The Trumpton Riots
vs.
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Two songs guaranteed to fill the moshpits, but from very different eras. The Trumpton Riots didn’t win its qualifying group, but finds itself as the last remaining song from the eighties after disposing of its local rival Dukla Prague Away Kit and one of the last remaining football songs, Friday Night And The Gates Are Low. Meanwhile, after a slow start in the group stage, Joy Division Oven Gloves continues to defy the skeptics, progressing the hard way by defeating the much-fancied We Built This Village and the even more highly-rated Bastard Son of Dean Friedman.
Result
The Trumpton Riots 179
vs.
Joy Division Oven Gloves 124
TWO FAT FEET
Two of the defining songs of different eras. Listening back to Trumpton recently it doesn’t actually sound that great to me any more, while JDOG has managed to scale at least the lower slopes of my estimations over the course of this competition.
But, for all that, Trumpton still gets the nod from me.
29 May 2011
Kingsbeef
Thematically cut from the same cloth, one strong central theme reworked to brilliant effect. Trumpton only really suffers from it’s ultra lo-fi recording compared to JDOG to modern ears. Lyrically they’re both superb but Trumptons lyrics just feel perfectly formed and rounded and I can still remember the impact it had on me the first time I heard it with my head all full of metal and prog and punk. Has to be Trumpton
29 May 2011
Shirt Man
Two of the first HMHB songs that I heard. JDOG is obviously a cracker but everything about Trumpton Riots is brilliant from the plain silly idea through to it’s first class lyrics! If only Chippy Mintons Socialists were to contest a general election!
29 May 2011
Alexander Nolan
JDOG barely qualifies as a song in my book. Trumpton all the way.
29 May 2011
Alexander Nolan
That makes it sound like I don’t like JDOG. In fact, I can frequently be heard screaming across a dancefloor that I’ve ‘been to a post-punk postcard fair…in me Joy Division oven gloves’, usually to the disgust of the lady-folk in the immediate vicinity. But I’m a musician first and foremost, and JDOG just doesn’t do enough to live up to the lyrics.
29 May 2011
TWO FAT FEET
seems an odd thing to do at the ballroom.
29 May 2011
Trumptonrioter
mmmmmmmmmmm think I will have to sleep on this one.
29 May 2011
Third Rate Les
Trumpton has some well worked lyrics around a vivid theme (at least for those of us who were kids in the 70s) but always feels to me like something my weirdo college roommate would have put in the rag mag. It’s also, despite the Trumpton theme, just a bit sour and humourless.
JDOG is more concise but lets the imagination wander more. They also both build to a nice shouty climax, although JDOG wins that battle too.
It just seems a shame to me that with all the lyrical flights of fancy and rich, gentle humour that we’ve had from the band since the 80s, someone who just remembers them for “that hilarious Trumpton Riots one” would come across this and see that we don’t think they’ve done anything better since.
29 May 2011
C. L. Murgatroyd
JDOG ‘cos the kids love it. Though I’ve been listening for the best part of 25 years and Trumpton was one of the first and still most memorable, it’s about now. Still top of their game lyrically the tunes are better and it’s a great singalong.
29 May 2011
anidlelayabout
“But I’m a musician first and foremost, and JDOG just doesn’t do enough to live up to the lyrics.”
I did find just going up a semitone on a major chord from A to B flat a very distinctive and weird thing to do on the introduction…
but regardless – Trumpton Riots for me.
29 May 2011
Tez
It’s getting very tough now. Probably wouldn’t have picked these two to make this stage but you can’t argue with what they’ve beaten.
Both have had car play time recently (one of the bonuses of the LFC). I suspect it will be JDOG for me but they’ll both go on today’s 8 track playlist and my vote has been swayed a few times in this comp already.
This was all supposed to be a bit of fun wasn’t it? All of a sudden it feels very, very serious.
29 May 2011
Dave
I support Bury and Leicester, the tension of watching the 2 matches between them I’ve seen were as nowt to choosing between these songs. Just love those folk who bring oven gloves to the gigs. I have voted for Trumpton as I love the line about Mrs Honeyman (and cant conformism come to think) – Trumpton to go all the way now I think.
