The Soft Boys

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The Soft Boys, Robyn Hitchcock’s first band, famously imploded shortly after releasing their masterful second album, Underwater Moonlight (1980). The band has now become quasi-legendary, and are firmly a part of the current influence chain, despite their short history. The Soft Boys’ melding of 60’s psychedelia, lyrics with a literary bent, and a finely-honed sense of post-punk absurdity created a basic template that was expanded upon by everyone from R.E.M. to Pavement to Evan Dando, their sound influential to the point that Underwater Moonlight now sounds strangely contemporary and fresh. Influence has a funny way of doubling back on itself, and sounds can suddenly become new and current all over again, which is where the Soft Boys find themselves today. After a lavish double-disc re-release of Underwater Moonlight by Matador, the band went back on the road recently, playing a slew of shows and beginning to write material again.

One of the problems that the Soft Boys faced in 1980 was the tyrannical aesthetic of punk, and a band making songs called “(I Want to Be An) Anglepoise Lamp” didn’t, for obvious reasons, fit into that sensibility. Variously reviled for being “middle-class” and pretentious, the Soft Boys were perceived by many to be either joking or full of shit. Time has vindicated the Soft Boys’ efforts however, and the descendants of the Soft Boys continue to make vital music.

That said, however, it’s difficult to know where the Soft Boys fit in these days. On the positive side, they weren’t popular enough initially to have their new efforts viewed as nostalgic; on the negative, people seem to like their early-80s sounds delivered by skinny, young New Yorkers.

Tagged as:

post-punk, new wave, jangle pop, psychedelic, rock
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Underwater Moonlight
The Soft Boys
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A Can of Bees
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Nextdoorland
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Invisible Hits
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Top Tracks

1	I Wanna Destroy You	135
2	Underwater Moonlight	68
3	Kingdom of Love	67
4	Insanely Jealous	62
5	I Got the Hots	57
6	Positive Vibrations	54
6	Tonight	54
8	Song No. 4 full track	48
9	You'll Have to Go Sideways	46
10	Old Pervert	43
11	The Queen of Eyes	40
12	(I Want to Be an) Anglepoise Lamp	33
13	Wading Through a Ventilator	24
14	Queen of Eyes	22
15	Vegetable Man	20

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hhamo wrote:
last month

forget the rest of your records....the soft boys is IT!!! ...and, psst....lets not tell anyone, they'll spoil our secret.

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Freelove_ wrote:
August 2009

Join my group: Post-Punk.

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molly_polliwog wrote:
August 2009

maybe rancour ain't the right word...delightfully poor attitude, anyway.

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molly_polliwog wrote:
August 2009

i do like robyn hitchcock's more current albums but something about the rancour of the soft boys - esp. a can of bees - is unmatchable.

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vandaleyes wrote:
July 2009

Q: How did Robyn Hitchcock get so awesome? How is making music as good as he can humanly possible? Above all, is he actually human?

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WhoMadeCookies wrote:
July 2009

om nom nom robyn hitchcock is so wonderful, this is exhibit A

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asktunes wrote:
June 2009

Underwater is simply one of my most fave albums! So much so that I've got it both in its original vinyl incarnation and the remastered box set. Every song is a gem...

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bobandbob9 wrote:
May 2009

gotta link of Robyn live doing Soft Boys - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGTiH7n5Z0Q

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litmuspaper wrote:
May 2009

Such an amazing and creative band! A top favourite!!

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TMaltheus wrote:
May 2009

the best post punk band as far as im concerned, in the uk at least. the demo version of ugly nora is fantastic, complete with a cat in the recording! its on the 77-81 comp.

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ruiner2001002 wrote:
April 2009

I've got the two disc Matador re-issue downloaded, but it too is out-of-print. From what I can gather, it wasn't in print for very long. Maybe Yep-rock is planning on re-releasing them to tie in with their Robyn Hitchcock re-issues?

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ruiner2001002 wrote:
April 2009

Anyone know why "Underwater Moonlight" is out-of-print? I've been trying to get a copy of it for a while now (preferably on vinyl), but the prices are more than I'm willing to pay for a second hand copy.

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astronuts wrote:
February 2009

this bio cracks me up. Sadly, skinny, young new yorkers will outlive us all.

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Alphavillain wrote:
February 2009

"Underwater Moonlight" was made in 1980, but it could have been made last week, it's so fresh (as the page above says!) Just the right lyrical mix of paranoia, sarcasm and warmth. One of my very favourite albums, and verrrrrry underrated.

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DeliciousTowel wrote:
January 2009

I really really dig them. Gonna go buy Underwater Moonlight.

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flexmens wrote:
January 2009

True gem

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dharmabum5 wrote:
November 2008

Why is this band so friggin' underrated? So many bands are greatly influenced by the Soft Boys.

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MoogleFan wrote:
September 2008

I'm so surprised to just discover this, being a fan of Television and The Feelies...didn't think there were any more angular guitar+poetic-bands like that out there.. :D

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morningside24 wrote:
August 2008

I definitely second Drewwww's comparison between Television and 'Nextdoorland'. In fact, the more atmospheric parts of Nextdoorland (i.e. 'My Mind is Connected') remind me a lot of Television's 1992 reunion album...

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ihavesoldout wrote:
August 2008

this is almost like a secret

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