Prefab sprout anyone

[Born to Harangue]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but what the hell kind of a name is prefab sprout???

“McAloon and his brother Martin invented their band’s odd moniker in 1971 after hearing of strangely named bands such as Grand Funk Railroad and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). If ever they had a band, they would call it Prefab Sprout, the McAloon brothers decided. They also considered Grappled Institution, Dry Axe, and Village Bus. “I love our name because I know the naivete it came out of,” Paddy told Rolling Stone.”

Where the name ‘The Smiths’ was a reaction to pretentious band names at the time such as ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’, the McAloon brothers instead decided to embrace the ridiculous and came up with a nonsensical name of their own when they were children (at about the ages of 9 and 13). Do people honestly care about the name, though?! Not taking a band seriously on account of its name isn’t much different to judging a book by its cover. The content is what matters. I’ve yet to see a valid criticism of the band. “Jazzy fluff!”, “breezy elevators!”, “too well produced!”, “weird name!”.

 

[Anonymous]

“McAloon and his brother Martin invented their band’s odd moniker in 1971 after hearing of strangely named bands such as Grand Funk Railroad and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). If ever they had a band, they would call it Prefab Sprout, the McAloon brothers decided. They also considered Grappled Institution, Dry Axe, and Village Bus. “I love our name because I know the naivete it came out of,” Paddy told Rolling Stone.”

Where the name ‘The Smiths’ was a reaction to pretentious band names at the time such as ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’, the McAloon brothers instead decided to embrace the ridiculous and came up with a nonsensical name of their own when they were children (at about the ages of 9 and 13). Do people honestly care about the name, though?! Not taking a band seriously on account of its name isn’t much different to judging a book by its cover. The content is what matters. I’ve yet to see a valid criticism of the band. “Jazzy fluff!”, “breezy elevators!”, “too well produced!”, “weird name!”.

I love Prefab Sprout but I do feel their name held them back and made them a punchline for jokes.

 

[gordyboy9]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but what the hell kind of a name is prefab sprout???

its nearly as bad as blue rondo a la turk,of which M is a fan,they only really had one hit which was klactoveesedstein.

 

[Born to Harangue]

Prefab Sprout albums in the top 100 albums for the years they came out, according to rateyourmusic.com (I’ll post these ratings here because these people have listened to the music unlike some of the people in this thread who are fixated on the band’s name because they know very little about their music ):

Swoon: 3.69/5.0 from 2,569 ratings, #64 for 1984.

Steve McQueen: 3.89/5.0 from 7,624 ratings, #7 for 1985 (above 1985 albums by The Cure, New Order, The Fall, The Smiths).

From Langley Park to Memphis: 3.73/5.0 from 2,112 ratings, #55 for 1988.

Jordan: The Comeback: 3.77/5.0 from 2,480 ratings, #32 for 1990.

I Trawl the MEGAHERTZ: 3.82/5.0 from 2,783 ratings, #28 for 2003.

So, five of their ten studio albums get into the top 100 albums for their respective years of release.

Prefab Sprout singles in the top 100 of each year on rateyourmusic:

Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone) / Radio Love, #31 for 1983

When Love Breaks Down / Diana, #17 for 1984

Faron Young / Silhouettes, #46 for 1985

Appetite / Heaven Can Wait / Oh, the Swiss!, #24 for 1985

When Love Breaks Down / The Yearning Loins, #25 for 1985

Johnny Johnny / Wigs, #15 for 1986

Cars and Girls / Vendetta, #41 for 1988

The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll / Moving the River, #47 for 1988

We Let the Stars Go / Cruel, #77 for 1990

It looks like it’s conclusive that decades after their heyday this is a band that remains immensely popular among music lovers, as well they should because they’re an excellent band, name and all!

 

[BookishBoy]

“McAloon and his brother Martin invented their band’s odd moniker in 1971 after hearing of strangely named bands such as Grand Funk Railroad and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). If ever they had a band, they would call it Prefab Sprout, the McAloon brothers decided. They also considered Grappled Institution, Dry Axe, and Village Bus. “I love our name because I know the naivete it came out of,” Paddy told Rolling Stone.”

Where the name ‘The Smiths’ was a reaction to pretentious band names at the time such as ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’, the McAloon brothers instead decided to embrace the ridiculous and came up with a nonsensical name of their own when they were children (at about the ages of 9 and 13). Do people honestly care about the name, though?! Not taking a band seriously on account of its name isn’t much different to judging a book by its cover. The content is what matters. I’ve yet to see a valid criticism of the band. “Jazzy fluff!”, “breezy elevators!”, “too well produced!”, “weird name!”.

