I bought the latest issue of Uncut today. It's probably my favourite magazine. They have an article about a 'social phenomenon' known as 'Wyatting' (first outed in Carl Neville's blog , and subsequently in The Guardian). Named after Robert Wyatt's 1991 avant-garde jazz LP Dondestan the practice basically involves taking advantage of MP3 jukeboxes to put on obscure, painful and generally annoying tracks guaranteed to clear a pub.
This sounds very post-modern but, dear readers, I can reveal that I took part in early incarnations of Wyatting. Whilst at Leeds University in the early '80s we used to go into a pub (The Swan With Two Necks as I recall) and just before leaving would make three selections on the jukebox (vinyl of course), all of which were the B-side to Reward by the Teardrop Explodes - a difficult little ditty called Strange House in the Snow, which lasted nearly 5 minutes ( a rarity for those of us brought up on punk). Julian Cope appears to be ranting over deranged piano whilst Japanese girls yap away in the background. Guaranteed to be a sure-fire hit with the Bobby Batleys and Happy Harry Hunslets.
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Quality! I never knew it had a name.
Back in the day, my local began to be over-run with bairns who would order half a cider and none straws. A quick blast of Rick Astley soon shifted that lot before we got back down to some serious music.
And I like Strange House In The Snow...
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