The Housemartins

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Housemartins" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The Housemartins
From left: Dave Hemingway, Paul Heaton, Norman Cook, Stan Cullimore
Background information
Also known as	The Fish City Five
Origin	Hull, England
Genres	Indie pop[1] indie rock jangle pop
Years active	1983–1988
Labels	Go! Discs, Elektra
Past members	Paul Heaton Stan Cullimore Ted Key Norman Cook Justin Patrick Chris Lang Hugh Whitaker Dave Hemingway

The Housemartins were an English

The band's membership changed considerably over the years. Key left at the end of 1985 and was replaced by Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim). Drummer Chris Lang was replaced^[7] briefly by Dodger (Roger Wilde) on loan from local Hull band 3-Action! for their first few gigs as a 4 piece then by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with the Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway.^[2][8] The band often referred to themselves as "the fourth best band in Hull", with the best three bands being Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and the Gargoyles.^[2]

In 1986, having recorded two

The song "Caravan of Love" was first performed by the Housemartins in their second Peel session in April 1986, before their initial chart success. At Peel's suggestion, the band then recorded another session (under the name the Fish City Five), consisting entirely of a cappella performances, and on at least one occasion (at The Tower nightclub in Hull, the same concert at which they were filmed as the Housemartins for the BBC programme, Rock Around the Clock), played support act for their own performance under this alternative name. The "Caravan of Love" single featured four a cappella gospel songs on the B-side.^{[citation needed]}

The Housemartins' second album The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death was released in September 1987, and included their two previous singles "Five Get Over Excited" and "Me and the Farmer". A third single from the album, "Build", was released in November; a Peel Session from the same month provided a recording used for their last single "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me" in 1988. A farewell compilation album, Now That's What I Call Quite Good was released later that year.

The band split in 1988, but the members have remained in contact and have worked on each other's projects. Norman Cook has enjoyed significant success with Beats International and then as Fatboy Slim, while Heaton, Hemingway and roadie Sean Welch formed the Beautiful South. In August 2009, Mojo magazine arranged for The Housemartins' original members to get together for a photo-shoot and interview, for the first time in many years, but in the interview all the members maintained that the band would not re-form.

In December 2009, Cullimore co-wrote songs for (and appeared in) a pre-school music series called

Musical style and lyrics

The band's early releases saw them described as jangle pop, which brought comparisons with bands such as the Smiths and Aztec Camera.^[11][12] David Quantick, writing for Spin, described them in 1986 as playing "traditional '60s-style guitar pop overlaid with soul vocals".^[13] Cook described the band as "religious, but not Christians", and the band's repertoire included gospel songs.^[11][13]

Many of the band's lyrics have socialist themes, with Cook stating that "Paul realised that he hated writing about love...and that writing politically came easier to him", describing some of their songs as "angrily political".^[13][14]

Band members

Final lineup

• Paul Heaton - vocals, guitar, trombone, harmonica (1983-1988)
• Stan Cullimore - guitar, vocals (1983-1988)
• Norman Cook - bass, vocals (1985-1988)
• Dave Hemingway – drums, vocals (1987–1988)

Former members

• Ted Key – bass, vocals (1984–1985)
• Justin Patrick – drums (1985)
• Chris Lang – drums (1985)
• Roger "Dodger" Wilde – drums (1985)
• Hugh Whitaker – drums, vocals (1985–1987)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		UK [3]	AUS [15]	NZL	SWE	NOR	US
1986	London 0 Hull 4 Released: October 1986 Label: Go! Discs	3	35	21	3	9	124 [16]
1987	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death Released: September 1987 Label: Go! Discs	9	56	34	25	–	177 [16]

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions									Album
		UK [3]	NZL [17]	NLD [18]	BEL [19]	SWI [20]	AUT [21]	SWE [22]	NOR [23]	AUS [15][24]
1985	" Flag Day "	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	London 0 Hull 4
1986	"Sheep"	56	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	97
	"Happy Hour"	3	38	25	23	—	—	—	—	—
	"Think for a Minute"	18	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	" Caravan of Love "	1	2	3	5	2	7	1	2	24	Non-album single
1987	"Five Get Over Excited"	11	—	96	—	—	—	—	—	—	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
	"Me and the Farmer"	15	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Build"	15	41	65	27	—	—	—	—	—
1988	"There Is Always Something There to Remind Me"	35	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Now That's What I Call Quite Good
2003	"Change the World" (as Dino Lenny vs The Housemartins)	51	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album single

Compilation albums

• The Housemartins Christmas Box Set (November 1986) UK #84^[3]
• Now That's What I Call Quite Good (April 1988) UK #8^[3]
• The Best of The Housemartins (2004, Go! Discs/Mercury Records), released in two discs (1 CD and 1 DVD)
• Live at the BBC (2006, Universal)
• Soup (December 2007) UK # 15^[3]

Videography

(does not include "live" appearances on TV programmes)

• "Sheep"
• "Happy Hour"
• "Think for a Minute"
• "Caravan of Love"
• "Five Get Over Excited"
• "Me and the Farmer"
• "Build"
• "There Is Always Something There to Remind Me"
• "We're Not Deep"

Biography

• Swift, Nick (1988). The Housemartins: Now That's What I Call Quite Good. Tales from Humberside.
  ISBN 0-7119-1517-2
  .

References

1. ^ Marshall, Lucy (3 April 2021). "Where iconic '80s Hull band The Housemartins are now". Hull Daily Mail.
2. ^
   ISBN 1-84195-017-3
   .
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Official Charts > Housemartins". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
4. ^ "Musical Messages". Marxism Today (Interview). March 1987. pp. 45–47.
5. ^ "The Gargoyles – Hull Adelphi Club 1986". Sheffield Tape Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
6. ISBN 978-0711969735
   .
7. ^ Swift 1988, p. 15.
8. ^ "The Housemartins". Beautiful South and Paul Heaton Fans. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
9. ISBN 1-904994-10-5
   .
10. ^ Longhorn, Danny (6 October 2014). "Housemartins reunite for Adelphi Caravan of Love as Paul Heaton joined on stage by Stan Cullimore and Hugh Whitaker". Hull Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
11. ^
    ISBN 978-0415969987
    .
12. ISBN 978-0434022182
    .
13. ^ ^{a b c} Quantick, David (December 1986). "Blinded by Gospel". Spin. p. 16.
14. ISBN 978-1843531050
    .
15. ^
    ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. the Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA
    between mid 1983 and 19 June 1988.
16. ^ ^{a b} Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Housemartins". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
17. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN NEW ZEALAND CHARTS". charts.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
18. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN DUTCH CHARTS". Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
19. ^ "DISCOGRAFIE THE HOUSEMARTINS". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
20. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN DER SCHWEIZER HITPARADE". Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
21. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN HITPARADE". Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
22. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN SWEDISH CHARTS". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
23. ^ "THE HOUSEMARTINS IN NORWEGIAN CHARTS". Norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
24. ^ "Australian chart positions pre 1989". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.

External links

• The Housemartins' channel on
  YouTube