I love Prefab Sprout to bits but that part about band names reminded me of Morrissey being on Radio 1 in the mid 80s discussing new singles out that week and when it came to a song by That Petrol Emotion he basically said "I can't even listen to it because their name's so awful" - or words to that effect.

So it's very on point for Morrissey fans to dismiss Prefab Sprout because of their name...

 

[Lucifer Sam]

Do people honestly care about the name, though?! Not taking a band seriously on account of its name isn’t much different to judging a book by its cover. The content is what matters. I’ve yet to see a valid criticism of the band. “Jazzy fluff!”, “breezy elevators!”, “too well produced!”, “weird name!”.

Those are valid criticisms, though. Critics designate them "jazz-pop." I don't like generic-sounding voices and smooth jazz tinges in pop music, so I don't like Prefab Sprout. I'm not obligated to give a po-mo analysis about it.

 

[Lucifer Sam]

Jazzy fluff! Breezy f*cking elevator music! I don't like this shit! My opinion is VALID!

 

[Born to Harangue]

This is the guy who fancies himself as a literary sort, and yet the best he can give us when discussing Prefab Sprout is “jazzy”, “generic”, “elevator music”, etc. I feel cheated!

“I’m not obligated to give a po-mo analysis”, in other words: “I can’t give one, I don’t know enough about them to say more than what I’ve already said”.

I’m listening to elevator music right now on YouTube and it doesn’t sound anything like Prefab Sprout, it sounds like the Frasier theme and Joy of Painting theme. So we’re not even getting accurate comparisons, just knee-jerk reactions based on a song or two. It’s all so disappointing! The music of Prefab Sprout isn’t the problem here, we’ve seen what the people who’ve taken the time to listen to their music think of them, based on the ratings from my previous post. We’ll have to call a halt to the conversation until Aubrey, Zoom, and Gordy go and listen to Steve McQueen and come back with details about what they did or didn’t like about it. Because it’s all a bit too vague at the minute; not one song title has been mentioned by any of them!



I bet Aubrey would even find a way to try to criticise Bob Ross’ happy little trees

 

[Lucifer Sam]

This is the guy who fancies himself as a literary sort, and yet the best he can give us when discussing Prefab Sprout is “jazzy”, “generic”, “elevator music”, etc. I feel cheated!

“I’m not obligated to give a po-mo analysis”, in other words: “I can’t give one, I don’t know enough about them to say more than what I’ve already said”.

I’m listening to elevator music right now on YouTube and it doesn’t sound anything like Prefab Sprout, it sounds like the Frasier theme and Joy of Painting theme. So we’re not even getting accurate comparisons, just knee-jerk reactions based on a song or two. It’s all so disappointing! The music of Prefab Sprout isn’t the problem here, we’ve seen what the people who’ve taken the time to listen to their music think of them, based on the ratings from my previous post. We’ll have to call a halt to the conversation until Aubrey, Zoom, and Gordy go and listen to Steve McQueen and come back with details about what they did or didn’t like about it. Because it’s all a bit too vague at the minute; not one song title has been mentioned by any of them!



I bet Aubrey would even find a way to try to criticise Bob Ross’ happy little trees

This isn't going to work. I don't fancy myself anything besides someone who has opinions. We've had this conversation before, when you told me a special muso gnosis was needed to appreciate how Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" is an excellent song. Maybe it is, to you and Noel Gallagher and millions of other people, but it's not to me. And neither is Prefab Sprout to my tastes. I've heard Love Breaks Down, Cars & Boys, and probably a half-dozen others I didn't like enough to remember their titles, and I'm telling you, they all grated on me.

How much more masochism am I supposed to invest here? I have to listen to all 45 jazz-poppy minutes of Steve McQueen to be entitled to say something? No way. I just don't like them. My original comment wasn't even to shit on them, really, it was just to say that I personally don't hear similarities to the Smiths like someone else did. Maybe the boppy intro to William, It Was Really Nothing and the shimmer of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side are vaguely on the "jazzy and bright" side, but still far from a serious likeness. The overall sound of each band is very different from the other to my ear.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

One befitting their stupid music, that's for sure.

I'm glad you say they're stupid. I would hate to find out I liked them and then have to tell people I like a band called prefab sprout.

 

[Thewlis]

Nobody mentioned Cruel off the first album, Swoon?
I do remember Morrissey singled that out once as his fave PS-song, don’t know where.

They were a great band up to and including 1990, also comeback album Crimson/Red is pretty fab.