So there I was on 25 June 1992 browsing the racks in Leeds market with my mate, when we stumbled across this beauty, Bad Dress Sense Goodbye … It Was Fun. We fell about laughing at the cover – hell, how could you not agree with that? and I bought this mini LP in a spirit of sheer joy.
There was something so great and endearingly amateurish about the whole thing, the cover, the insert and all, it just seemed to hark back to that whole punk thing* of getting together, having something to say, selling the bass player’s motorbike to pay for the pressing costs and smashing out a record. Goodbye … It Was Fun is all that.
Bad Dress Sense were born of the same scuzzy punky roots as daft pub punkers The Stupids, genres and nuances all get a bit blurry here, as they are wont to do in close-up – basically they shared at least one member, if not more at times. But Bad Dress Sense were a more serious proposition, netting a Peel Session after about two live gigs they cut Goodbye … It Was Fun in 1987. From the fact that singer Nick was sporting long hair a bandana and a heavy metal T-shirt I expected the music to be of the thrash metal/crossover variety, but what we get is pretty straight, rudimentary, hectoring Hüsker Dü style punk**.
It’s all pretty energetic, pretty good and well-intentioned, they mean it (man!). There are definite similarities to those North-Eastern bands who came along 5 years later who I really liked, like Leatherface, Guns ‘n Wankers and Dogpiss, who played it a bit tighter with a bit more variation. There’s a good noise on Goodbye … It Was Fun, but it is too short, the band didn’t have the chops yet to take it very far from source. Best track? ‘G.C.P’, the opener, starting with a dialogue clip from a film I don’t recognise, it buzzsaws away very pleasingly indeed.
The insert is great, crammed with every little detail they could possibly fit into it – lyrics, drawings, in- jokes, dedications, headlines it is the work of a band who knew they possibly wouldn’t get the chance to express themselves this way again. I like that, it makes it funny and a little poignant – not everything is for ever.
613 Down.
*later robbed by my NWOBHM brethren.
**but without the knobbly, complex bits.
Y’know, if there wasn’t some music out there to prove these guys existed I woulda sworn you Photoshopped that front cover.
The inner sleeve is pretty sweet. That’s the kinda thing I like. None of this boring plain white inner shenanigans.
For £2.50 it just had to be bought.
Once again 1537 introduces me to awesome new (to me) music. Shame I just went to Toronto…
This is right up my alley. I’m digging it!
Crazy layout as U state …some big leaguers could have taken a lesson on marketing ….
I would’ve bought this on the strength of the album cover alone, too. Though I wasn’t much into punk in 1987(with maybe Suicidal Tendencies and Black Flag as the exceptions), this one would’ve made it into the Hubner collection for sure.
I have to give a shout out to Guns ‘n Wankers. That name is pure genius.
I’m very taken with the name Dogpiss too, it’d look great on a whole range of merchandise – Baby’s bibs, trucker caps, kids’ T-shirts.
I am happy this copy has come to a good home. Second and third time I’ve played this in 23 years though, I’m ashamed to admit.
Dogpiss onesies…for the newborns.
Man, we’ll be millionaires before sun up on New Year’s Day!
Some of these tunes start off loud and fast punk and then sort of morph into happy go lucky. It’s like they changed guitar players and direction part way through.
I think if they had the right producer to push them to the harder, faster punk edge they could have been bigger.
I mostly liked what I heard. I would look for this if the price was reasonable.
Excellent, 1537 spreads the word … 28 years too late!