Hit Parade(2)

:(This page is about the Dave Hyndman act. For the London group of the same name, see Hit Parade).
Hit Parade was basically a one man anarchist band, the brainchild of Dave Hyndman (aka P. Checkoff and Rik O’che) a member of the Anarchist Collective in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Being a left-wing socialist, Checkoff’s songs were highly political by nature and concentrated on life in N. Ireland. Subject matter ranged from the evils of television to H Blocks; the RUC to housing problems, and of course unemployment. “I wanted to make people aware that there’s more than a tribal sectarian war here, there are a lot of problems. It’s a multi-problematic place" stated Checkoff shortly after the release of the Nick Nack Paddy Wack album in 1986.
Unsurprisingly, Hit Parade signed to the Crass label. Hit Parade produced electronic music made up of samples, loops and noises and were helped out in the studio by the likes of Eve Libertine, Penny Rimbaud, Jane Gregory and Flux Of Pink Indians and a host of other musicians, Checkoff said at the time “All the structure of the songs is done by me here in Belfast. But when I go into the studio in London it becomes more of a collected effort with different people putting in ideas.” The first release was the Bad News EP in ‘82. This was followed by the Plastic Culture 12” single in ‘84 and finally by the Nick Nack Paddy Wack album. The album was recorded in ‘84 but due to the financial crisis Crass were in at that time, it wasn’t released until ‘86. Penny Rimbaud and Paul Ellis produced the album. 
Upon the release of the E.P. Bad News, an electro-rap rant on such evils as television, H Blocks, the RUC and so on the Crass label in 1982, copies were seized by Special Branch at retail outlets, along with everything else on the Crass independent label, it managed to reach No.4 in the independent charts.
Before the album was released, Channel 4 produced and screened a TV documentary on the health of women in N. Ireland. The documentary was called ‘Under The Health Surface’ and the programmes soundtrack featured the music of Hit Parade, which can be found on the Nick Nack LP in slightly different forms.
==Links to Peel==
Peel played some of Hit Parade songs on his shows in late 1986. He also played two tracks from two different artists of the Hit Parade name on his 20th August 1986 show, where one was from London and the other from this artist.
==Shows Played==
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*04 August 1986: What Friends? (album - Nick Knack Paddy Whack) Crass 
*20 August 1986: Dare To Die (LP - Nick Knack Paddy Whack) Crass
==External Links==
*Spit Records
*Discogs
*Irish Rock
Category:Artists