By the time their third record, "Regular Urban Survivors" was released in 1996, Briptop was firmly established in the mainstream, but perhaps surprisingly Terrorvision thrived. Single "Perseverance" charted at number five (It's awesome "Whales and Dolphins" hook proving irresistable to daytime radio and indie dancefloors alike) and the album was a commercial and critical hit. In many ways a bigger, widescreen sequel to HTMFAIP (with a couple of songs suspiciously close to re-makes - Bad Actress = Middleman, Celebrity Hitlist = Discotheque Wreck...) the cover featured the band larking around as spoof filmstars and was ostensibly a soundtrack to a fictional film - an idea reflected in songs such as "Didn't Bleed Red" (sci-fi) and "Dog Chewed the Handle" (An implausible murder mystery) The band still got in a few digs in at the Briptop elite, with "Superchronic" taking a few swipes at Oasis.
The odd man out, though, of Terrorvision albums is without doubt 1998's "Shaving Peaches", a curiously restrained record which in hindsight sounds like an ill-founded attempt to gain a mainstream audience which in truth they probably already had. Basically, TV forgot how to rock. Despite the album selling poorly, it ironically spawned their biggest hit, "Tequila". Admittedly it was a Mint Royale remix of the track which reached number 2, but in truth it didn't differ that much from the original, adding only an irresistably immediate speed-mariachi tempo. The band took this in their stride - where other, cooler bands would have turned their nose up at such psuedo-success, Terrorvison cheekily just learned to play the remix live instead.
Dropped from major label EMI after "Shaving Peaches", Terrorvision finally returned in 2001 with the independently released "Good To Go". Probably knowing it would be their final record, it is very much a return to 'classic' Terrorvision and in many ways a return to form. Whilst the record lacks some of their prime period sparkle, the choruses are undeniably huge and the album brims with the band's trademark good time party vibes. "Friends And Family", in particular went down a storm at festivals, with its joyously profane "Party Over Here, Fuck You Over There!" refrain.
Terrorvision played their 'final' gig in October 2001, in their hometown of Bradford - a riotous celebration of all things TV which was eventually released as a double live album, "Take The Money And Run".
Since Terrorvision split there have been a number of side projects including Tony Wright's Laika Dog, Leigh Marklew's Malibu Stacey and Mark Yates's Blunderbuss and Boomville. Tony Wright has also released two solo albums and one country album with Ryan Hamilton, and tours with Milton "Milly" Evans performing acoustic versions of Terrorvision songs as well as his own material.
Ultimately Terrorvision were a wonderful oddity - despite coming from a undeniably Heavy Metal background, the band took the genre, (Which, lets not forget, was in terminal decline during the mid 90s) stripped away the po-faced seriousness, and fashioned a rock party band from the ashes. Often dismissed as a novelty act, TV in truth simply loved what they did, and never once considered being too cool to show it. Mark Yates's urgent, exciting guitars anchored the band musically, but it's Tony Wright's hyper-go-go vocals which truly make the band, delighting in rolling his Yorkshire vowels around wordplay which lyrically is sometimes closer to rap than rock. They never hid behind the too-common pretence of disliking success - Terrorvision celebrated every foray into the mainstream and were never afraid to show it. At the same time, they surely gave a generation of Britpop kids a taste what rock delights could await them - witness the bands cover versions of Iggy Pop's "The Passenger", Cheap Trick's "Surrender", Free's "Wishing Well" or perhaps most bizzarely, their lounge-blues version of Iron Maiden's "Take Your Daughter To the Slaughter". They even dabbled with Paul Oakenfold remixes and their very own handbag-house-rock foray, B-side "Too Stoned To Dance". All hail Terrorvision then, Bradford' finest (and most proud) musical export.
While they have never returned to music full-time, Terrorvision have reformed numerous times since their initial split. The first time was for a 'one week only' tour in 2005, for which a live album and DVD were recorded, followed by a performance at Scarborough Castle later that year.
In 2007, the band announced that they were reforming again for a small number of gigs, this time without bassist and founding member Leigh Marklew. Danny Lambert, member of Mark Yates' band Blunderbuss, stood in for Leigh. The following year Leigh returned to the band and the original lineup performed on several short tours and festival appearances over the next few years, including a tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of "How To Make Friends and Influence People", for which two live albums were made available - one recorded from the Manchester show, and one from the London show.
In 2010, drummer and founding member Ian "Shutty" Shuttleworth retired from the band and was replaced by Cameron Greenwood. Terrorvision announced that they were working on a new album, their first new music since 2001. The album, "Super Delux", was released in February 2011. The band continued to tour and make festival appearances, performing at Download Festival in 2012, their highest profile gig in some time.
