The Housemartins

972,644 plays (108,063 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

83 shouts

Add to my Library Share

Kingston upon Hull, England (1983 – 1988)

The Housemartins were an indie pop/alternative rock band which formed in 1983 in Kingston upon Hull, England. At its formation the band consisted of Paul Heaton (vocals), Stan Cullimore (guitar), Ted Key (bass) and Chris Lang (drums). The band’s membership changed quite a lot over the years. Ted Key was replaced by Norman Cook (who later became internationally famous as big beat musician Fatboy Slim) and drummer Chris Lang was replaced by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with The Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway. The band split in 1988.

The band often referred to themselves as “the 4th best band in Hull,” referring to Kingston upon Hull, the city in England where the band formed in 1983. (The three bands that were “better” were Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and The Gargoyles.)

In 1986, the band broke through with the single

Happy Hour, which reached No. 3 in the UK charts helped by a claymation animated pop promo of a type that was in vogue at the time. At the end of the same year, they had a No. 1 single with a cover version of Isley Jasper Isley’s Caravan Of Love.

The band released three albums: London 0 Hull 4, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, and the greatest bits compilation Now That’s What I Call Quite Good. A new collection, Best of the Housemartins, was released in 2004, and was available in a expanded edition with a DVD collecting their music video clips.

Tagged as:

80s, pop, british, britpop, indie
See more…

Similar Artists

Top Albums

Now That's What I Call Quite Good
The Housemartins
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $7.13
- eBay Search
London 0 Hull 4
The Housemartins
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $40.98
- eBay Search
The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death
The Housemartins
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $7.99
- eBay Search
The Best of the Housemartins
The Housemartins
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $4.60
- eBay Search

Top Tracks

1	Happy Hour full track	656
2	Caravan Of Love	581
3	Build	250
4	Me And The Farmer	190
5	Sheep full track	175
6	Flag Day full track	173
7	Think For A Minute full track	171
8	Five Get Over Excited	148
9	The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death	144
10	We're Not Deep full track	116
11	Bow Down	105
12	Freedom full track	101
12	Get Up Off Our Knees full track	101
14	I Smell Winter full track	99
15	Anxious full track	98

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

khambrel13 wrote:
9 days ago

i enjoy recalling that the housemartins were a great guitar band as well.

View Profile | Leave khambrel13 a shout
BowieIsGod wrote:
20 days ago

te la fanno pià a bene :)

View Profile | Leave BowieIsGod a shout
castello1991 wrote:
last month

the kings are from england; the smiths, joy division, new order, the housemartins, morrissey, david bowie, the beatles, the cure, the who, radiohead, emerson, lake & palmer, depeche mode, the clash, the rolling stones and more..

View Profile | Leave castello1991 a shout
MoldyP wrote:
October 2009

ohh i just fell so badly in love with them.

View Profile | Leave MoldyP a shout
dasNeonlicht wrote:
October 2009

I think only history students can do that.

View Profile | Leave dasNeonlicht a shout
CountDegobineau wrote:
October 2009

My favorite group that I suspect cannot accurately describe the difference between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.

View Profile | Leave CountDegobineau a shout
bsimpson1972 wrote:
September 2009

Underrated, underappreciated, under-everything, yet so good, so influential, so-everything. Remember "The Beautiful South"? Remember "Fatboy Slim"?

View Profile | Leave bsimpson1972 a shout
scottiscool wrote:
September 2009

My favorite Marxist pop group

View Profile | Leave scottiscool a shout
AntonFjordson wrote:
August 2009

cunts

View Profile | Leave AntonFjordson a shout
balzadelia wrote:
July 2009

a reunion ? yes please

View Profile | Leave balzadelia a shout
Biff_Bang_Pow wrote:
July 2009

They're in this month's Mojo. Go buy it up.

View Profile | Leave Biff_Bang_Pow a shout
mipu wrote:
July 2009

My all time classic: Flag Day ... still sounds great.

View Profile | Leave mipu a shout
dasNeonlicht wrote:
June 2009

What a great, great group. So happy I found them.

View Profile | Leave dasNeonlicht a shout
MeinerEiner72 wrote:
May 2009

...nice memories in my mind...listening to them...time travelling

View Profile | Leave MeinerEiner72 a shout
dizzynic wrote:
May 2009

They were great weren't they?! - Paul Heaton still sounds fantastic with the Beautiful South.

View Profile | Leave dizzynic a shout
german_in_la wrote:
May 2009

They're so much dorky coolness. I love them. Always makes me happy and bouncy. =D

View Profile | Leave german_in_la a shout
gabibees wrote:
May 2009

they were so good.

View Profile | Leave gabibees a shout
csm1969 wrote:
April 2009

Happy Hour was simply one of the best tracks of the 80's.

View Profile | Leave csm1969 a shout
TiBoots wrote:
April 2009

Good band!

View Profile | Leave TiBoots a shout
DUNCANLOUT wrote:
March 2009

I love the music,especially "Me And The Farmer"....Riley. I put on The Housemartins and both my sons Riley (4 years) and William (almost 2 years) go ballistic! Great poppy tunes!Who needs The Wiggles!

View Profile | Leave DUNCANLOUT a shout