30 May 2011
BIG CON
1. Captain Flack
2. Pc Mcgarry 4. Cant 5. Captain Snort 3. Mate
7. Mrs Honeyman 6. Doctor Mopp 8. Chippy Minton 11. Mayor
9. Windy Millitant 10. Corngrinders
10. Dance 9. Gordon Burns
11. Nero 8. Quantocks 6. Nagasaki 7. Laird
3. Blasé 5. Chemical Alarm 4. Tropical Diseases 2. Postcard
1. Fingers
12. Shinpads 14. Quakers 15. Clock 16. Hallelujah
Two great line ups but JDOG seem to have extra strength in depth.
PC McGarry can’t always find himself a mate to play left back so I’m edging towards The Gloves.
30 May 2011
spoonunit
Can’t believe BSODF got turned over by JDOG, the new ‘millionaires’ of the game with their ‘outside’ fans who no nowt about the beautiful game of Biscuiting.
Even heard the line ‘Dance,D,D,D….in your JDOG’s’ in a poem by Elvis McGonagall the other day!
Strong though JDOG is, I don’t see many away fans turning up to support them this time & I think the solid old guard who have been through thick n thin with the boys will see TR in the semi’s.
Possibly by an old fashioned toss of the coin.
30 May 2011
incrediblestringbiscuitman
There will be a horde of young Turks out there who welcome the attractive renaissance world of hi fi recordings and well sung carefully constructed songs with wit and vitality. Who rely on the Wirral scally to sum up and dismiss the modern world with a panache and acerbity that we can get and appreciate but can’t produce ourselves.
I know that you can dance a ludicrous dance to JDOG and collapse in a heavenly giggling mass and feel 100% safe and sane in this spiteful world, but I’m begging you to think back to the early struggles and give TheTrumpton Riots the divine status it deserves….
30 May 2011
Dave Cooper
Home win, hat trick for Minton and a late header from Snort to seal it.
30 May 2011
dagenham dave
Trumpton is a proper classic, JDOG although excellent comes nowhere near. I’d probably have liked it more if it hadn’t been a bit over exposed during that 6music malarkey and had remained an album track but that’s just me being an indie snob.
30 May 2011
Trumptonrioter
warm milk and sudafed helped me sleep it over, I agree with Third Rate Les to a degree but John Peel championed riots when I was at college and it will always have a special place in my heart for that reason. JDOG has a nagasaki towpath but not much else to pull back a consolation. Trumpton victorious and on its way to the europa league next season.
30 May 2011
Steve G
Trumpton Riots … Great track , great t shirt … Keep Mrs Honeyman right out of sight
30 May 2011
Lollipop Man Darren
Looks like I’m going against the flow here but this is easy for me; JDOG is by far the superior song in my book.
I respect TR for it’s history but it’s living on former glories now and has been overtaken by the young guns of JDOG.
I’m banking on the strike pairing of Post Punk Postcard Fairs and Keeping Wicket For The Quakers to do the necessary to Trumpton’s ageing defence.
30 May 2011
aiwacat
In the end, I went for Trumpton, not because it was the ‘best’ song, but because it was my ‘favourite’ song, at least of the two. Perhaps it’s to do with remembering being 15 and hearing Trumpton for the first time, and stupid nostalgic cobblers like that. JDOG is a fine song, but it probably ranks sixth-favourite on Achtung Bono for me.
30 May 2011
TWO FAT FEET
Once more the exit poll points to a crushing defeat for JDOG, but history has shown that it’s never more dangerous than when it’s behind.
Pugh, Pugh and Barney McGrew will really need to keep it tight at the back for Trumpton in the second half. That Nero bloke is pretty tricky on the right wing.
31 May 2011
RobJ
I’m shunning JDOG just because it saw off Dean Friedman. Can’t be having that sort of behaviour.
31 May 2011
Brian Duffin
Much as I hate to admit it, nostalgia has been a deciding factor here for me.
Pity, because I love JDOG too.
31 May 2011
John Burscough
Elevate!!!
31 May 2011
Steve Malkmoose
Of the 8 left in it, these 2 would probably be my finalists…what to do?
1 June 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
The HMHB ‘Best Of’ album will undoubtedly have both of these on, (forget it – it will never happen), but will they merely be the safe and anodyne choices of a Probe Plus selection committee hell bent on maximising profit rather than selecting real quality? Neither of these deserve to be anywhere near the quarter finals, but as they are then nostalgia beats the protest anthem 1 – 0 in extra time. (Deflected own goal in the 117th minute with an obvious but unpenalised hand ball a few seconds earlier. – Complain all you like Oven Gloves, until you realise that no one’s listening).
