The song is called Gimme Head. No, they weren't being ironic and it was not meant as a double entendre.
I know this sounds weird, but the Spotify algorithm threw up The Radiators as a recommended listen the other day. So for the first time in a long, long time I listened to The Radiators’ song Gimme Head. I couldn’t help but think (admittedly amongst other things), how different it might have been for the 80s new wave band XTC if they too had matched their quirky jerky rhythms and melodies to lyrical content of a more basic primal nature instead of their clever wordplay. A lot of people feel that what really ruined XTC’S chance of being a very big group as opposed to a deservedly highly regarded influential one, was the fact of Andy Partridge’s crippling stage fright, but I say no, I think they were just a bit too clever for their own good. Something no one could ever accuse The Radiators of being.
Mind you with a song titled Gimme Head, commercial radio airplay eluded them too. Just as well they had a relentless touring schedule during the 80s to go with their keen insight of what drunken Aussie pub crowds wanted to sing along with. They are still touring the pub circuit today (2 out of 4 of the original members present and over 6000 gigs - cop that Andy), making at least some bucks playing the same straight ahead 4/4 rock and roll and maybe still getting head. Although on the last point I cannot be sure, but it is good to know the spirit is still willing.
XTC doesn’t really exist anymore although Andy still releases music. Again I am not sure where he rates in terms of receiving oral sex acts.
To throw a third band name into the mix, are Dry Cleaning, who have just released their third album Secret Love, XTC’s natural successor? There are some differences but striking wordplay and angular soundscapes abound and like XTC, they are just so English. They have not embraced XTC’s late career lushness, preferring a cold sparseness and yet there is something about them that hints that it might yet come.
The Radiators, for my money the most underrated band of those simple loud days, have plenty of descendants. Adelaide’s Bad//Dreems being just one.
All these bands deserve your attention for varied reasons and some very different approaches to rock and roll so give them a listen. In a lot of ways the 80s are a long time ago and yet…
