Talulah Gosh were an English
guitar-pop
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
group from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, and one of the leading bands of the
indiepop
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 ...
movement, taking their name from the headline of an
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 ...
interview with
Clare Grogan.
They supposedly formed in 1986 when
Amelia Fletcher and
Elizabeth Price, both wearing
Pastels
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
badges, met at a club in Oxford. Their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums),
Peter Momtchiloff
Peter Momtchiloff (born 10 March 1962) is a British guitarist and bassist.
He was educated at Winchester College and Worcester College, Oxford.
His musical career began in 1978 playing bass guitar in Winchester band The Big Figure. At Oxford ...
(lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Pursey left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott.
History
The group made their live debut on 7 March 1986, and later the same year released a flexidisc on Sha La La flexilabel and two singles simultaneously on the
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
-based label
53rd & 3rd
''Ramones'' is the debut studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After ''Hit Parader'' editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article a ...
, "Beatnik Boy" and "Steaming Train".
These singles, especially the former, were unashamedly cutesy, something also reflected in the names the group had adopted for themselves: leader Amelia was "Marigold", while Elizabeth became "Pebbles". Mathew Fletcher was rather less flatteringly nicknamed "Fat Mat". Their appearance led to them being labelled as an "
anorak
A parka or anorak is a type of coat with a hood, often lined with fur or faux fur. This kind of garment is a staple of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid Arctic. Some Inuit ...
indie" band.
For their third single, the group returned to a song they had first recorded in session for
Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, ...
's show on
Radio 1 in August 1986, "Talulah Gosh". Elizabeth Price left toward the end of the year to form
The Carousel with
Razorcuts frontman
Gregory Webster, and so the single, released on 30 May 1987, was the first to feature replacement
Eithne Farry
Eithne Farry is the former literary editor of ELLE. She is the author of "Yeah, I Made it Myself". She was a backing singer with Talulah Gosh and has reviewed a book for '' Marie Claire''.
Works
* ''Yeah, I Made it Myself: DIY Fashion for the N ...
(vocals, tambourine).
The single was less shambolic than their earlier offerings, and a video was made for it which was played on ''
The Chart Show
''The Chart Show'' (also known as ''The ITV Chart Show'' between 1989 and 1998) was a popular weekly syndicated music video programme which ran in the United Kingdom from April 1986 until August 1998, with revivals in 2003 and 2008–2009.
''T ...
'' (then shown on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
), giving the band some mainstream exposure. The single was produced (some critics suggested it was over-produced) by John Rivers, as was the follow-up "Bringing Up Baby",
a sophisticated pop song that reduced the band's "shambling" element to the point where mainstream success seemed a possibility. Indeed,
The Primitives would later take precisely this route to success – but Talulah Gosh never made the national chart. The ironically-titled debut (compilation) album ''
Rock Legends: Volume 69'' was released in October 1987, collecting tracks from the earlier singles and radio sessions.
January 1988 saw not only the release of "Bringing Up Baby" but also the broadcast of a second
Radio 1 session, this time for DJ
John Peel. What was to be Talulah Gosh's last single, a punk thrash titled "Testcard Girl" (very loosely based on an old
Heinz advertising jingle), was released in May. The group split later that year.
A posthumous collection of
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1996. A limited edition EP of demos, recorded in 1986, was issued for
in 2011, at which point a new retrospective album was also announced, at that time to be called ''Grrrr''. On 22 July 2013, Amelia Fletcher announced on her Facebook page that the album, now called ''Was It Just a Dream?'', would be released in October 2013. It was launched along with a DJ set by Amelia Fletcher, Eithne Farry and Elizabeth Price at the London club Scared To Dance.
, while Amelia issued a one-off solo single, "Can You Keep a Secret?". Amelia and Mathew Fletcher and Peter Momtchiloff regrouped as
with Talulah Gosh co-founder Rob Pursey also returning to the fold. Following the break-up of Razorcuts, Scott formed Saturn V with
'' No. 3 and ''Trout Fishing in Leytonstone'' No. 3)
*"Beatnik Boy" (single, 1986)
*"Steaming Train" (single, 1986)
*"Talulah Gosh" (single, 1987)
*"Bringing Up Baby" (single, 1987)
*"Testcard Girl" (single, 1988)
*"Demos EP" (single, 2011 – recorded 1986)