1990s

Jackie McKeown was still lugging around the ghost of The Yummy Fur when he started 1990s. He traded the frantic, angular art-punk for something that felt like it was recorded in a basement filled with empty Tyskie cans and old Bolan 7-inches. They signed to Rough Trade because Geoff Travis knew a good hook when he heard one, but the band never seemed interested in playing the industry game. They were too busy making glam-stomp records that sounded like they were falling down a flight of stairs in the best way possible. Bernard Butler stepped in to produce the debut and tried to polish the grime, but the Glasgow swagger was too thick to buff out. The band thrived on a specific kind of chaos that only exists when you have nothing to lose and a lot of cheap distortion pedals. They didn't reinvent the wheel; they just stole the hubcaps and sold them back to you with a smirk. By the time they hit the second record, the wheels were starting to wobble, but that friction is exactly why those tracks still kick.

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