The Adult Net was a British
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...
band formed by British-based American singer and guitarist
Brix Smith
Brix Smith (born Laura Elisse Salenger) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a major songwriter for the English post-punk band The Fall (band), The Fall during two stints in the band (1983-1989, and 1994-1996) ...
in 1984, while she was a member of
The Fall.
[Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 194]
The group was initially assisted by several members of The Fall, including
Simon Rogers
Simon Rogers is an English musician, record producer and composer who has been a member of The Fall, and The Lightning Seeds.
Biography
In 1976, Rogers entered the Royal College of Music, London, later becoming an associate (ARCM) and winn ...
, Craig Scanlon and Karl Burns. The group issued four singles in 1985/86, Scanlon ceased playing after the debut single, and Burns left a single later. In 1988, the Smith/Rogers duo recruited former
Smiths members
Craig Gannon,
Andy Rourke
Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing.
Career
Rourke's father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an a ...
and
Mike Joyce to fill in the line-up, but by the time the group recorded their only album in 1989, Rogers, Rourke and Joyce had all left. The final Adult Net line-up was a quartet of Smith, Gannon, former
Blondie member
Clem Burke
Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
and
The The
() are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...
member
James Eller. After the band's 1989 debut album, ''The Honey Tangle'', failed to chart, their label
Fontana Records released them in 1990, and the group disbanded.
History
Formation
American singer and guitarist
Brix Smith
Brix Smith (born Laura Elisse Salenger) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a major songwriter for the English post-punk band The Fall (band), The Fall during two stints in the band (1983-1989, and 1994-1996) ...
joined the British
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...
band
The Fall in 1983 and later married the band's founder,
Mark E. Smith
Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...
.
[Fall Biography]
. NME.com
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
(London: IPC Media). Retrieved on 15 April 2009. While remaining with The Fall, Smith formed The Adult Net along with fellow Fall member
Simon Rogers
Simon Rogers is an English musician, record producer and composer who has been a member of The Fall, and The Lightning Seeds.
Biography
In 1976, Rogers entered the Royal College of Music, London, later becoming an associate (ARCM) and winn ...
in late 1984, and they released a cover version of the American
psychedelic rock band
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band formed in 1967 with origins in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 20 ...
's 1967 hit single, "
Incense and Peppermints
''Incense and Peppermints'' is the debut album by psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock. Released in October 1967, it reached No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts during a 24 week run ", on
Beggars Banquet in April 1985.
[ Cook, Richard (21 February 1987). "Brix Smith: A Spider's Web". '']Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'' (London: Banner Press). OCLC . At the time, the official band line-up was credited as Brix on vocals and guitar, Ottersley Kipling (i.e., Simon Rogers) on bass, Silki Guth (a.k.a. Craig Scanlon) on guitar, and 'Mask' Aiechmann (a.k.a. Karl Burns) on drums. This meant that the official Adult Net line-up was essentially The Fall without Mark E. Smith, although Smith did appear as a guest on a few Adult Net recordings credited as 'Count Gunther Hoalingen'. Also, producer
John Leckie
John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's ''25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
was credited as Swami Anand Nagara, a pseudonym he would also use for his production work with psychedelic revivalists
The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Dukes of Stratosphear were an English rock music, rock band formed in 1984 by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory (musician), Dave Gregory, and Ian Gregory. Modelled after psychedelic pop groups from the 1960s, the Dukes were initi ...
, who released their debut single the same month as The Adult Net debuted, being April 1985.
"Edie" – a tribute to
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn Sedgwick Post (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress and fashion model, known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars.Watson, Steven (2003), "Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties" Pantheon Books, pp. 210& ...
, the American actress and one of
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
's
superstars – was released in November 1985,
with the line-up down to a trio of Brix, Kipling and Aiechmann. (For the first few years of the band's existence, Brix Smith was billed simply as "Brix", although in the writing credits she used the name "Brix E. Smith".)
