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General Public - ... All the Rage

Back in 1984 I knew this band from the video for "Tenderness" that seemed to be on whenever I turned on the television to watch MuchMusic. Admittedly it was a catchy song, but that was as far as it went. I mean really that year Van Halen crushed it with 1984 and Toto dropped Isolation an album that was met with silence, but was to me amazing and they were in heavy rotation most of the year. There were so many great albums that me taking a foray into English new wave laced with ska wasn't really on my radar.

Still, I never forgot that one song. So last week I was diving in the bins and there between a couple of Neil Diamond albums was All the Rage. Well, for a buck I was at least going to get one good song. The album was in iffy shape, but the jacket was okay, but the liner notes were gone. 

Now, having recently spent time with Haircut One Hundred I was pretty much in the same neighbourhood as General Public. Curious I looked the band up and there were a number of little surprises I wasn't expecting. Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger who often sang in unison or call and response were from The Beat, or The English Beat where I'm from. I knew the name, and have some of their songs in my library. The other thing was various members of the band came from other bands like The Clash, Dexys Midnight Runners and The Specials. This is some pretty impressive pedigree. Although Mick Jones did leave the band before the album dropped, but left his mark on a number of tracks, including "Tenderness" which I find very cool.

The biggest surprise was how young Ranking Roger was when this was released. He was 21, and was already a season vet having been around recording since 1980 with The Beat. I was saddened to read he passed away in 2019.

Back to the album, the album was quite decent even if it had a few more Rice Krispies than I liked on the vinyl (Snap, Crackle and Pop, get it? Har de har har). I found myself playing it through a few times. Musically you hear a lot of The Beat here (I don't have the deepest reference points, but I have a couple of songs I know), but it would seem the band and their diverse background brought a lot to the table for the album. The other song that jumped out to me was the song "General Public" it's a really good song and closes out the album. 

I know I've mentioned "Tenderness" several times already, but it is the standout track here, but the whole album is actually full of excellently crafted pop with a lot more going on under the hood musically than you think.

The 80s were an amazing time for bands to blend genres and fiddle around with technology. These guys did it as well as anyone.

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