, and requests assistance from the doctor.
Perhaps I could have some little blue pills
Like you gave me when I was ill
Oh I hope you can stop
This feeling that I've got
Please help me
Please help me
The patient asks for pills to alleviate the feelings of anxiety and requests the doctor's help.
Doctor I haven't been able to sing
For three weeks now and I feel poorly
Is there anything I can do?
Is there anything you can do?
The patient feels unwell and has not been able to sing for three weeks, and requests the doctor's assistance.
I get on the stage and I see the crowd
And suddenly everything's twice as loud
Anything you can do?
Anything you can do?
The patient is overwhelmed when performing on stage and finds the crowd too loud, and pleads for the doctor's help.
Perhaps I could have some little blue pills
Like you gave me when I was ill
Oh I hope you can stop
This feeling that I've got
Please help me
Please help me
The patient hopes for pills to relieve the anxiety and anxiously pleads for the doctor's help.
My head's going round and round
The patient is experiencing head spinning or dizziness due to anxiety.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Spectrescup
Dan was as big a genius, for those first few years, as Mark E.Smith, Weller, the Gang of 4 and everyone else who made this such a fantastic era (personally, I think it ended in 1982, when I was still too young to realise).