The Mekons
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Leeds, United Kingdom
The Mekons are a punk rock/post punk band. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk bands (rivaled in both categories only by The Fall).
Leeds University art students Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh formed the Mekons in 1977, taking the band’s name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s-1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). The band first gained widepread popularity with the single “Never Been in a Riot,” a satirical take on the Clash’s “White Riot.” For several years the loose-knit band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk in the vein of fellow Leeds students Gang of Four. Yet Langford and Greenhalgh never hewed closely to genre conventions, and by the mid-80s (now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms and violinist Susie Honeyman) they began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional folk and country. 1985’s watershed Fear and Whiskey, 1986’s The Edge of the World and 1987’s Honky Tonkin’ exemplified the band’s new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. This style, sometimes referred to as “post-modern country”, is a direct forerunner of the alt-country genre represented by bands like Uncle Tupelo.
Leeds University art students Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh formed the Mekons in 1977, taking the band’s name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s-1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). The band first gained widepread popularity with the single “
Never Been in a Riot,” a satirical take on the Clash’s “White Riot.” For several years the loose-knit band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk in the vein of fellow Leeds students Gang of Four. Yet Langford and Greenhalgh never hewed closely to genre conventions, and by the mid-80s (now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms and violinist Susie Honeyman) they began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional folk and country. 1985’s watershed Fear and Whiskey, 1986’s The Edge of the World and 1987’s Honky Tonkin’ exemplified the band’s new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. This style, sometimes referred to as “post-modern country”, is a direct forerunner of the alt-country genre represented by bands like Uncle Tupelo.
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Top Albums
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Fear and Whiskey
The Mekons
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Rock 'n' Roll
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The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll
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The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen
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Shoutbox
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IanCurtis13 wrote:
it's THE Mekons
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johnny-mnemonic wrote:
Their new album is amazing! [2] ... and I really don't get why they got bad critics for it ...
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syd_terminal wrote:
Their new album is amazing!
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Filip_Howard wrote:
when I was waiting in a bar, where were you?♥
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bertramboso wrote:
I love this band. As Greil Marcus called them, they're a "transhistorical punk band."
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BrainPies wrote:
The name of the band is Mekons. [2]
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Paranoidbird wrote:
I started a group for The Mekons http://www.last.fm/group/The+Mekons
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AgitReader wrote:
Check out our interview: http://agitreader.com/features/mekons-10.03.html
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Paranoidbird wrote:
The name of the band is Mekons.
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IanCat87 wrote:
Agreed. They're pretty out there, but it's neat.
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linnguo wrote:
yeah they're somewhat of a hidden treasure [2]
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Cox_of_Seagulls wrote:
New album is out in September, called 'Ancient & Modern'. Look out for it.
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Tackhead wrote:
really? to weaselmin
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Cox_of_Seagulls wrote:
Hidden treasure indeed.
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bloodmaw wrote:
opt's pretty much right
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optimistic_tour wrote:
I love this band. They're nothing like the Fall other than being english and lasting forever and having many albums.
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HampusForever wrote:
Eh...?
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weaselmin wrote:
Who the fuck likes this band? They are compared to The Fall all the time, but I've never met a Mekons fan.
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Care_Of_Cell44 wrote:
Touring the US in 2011? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
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SOLOMUSIKA wrote:
*__*
Videos
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Play
Hole In The Ground - Mekons
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Play
Mekons "Memphis Egypt"
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Play
Empire Of The Senseless
1 shout
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Play
Mekons @ Bristol
News
"Revenge of the Mekons" documentary pre release teaser
15 Sep 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/mekons
here's a teaser for the soon to be released documentary about
the Mekons by Joe D'Anjio.....
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=426043839530&ref=mf
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"Revenge of the Mekons" documentary pre release teaser
15 Sep 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/mekons -
15 Sep 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/mekons -
7 Feb 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/mekons
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Recent Activity
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ChrisAllen3000 added The Mekons to ChrisAllen3000’s library. yesterday evening
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MeganKearin tagged The Mekons with ‘british’. Friday afternoon
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MeganKearin, glass_shrimp, xDarkAnarchistx and 6 other people added The Mekons to their libraries. Friday afternoon
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Kainyn-Kutho tagged The Mekons with ‘post-punk’. 10 days ago
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jayjamiejames, waltertbuffalo, quetzallimusic and 7 other people added The Mekons to their libraries. 12 days ago
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RockinKurta tagged The Mekons with ‘post-punk’. last month
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RockinKurta, robalin, DROSSWILK and 1 other person added The Mekons to their libraries. last month
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exocentrical tagged The Mekons with punk, britain and post-punk. last month
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TheFructose, jorge7321, millieroselee and 5 other people added The Mekons to their libraries. last month
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rkoehl05 tagged The Mekons with ‘artists i like’. last month
Related Journals
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Review of Q1 & Q2 / 2011
by ltgpanik105 |
14 Jul 2011
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Top 10 gigs of 2010
by JackW |
16 Dec 2010
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Curse of the Mekons by The Mekons
by ctd55 |
7 Aug 2010
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Extensive Musical Taste
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More Information
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