"Weekender" is a 1992 single by the band

Flowered Up Flowered Up were an English indie pop- alternative dance band, formed in Camden Town, London in 1989, active during the Baggy movement. Their 13-minute single " Weekender" reached the UK top 20. The band split up in 1994 amid drug problems. Fo ...

. The band had performed the song as early as 1991. The song has been described as denouncing people who only go to clubs on the weekend and advocating a party-all-the-time philosophy of the group. The group originally wanted it to be released through their current label

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

. The single was turned down by the label and released later in April 1992 by

Heavenly Recordings Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne (band), Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves (band), Doves, and early singles by Manic Street P ...

. "Weekender" charted in the United Kingdom for five weeks, peaking at number 20 on the charts. The song received positive reviews on its initial release and was later referred to by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as the group's masterpiece.

Background and production

dropped Flowered Up a few months after the release of their album ''A Life With Brian'' when they refused to release their 12 minute long single for "Weekender". The song was released by

and produced by

Clive Langer Clive Langer (born 19 June 1954 in Hampstead, London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films ''Still Crazy'' and ''Br ...

. Jeff Barrett, owner of Heavenly Recordings stated that "Weekender" came from the group's "love of drugs and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Style and theme

Heather Phares of

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 databas ...

described "Weekender" as denouncing "weekend club-goers" and "advocating a party-all-the-time philosophy that distilled Flowered Up's appeal and ultimate downfall." The song opens and closes with dialogue samples from the film ''

Quadrophenia ''Quadrophenia'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's third rock opera, the two previous being the "mini-opera" song " A Quick One, While ...

'', which

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

described as their "rave-as-mod" analogy. The samples include part of Jimmy's resignation speech, where he tells Fulford to shove "that mail and that franking machine and all that other rubbish I have to go about with" up his arse.

Release

The "Weekender" single was released by

in April 1992. A second 12" featured two mostly instrumental remixes by

Andrew Weatherall Andrew James Weatherall (6 April 1963 – 17 February 2020) was an English musician, DJ, songwriter, producer and remixer. His career took him from being one of the key DJs in the acid house movement of the late 1980s to being a remixer of trac ...

, both even longer than the original song. The song charted 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 ...

for five weeks, where it peaked at number 20.

Video

An 18 minute 20 second video was released for the song directed by

W.I.Z. Andrew John "W.I.Z." Whiston (born 4 January 1964) is an English director of films and music videos. Career W.I.Z. has directed a number of high-concept videos for major music artists from the United Kingdom and the United States, including Ma ...

and starring

Lee Whitlock Lee Whitlock (17 April 1968 – 17 February 2023) was a British television and film actor. Of the many roles in film and TV, they included ''Shine on Harvey Moon'' (1982), '' Two of Us'' (1987), ''Casualty'' (1991), ''Grange Hill'' (1993), '' Sw ...

. The video features imagery of scooters, bath tubs, girls and supermarket check outs and has a narrative involving clubbing fuelled by ecstasy.

Reception

and ''

'' stated that the single was released to critical acclaim. In a review of a live performance of the group in 1991, ''

'' described the song as a "shockingly vitriolic new song". '' Select'' described the single as "variously a smart and beady-eyed pop tune, a god-awful heap of retro garbage and a perplexing aural hallucination." The review concluded that it could not be considered in the running for "Single of the Month" as the track was too long. In Richard Luck's guide book ''The Madchester Scene: The Pocket Essential Guide'', Luck described the song as a "breathtaking, hazy ode to 48 hour party people" and that without the song "we would not be talking about lowered Up. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' mentioned "Weekender" in their discussion of Essential

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...

releases, stating that it was "an epic account of ravings highs and lows". ''The Guardian'' later referred to the song as the group's masterpiece. Writing for ''

Freaky Trigger ''Freaky Trigger'' is an Internet publication and e-zine that focuses on popular culture with topics varying from music to cinema. It was founded by the music critic Tom Ewing in 1999 and features Pete Baran and Mark Sinker as editors. From 2000 ...

'' in 1999, critic Tom Ewing ranked the song at number 69 in his list of the "Top 100 Singles of the 90s", saying "'Weekender' is an aggressive, unique record, a record that doesn't want to be made sense of, a surly epic existing to tell you just that no matter what you'll read about 1992 in some future pop textbook, it wasn't like that, wasn't nearly so neat."

Track listing

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * {{Refend

External links

"Weekender"
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

1992 singles Flowered Up songs Song recordings produced by Clive Langer 1992 songs Heavenly Recordings singles