''The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death'' is the second and final studio album by

The Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianit ...

. It was released in 1987, and produced three singles - "

Five Get Over Excited Five Get Over Excited is a song by The Housemartins released as a single from their album ''The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death''. The follow-up to their #1 UK hit "Caravan of Love" (although it was preceded by the USA-only release of "Fla ...

" (#11 UK), "

Me and the Farmer "Me and the Farmer" is a single by British Indie rock band The Housemartins from the album '' The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death''. It reached #15 in the UK singles chart the week of 12 September 1987. The song had been written some 18 mont ...

" (#15) and " Build" (#15 UK). The title song is about the British Royal Family, which found them gaining controversy in the tabloid papers similar to that of other bands such as the Sex Pistols,

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...

and

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

Critical reception

''The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death'' was ranked number nine among "Albums of the Year" for 1987 in the annual ''

NME ''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 ...

'' critics' poll.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Paul Heaton Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the frontman of the Housemartins, who had success with the singles " Happy Hour" and the UK number one "Caravan of Love" in 1986 before disbanding in 1988. He then form ...

and Stan Cullimore #"The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" – 3:33 #"I Can't Put My Finger on It" – 2:28 #"The Light Is Always Green" – 3:59 #"The World's on Fire" – 3:20 #"Pirate Aggro" – 1:52 #"We're Not Going Back" – 2:53 #"

" – 2:54 #"

" – 2:44 #"Johannesburg" – 3:55 #"Bow Down" – 3:04 #"You Better Be Doubtful" – 2:32 #" Build" – 4:45

Charts

Personnel

The Housemartins

Norman Cook Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

– bass,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Dave Hemingway Dave Hemingway (born David Robert Hemingway, 20 September 1960) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as a vocalist for the Hull-based band The Beautiful South until they disbanded in 2007. Previously he had been a member of The House ...

– drums, vocals * P.d. Heaton – vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

, harmonica * Stan Cullimore – guitar, vocals

Additional musicians

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a yea ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Sandy Blair –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

* St. Winifred's School Choir –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

on "Bow Down" *

Pete Wingfield William Peter Wingfield (born 7 May 1948) is an English record producer, keyboard player, songwriter, singer and music journalist. Career Whilst at Sussex University Wingfield and three other students formed the group Jellybread. In 1969, he ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, keyboards

Technical personnel

* John Williams – producer *The Housemartins – producer *Phil Bodger – engineer *David Storey – sleeve design *John Sims – sleeve design *Phil Rainey – front cover

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

Derek Ridgers Derek Ridgers (born 20 October 1950) is a British photographer known for his photography of music, film and club/street culture. He has photographed people including James Brown, the Spice Girls, Clint Eastwood and Johnny Depp, as well as polit ...

– band photography *John Woods – band photography

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, The The Housemartins albums 1987 albums Go! Discs albums