Guitarist Mike Connell formed the band in 1984, along with his brother David Connell on bass, Doug MacMillan on vocals, and future filmmaker John Schultz on drums. This initial four-person line-up was quickly supplemented by the addition of George Huntley on second guitar, keyboards, and vocals. Around the same time, former Johnny Quest drummer Peele Wimberley replaced Schultz, finalizing the "classic" line-up of the band.
From the beginning of the group, Mike Connell wrote both the music and the lyrics of the majority of the band’s songs, although he was not the band's primary lead singer. Connell’s influences included the 1960's guitar pop of his childhood, including The Byrds and The Beatles; in an early interview, he stated that the first song he wrote as a teenager was titled “Psychedelic Butterfly."
Like Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Connell and Huntley played Rickenbacker guitars for the first several years of the band’s career, creating a jangly, folk-rock sound reminiscent of The Byrds and other Southern U.S. and North Carolina bands of the era, such as the dB's and Let's Active.
A re-recorded version of “Darker Days” provided the title track to the band’s debut album, which was produced by fellow North Carolinian Don Dixon and released in 1985 on Elvis Costello's Demon Records in the UK and the band’s own Black Park Records label in the U.S.
After touring heavily behind Darker Days, the Connells re-entered the studio in 1986 with Dixon and R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter to record their second album, Boylan Heights. The decision to work with Easter continued to perpetuate the comparisons to R.E.M.
Although the band shopped Boylan Heights to various labels, the major record companies, including Columbia Records, which expressed some mild interest, passed on it; the record was ultimately released in 1987 on mid-major TVT Records, which had made its name releasing a series of "Tee Vee Toons" television theme song compilation CDs. TVT would prove to be no commercial match for R.E.M.'s own mid-major label, I.R.S. Records, and over the next decade, The Connells would engage in a series of disputes with the label, on at least one occasion suing, unsuccessfully, to break their recording contract.
Despite the problems with TVT, Boylan Heights was a substantial college radio hit, and The Connells continued to tour relentlessly. During this period, both Connell and Huntley began to move away from their twelve-string Rickenbackers towards six-string Fender and Gibson guitars, leading to a heavier, less folky sound on Fun and Games, the 1989 follow-up album.
Fun and Games was quickly followed in 1990 by One Simple Word, which was recorded in Wales with U.K. producer Hugh Jones.
After a three-year recording hiatus, which included more legal jousting with TVT Records, a rejuvenated Connells released Ring in 1993. While European music fans made Ring a platinum record outside the United States, such high level success in America remained elusive. 1996's Weird Food and Devastation failed to build on the momentum established by its predecessor.
In 1998, the band released Still Life, which marked their final album for TVT. The band released Old School Dropouts on the revived Black Park Records label in 2000. The band recorded the record themselves and promoted it sparingly in the American South.
Peele Wimberley and George Huntley have since left the band. Wimberley briefly played with another band called Parklife, and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue interests in Hollywood and in electronic music. He is currently a member of the Los Angeles band, The Lamps.
Huntley is now selling real estate and working part time at the University of North Carolina music department.
Peele Wimberley was replaced on drums by Steve Ritter; after several years Ritter was soon replaced by Chris Stevenson on drums, and Mike Ayers took George's place on lead guitar. The new lineup recorded the album Old School Dropouts.
In 1993, they released "''74-'75" which remains their most popular song. It is based on experiences of the Class of 1975 in a high school in Raleigh, North Carolina. The video juxtaposed original yearbook pictures with the class members as they appeared at the time. And then in 2015, the producers tracked down the original members once again, and produced a remixed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6l3Lh2cb_g
The last official release of the band was in 2001. They still occasionally perform together, including a reunion concert in 2020.
Choose A Side
The Connells Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You were in the war.
When they said to choose a side,
It made you want to hide.
When you fell in with the rest
We were not impressed.
When they said "Who won the war?"
It made you smile.
When they've torn you either way,
Put your past away.
When they said to choose a side,
It made you want to hide.
When you fell in with the worst,
It could be a first.
When they said "Who won the war?"
It made you smile.
This time, this time
And nothing will do
This time, this time
We'll leave it all to you.
This time, this time
It's all the same.
The lyrics to The Connells’ song Choose A Side are open for interpretation, but there are certain themes and messages that can be deduced from the words. The first stanza talks about war, and someone who has experienced it firsthand. They are being asked who won the war, and while it may sound like a simple question, it is loaded with meaning. The listener can infer that the person being asked is reluctant to answer, perhaps because their experience of the war was more nuanced and complicated than a simple “win or lose” situation. The idea of choosing a side is also brought up, and it is clear that this person does not want to be involved in taking a position. This could be because they have seen the horrors and consequences of war, and are wary of blindly following ideology or rhetoric. It is also suggested that this person has fallen in with a group of people, possibly those who are perceived as “the worst”, which again implies a reluctance to align with any particular side or position.
The second stanza builds on these themes, and highlights the struggles and pressures of being torn between opposing forces. The idea of “putting your past away” suggests that this person has a complicated relationship with their history, and is struggling to reconcile it with the present. The choice of “either way” indicates that they feel like they are being pulled in opposite directions, and are being forced to choose a side they don’t necessarily agree with. However, there is a glimmer of hope in the final line, where the person is shown to be smiling when asked who won the war. This could be interpreted as a refusal to be drawn into an argument that is ultimately futile or meaningless.
Line by Line Meaning
When they said "Who won the war?"
The singer is referring to a past war and whoever they asked about who won the war was a part of it
You were in the war.
The person being asked about who won the war was also involved in the war
When they said to choose a side,
At some point in time, someone told the person being referred to in the song that they had to pick a side
It made you want to hide.
Being asked to choose a side caused the person in question to want to avoid making a decision
When you fell in with the rest
The person being referred to went along with the majority of people
We were not impressed.
The singer and possibly others were not pleased with this person's decision to go along with the majority
It made you smile.
For some reason, being asked about who won the war caused the person being referred to to smile
When they've torn you either way,
At some point, the person being referred to was forced to make a decision between two options
Put your past away.
The artist is urging the person being referred to to forget about their past when making a decision, implying that their past may be influencing their current decision
When you fell in with the worst,
In future situations where this person had to choose between options, they chose the option that was considered the worst by others
It could be a first.
This could be the first time this person made such a poor decision, implying that it was unexpected
This time, this time
The artist is emphasizing that this particular situation is important and different from previous situations
And nothing will do
Only one particular choice is acceptable and nothing else will suffice
We'll leave it all to you.
The singer is giving the decision-making responsibility to the person being referred to
It's all the same.
Regardless of how the person being referred to decides, the outcome will ultimately be the same
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: MICHAEL CONNELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
B Bloem
on In my Head
I always thought this was being sung to an aborted baby.