The band went on hiatus from 2013-2016, returning for a one-off 'Alternative Valentines' show on the 14th of February. Later that year they embarked on a UK tour supporting Thunder, and announced a headline tour at the end of the year for the 20th anniversary of "Regular Urban Survivors". A live album was released, recorded at the Manchester Ritz, as well as a behind-the-scenes DVD film, "Wired Up and Scary".
Since 2016 the band have continued to perform on an annual basis, including a novel triple-headline tour in 2018 with Reef and The Wildhearts called "Britrock Must Be Destroyed", where the order of the bands would rotate from one gig to the next, and a 25th anniversary tour for "How To Make Friends and Influence People" in 2019.
Also in 2019, Terrorvision released their first new material since "Super Delux" eight years prior - the Christmas single "Our Christmas Song", as well as a pre-order exclusive download track "By My Side". The band have indicated their intention to release more new music during 2020, though whether this takes the form of an album, EP or individual tracks is currently unknown.
In Your Shoes
Terrorvision Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
None of this was going on,we had to make our own fun and games,
I didn't fight two wars to be this way,
I'm looking forward to my sixties again maybe this time round we'll make it past the grade,
Past eighty eight,
On past the grade,
On to fun and games,
There was always something to do,
I was down a pit, up to my neck in it,
When I was in your shoes,
There were so many rules,
So much law, now they don't know they're born.
This really wouldn't happen in Margate,
None of this was on the prom you had to take your own fun and games,
I haven't worked nine lives to live this way,
I'm looking back to the sixties again maybe this time round we'll make it past eighty eight,
Past eighty eight,
On past the grade,
On to fun and games,
When I was in your shoes,
There was always something to do,
I was down a pit, up to my neck in it,
When I was in your shoes,
There were so many rules,
So much law, now they don't know they're born.
I ain't survived five hips to walk this way,
This has all gone on too long,now you know it's not all fun and games.
When I was in your shoes,
There was always something to do,
I was down a pit, up to my neck in it,
When I was in your shoes,
There were so many rules,
So much law, now they don't know they're born.
The lyrics to "In Your Shoes" by Terrorvision depict the frustration and reminiscence of an older individual looking at the world today. The first stanza refers to the singer's generation, implying that they had to create their own entertainment and did not have the same luxuries and conveniences as the current generation. The next stanza mentions that the singer was formerly a miner and that they had plenty of rules to follow. However, at the time, the singer believes that generation didn't know how good they had it.
The chorus of the song goes on to say that the singer had to go through a lot of hardship to be where they are today. They have gone through multiple surgeries to get to where they are now, and they are upset that something like this is happening in the world. They are saying that the current generation doesn't know the value of hard work and is lost in their own entertainment.
The song's overall message is one of annoyance that people in the current generation don't know what it took to get to where they are today while not having to face the hardships of the past. The references to the past are clear: the singer mentions the sixties as a time of fun and games where they had to create their entertainment. It's implied that the younger generation is spoiled, having everything given to them. In contrast, the singer and their generation had to work hard to get what they have today.
Line by Line Meaning
It really wouldn't happen in my day,
Back in my day, we had to create our own entertainment, and none of what's happening now could've occurred.
None of this was going on,we had to make our own fun and games,
There weren't any of the current types of activities going on, so we had to find our own ways to have fun.
I didn't fight two wars to be this way,
I didn't go through two wars just to live life this way.
I'm looking forward to my sixties again maybe this time round we'll make it past the grade,
I'm anticipating the return of my sixties, and perhaps this time we'll make it past the age of 88.
Past eighty eight,
Beyond age 88.
On past the grade,
Advancing beyond the typical life expectancy.
On to fun and games,
Moving forward to more enjoyable experiences.
When I was in your shoes,
When I was in your position or situation.
There was always something to do,
There was always some kind of activity or task to occupy my time.
I was down a pit, up to my neck in it,
I was once in a difficult and challenging situation (potentially a coal mine) and had to work hard to get out.
There were so many rules,
There were a significant number of regulations and laws to abide by.
So much law, now they don't know they're born.
There are now so many rules that young people don't even realize how much they're governed.
This really wouldn't happen in Margate,
Margate wasn't the type of place where current events occur, and we had to create our own entertainment.
I haven't worked nine lives to live this way,
I haven't survived countless challenges and obstacles just to live a life like this.
I'm looking back to the sixties again maybe this time round we'll make it past eighty eight,
I'm reflecting on the 60s and hoping that this time we'll surpass 88 years of age.
I ain't survived five hips to walk this way,
I haven't replaced five hips just to function like this.
This has all gone on too long, now you know it's not all fun and games.
This situation has persisted for too long, and people need to recognize that it's not all just fun and games.
Contributed by Jack N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.