1 June 2011
TWO FAT FEET
The Emperor has no Oven Gloves.
1 June 2011
Chippy Minton
Trumpton for me although I was tempted by Oven Gloves as its my 9 years old’s favourtite HMHB track, but alas my son, Dad has pulled rank!
1 June 2011
TWO FAT FEET
I look forward to the day when my kids have a favourite HMHB track. My eldest is still only four and at the moment his favourite song of all time is “Wake Me Up For Your Cocoa”. Cringe.
1 June 2011
Gregg Z
Two Fat Feet,
My son is 4, going on 5-years-old, and his preferred tracks are:
Secret Gig
Bob Wilson, Anchorman
On Passing Lilac Urine
Bottleneck at Capel Curig
The Referee’s Alphabet
Little in the Way of Sunshine (loves the bit about “Mr. Wet Underpants”)
Restless Legs
Joy Division Oven Gloves
For some odd reason, he doesn’t appreciate
P.R.S. Yearbook–Quick, The Drawbridge
Can’t think why.
2 June 2011
littlegrafter
My two girls, 7 and 9 are rather fond of Petty Sessions, though I do try to fade it down at the end!
2 June 2011
Gregg Z
Littlegrafter:
Perfect! I forgot to mention that one. I do exactly the same thing..
“Kill, kill, kill, stab, murder and dispatch” is a bit much for the little ones.
2 June 2011
Gregg Z
Have been thinking on this for days now, and I believe it’s a worthwhile pursuit.
We’re all lathered up about the Lux Familar Cup QFS, and there’s plenty of opinions out there in Biscuitland on which tunes got shafted, either by not qualifying or with a bad draw. Such tunes (Capel Curig, Dead Men Don’t Need Season Tickets, Depressed Beyond Tablets, Thy Damnation, etc) obviously have their supporters, so they don’t really need a second look.
What’s been on my mind are the tunes that got simply trounced (eg, M-6-Ster, Children of Apocalyptic Techstep, On Passing Lilac Urine, Ready Steady Goa), because these tracks are among my favorites (Top 50?). The point is, there are some hidden gems out there that might need a second listen.
I have no quarrel with a track that missed the cut by a couple of votes, but something like “Techstep” or “Mars Ultras” is a brilliant song–funny, hummable and wonderfully stupid.
Actually, come to think of it, I do have a problem with “Depressed Beyond Tablets” not making it further. This track crystalizes the brilliance of NB57– a song about depression that makes you glad to be alive. Morrissey and Robert Smith should take note.
Anyway, if anyone wants to make a case for a re-listen of a hidden jewel, I’m interested in hearing some ideas.
2 June 2011
TWO FAT FEET
Mr Z, I give you Ted Moult, Quality Janitor and Shropshire Lad.
There were some surprises in the lower reaches, but I am prepared to accept that some of them are what might be regarded as ‘rare’ tracks, generally the ones that appeared in the final qualifying group but which many voters might not be serious enough HMHB fans to have made a point of obtaining, or not be as familiar with. I’m sure if Ordinary to Enschede had been included on MT&D it would have been a serious contender to qualify.
Even regular album tracks can be easily overlooked. I still find some tracks I don’t recognise at all when they come on the shuffle, and I have to look it up to find it’s PRS Yearbook or something. Some tracks just don’t grab your attention when those that surround them are so extraordinary.
2 June 2011
littlegrafter
Last night’s homeward shuffle on the jogproof threw up a few lost gems. Emerging from Gorse (which I may have got mixed up with Soft Verges when there was all that excitement earlier on in the cup), One that when it started I thought what on earth is this, turned out to be King of Hi Vis, and Prag Vec at the Melkweg, which is certainly not forgotten in these parts, especially as it was on that first Peel session back from the break (exciting times). But it also got me wondering, what is the tune that the guitar plays at the end? For about 20 years I had it in my head that it was the theme from Teddy Edward, but it isn’t, after checking on t’internet (though that is a good theme tune), what is it? My wife says it might be Mr Benn, and she may be right, any suggestions?
4 June 2011
TWO FAT FEET
‘Tis Mr Benn. What a fantastically perverse cultural reference that was. The clue is in the last line of the song.
4 June 2011
Littlegrafter
So it is, ta! Only taken 20 odd years!
4 June 2011