Two singles were released in 1986, "White Night (Stars Say Go)", a cover version of "White Night" by the English band The Lines, and "Waking Up in the Sun".
"Waking Up in the Sun" was the first single by the band to chart when it reached number 94 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in September 1986.
For both 1986 singles, the group was officially credited as being simply 'Brix' and 'O. Kipling'. An album was recorded for Beggars Banquet in 1987 called ''Spin This Web'' but remains unreleased.
[Adult Net: Biography]
NME.com
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
(London: IPC Media). Retrieved on 15 April 2009.
Fontana Records
In an attempt to sign with
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
, in 1988 Smith and Rogers recruited former
Smiths members,
Craig Gannon (guitar),
Andy Rourke
Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing.
Career
Rourke's father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an a ...
(bass) and
Mike Joyce (drums) to The Adult Net.
Around this same time, Rogers dropped the "O. Kipling" stage name, and Brix added the last name Smith to her official billing. However, this line-up did not issue any material, and Rogers, Rourke and Joyce all left the band after only a few months together.
The Adult Net were eventually signed by
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany.
Phonogram was the nam ...
subsidiary
Fontana Records,
with a somewhat revised line-up – Smith and Gannon were joined by
James Eller on bass, and former
Blondie drummer
Clem Burke
Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
.
This quartet recorded the 1989 album ''The Honey Tangle''.
The album was recorded at The Church Studios in London and produced by
Craig Leon
Craig Leon (born 7 January 1952) is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England.International Who’s Who in Classical Music 2005'', Routledge, 2005. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many ...
. Three singles were released from the album: "Take Me", which reached number 78; "Where Were You" (a cover version of the American rock band
The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two go ...
' 1966 single "Where Were You When I Needed You"), which reached number 66; and a re-recorded version of "Waking Up in the Sun", which reached number 99.
[ Shortly after the release of the album, Smith left The Fall, having ended her marriage with Mark E. in early 1989.][Robbins, Ira.]
Adult Net
. ''Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
''. Retrieved on 15 April 2009. The album failed to chart and the band were released by Fontana in October 1990, dissolving shortly thereafter.
Musical style
In his 1987 interview with Brix Smith, Richard Cook for ''Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'', described The Adult Net's debut single as psychedelic revival and noted that Smith "seems captivated by the innocent spirit of an older sort of pop". The American music journalist Ira Robbins described the band's music as "a flower-powery side project to the Fall". He noted that some songs took "a pointless country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
turn" but that ''The Honey Tangle'' was a "catchy power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
-folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
-pop collection that sounds like a flashback to 1981 Los Angeles". While reviewing ''The Honey Tangle'' for Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
, Stewart Mason said that the band's early singles were "spiky marriages between guitars and electronics that owed much to the raincoat-clad heyday of Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...
".[Mason, Stewart. ]Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
( Santa Clara, USA: Macrovision
TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...
). Retrieved on 15 April 2009. Stewart went on to describe ''The Honey Tangle'' as "glossy, jangly, sweet-natured pop music that would sound perfectly at home in the Top 40 radio play lists of some alternate universe".
Discography
Albums
*''The Honey Tangle'' (1989)
Singles
*"Incense and Peppermints
''Incense and Peppermints'' is the debut album by psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock. Released in October 1967, it reached No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts during a 24 week run " (1985)
*"Edie" (1985)
*"White Nights (Stars Say Go)" (1986)
*"Waking Up in the Sun" (1986) UK No. 94[
*"Take Me" (1989) UK No. 78][
*"Where Were You" (1989) UK No. 66][
*"Waking Up in the Sun" (1989) UK No. 99][
]
References
External links
The Adult Net music videos
at Universal Music Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adult Net
British indie pop groups
English indie rock groups
Musical groups established in 1985
Musical groups disestablished in 1990
Parlophone artists
Fontana Records artists
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom