Associates

Related page: Billy Mackenzie
The Associates were a new wave duo founded in Dundee, Scotland in 1976 by Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine. Their debut single was a cover of David Bowie's Boys Keep Swinging, released in June 1979 just six weeks after Bowie's original. Their ploy worked: they secured a publishing deal with Bowie's publishers and a proper record deal. By 1980 they were touring with the Cure and signed to Fiction Records, for whom they recorded the LP The Affectionate Punch. At the turn of the year they relocated to Situation Two and put out a string of singles, later compiled on the album Fourth Drawer Down, recorded using money from major labels who were expecting demos to be produced with their money. In tandem with their increasing consumption of coke and speed, the groups' music became increasingly deranged and experimental. John Murphy and Mike Dempsey (ex-The Cure) became official members.
The Associates signed with WEA in 1982 and Martha Ladly joined as back-up singer. Billy and Alan immediately scored a string of UK top 20 chart hits, including Party Fears Two, which was used as the theme tune for Radio 4's satire show Week Ending. The album Sulk made the UK top 10, winning album of the year awards in the UK music press. However, the group's drug use was at a peak - Billy & Alan's behaviour was becoming somewhat erratic. On the eve of their biggest ever UK tour MacKenzie pulled out. A US deal with Island was consequentially lost. Deciding that he couldn't continue, Alan Rankine left the group. This proved disastrous for the band's career, as they were being courted by Seymour Stein of Sire Records who soon lost interest when Mackenzie refused to tour.
Mackenzie continued to write and record music under the name Associates until 1990. The albums Perhaps, The Glamour Chase (which the record company refused to release, considering it not commercially viable) and Wild and Lonely were made during this period. However, recordings were sporadic and subsequent Associates records failed to reach the charts in the UK and sold far fewer than their early albums.
==Links to Peel==
In a Smash Hits interview in 1982, both band members claimed that Peel was their favourite DJ, although Rankine wished he wouldn't play so much reggae. They recorded two sessions for Kat's Karavan, with MacKenzie recording a further one under his solo aegis. With the benefit of hindsight, Peel commented on the first on its release in 1989:
"It's a curious thing about these session reissues, because a lot of the ones which seemed dead radical now sound, you know, rather tiresome, really, and other ones which you assume, now, when you kind of look...People say, 'Well, the Associates, kind of tunes and things,' it actually sounds quite radical." 
Reflecting the zenith of their popularity, they achieved two entries in the yearly Festive Fifty chart of 1982, one of which, their top 10 chart hit Party Fears Two, Peel admitted to being glad to hear again. He retained an enduring liking for their debut LP The Affectionate Punch and played a track from it in tribute to MacKenzie following his suicide in 1997.
When Simon Raymonde came to select records from Peel's collection for his entry in the Record Box series, he chose the Associates single White Car In Germany, played by Peel toward the end of 1981 and again in 1986.
== Festive Fifty Entries ==
*1982 Festive Fifty (yearly chart): 'Party Fears Two' =#14 with Bauhaus
== Sessions ==
*Two sessions, both produced by Dale Griffin and available on The Radio One Sessions Volume One 1981-1983 (Strange Fruit). #1 also released on The Peel Sessions (Strange Fruit).
1. Recorded: 1981-04-28. First broadcast: 04 May 1981. Repeated: 21 May 1981, 02 March 1982
*It's Better This Way / Me Myself And The Tragic Story / Nude Spoons / A Matter Of Gender / Ulcragyceptimol
2. Recorded: 1982-03-06. First broadcast: 19 April 1982. Repeated: 17 May 1982, 25 May 1982, 13 October 1982. Featured on Karl's Tape - April 1982 a.
*Waiting For The Love Boat / Australia / Love Hangover / A Sever Case Of Career Insecurity
== Other Shows Played ==
;1980
*11 August 1980: The Affectionate Punch (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05 (JP: 'Associates get very David Bowie-ish at times, although they'll probably tell you, as people always do in these cases, they've never actually heard any David Bowie records.')right|335 px
*13 August 1980: Transport To Central (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*14 August 1980: Amused As Always (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*20 August 1980: A Matter Of Gender (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*23 August 1980 (BFBS): 'Would I...Bounce Back? (LP-The Affectionate Punch)' (Fiction) (JP: 'An LP which has been getting five-star reviews in Britain and, I think, rightly so.')
*27 August 1980: Would I...Bounce Back? (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*04 September 1980: unknown (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*24 September 1980: A Matter Of Gender (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*27 September 1980 (BFBS): Would I...Bounce Back? (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
;1981
*26 February 1981: Tell Me Easter's On Friday (12") Situation Two SIT 1/12
*08 March 1981 (BFBS): Tell Me Easter's On Friday (12") Situation Two SIT 1/12
*09 March 1981: Tell Me Easter's On Friday (7") Situation Two SIT 1
*19 March 1981: Tell Me Easter's On Friday (single) Situation Two
*22 March 1981 (BFBS): Straw Towels (12" - Tell Me Easter's On Friday) Situation Two SIT 1/12
*25 March 1981: Tell Me Easter's On Friday (7") Situation Two SIT 1
*02 April 1981: Tell Me Easter's On Friday (7") Situation Two SIT 1
*02 April 1981: Would I...Bounce Back? (album - The Affectionate Punch) Fiction FIX 05
*01 June 1981: 'Q Quarters (7")' (Situation Two)
*30 June 1981: 'Q Quarters (7")' (Situation Two)
*02 July 1981 (BFBS): Kissed (7" - Q Quarters) Situation Two SIT 4
*11 August 1981: Kitchen Person (7") Situation Two SIT 7
*16 August 1981 (BFBS): Kitchen Person (12") Situation Two SIT 7T
*23 August 1981 (BFBS): Kitchen Person (7") Situation Two SIT 7
*01 September 1981: Kitchen Person (7") Situation Two SIT 7
*14 September 1981: 'A (7")' (Fiction)
*15 September 1981: Message Oblique Speech (7") Situation Two
*17 September 1981 (BFBS): Message Oblique Speech (promo version of 12") Situation Two SIT 10T
*14 October 1981: Message Oblique Speech (12") Situation Two SIT
*15 November 1981 (BFBS): White Car In Germany (12") Situation Two SIT 11T
*10 December 1981: White Car In Germany (7") Situation Two SIT11
*10 December 1981 (BBC World Service): White Car In Germany (7") Situation Two SIT11
*17 December 1981 (BFBS): White Car In Germany (7") Situation Two SIT11
;1982
*25 January 1982: 'Party Fears Two (7")' (Associates)
*31 January 1982 (BFBS): It's Better This Way (7" - Party Fears Two) Associates
*31 January 1982 (BFBS): Party Fears Two (7") Associates
*01 February 1982: 'Party Fears Two (7")' (Associates)
*07 February 1982 (BFBS): Party Fears Two (12") Associates ASC 1 T
*08 February 1982: Party Fears Two (12") Associates
*11 February 1982: Party Fears Two (12") Associates ASC 1 T (JP: 'A chart bound sound – I don’t doubt.')
*04 March 1982 (BBC World Service): Party Fears Two (12") Associates ASC 1 T
*19 April 1982: 'Mona Property Girl (7"-Boys Keep Swinging)' (Double Hip)
*25 April 1982 (BFBS): Club Country (12") Associates ASC2T
*28 April 1982: 'Club Country (7")' (Associates)
*Karl's Tape 04 - April 1982: 'Club Country (7")' (Associates)
*03 May 1982: Bap De La Bap (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*03 May 1982: Nude Spoons (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*03 May 1982: Skipping (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*04 May 1982: No (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*10 May 1982: It's Better This Way (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*12 May 1982 (BFBS): Bap De La Bap (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*Karl's Tape - May 1982 a: It's Better This Way (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*27 May 1982: Skipping (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*03 June 1982 (BBC World Service): Nude Spoons (album - Sulk) Associates/Beggars Banquet ASCL 1
*26 August 1982 (BBC World Service): Love Hangover (7" - 18 Carat Love Affair / Love Hangover) Associates
*28 December 1982: 'Party Fears Two (7")' (Associates) (JP: 'Good to hear that again, I must say.')
;1983
*24 January 1983: 'A Matter Of Gender (7")' (Fiction)
;1984
*07 July 1984 (BFBS): Club Country ([ https://www.discogs.com/master/72567-Associates-Club-Country 7"]) Associates ASC2
*30 August 1984: Waiting For The Loveboat (Extended Version) (12") WEA
*Peel Late Sep Early Nov 1984: 'Waiting For The Love Boat (LP-Perhaps)' (WEA)
;1985
*14 August 1985: 'Would I... Bounce Back (LP-The Affectionate Punch)' (Fiction)
;1986
*11 June 1986: White Car In Germany (12") Situation Two
;1987
*21 April 1987: Kitchen Person (7") Situation Two
;1989
*23 November 1989: 'Me, Myself And The Tragic Story (12"-The Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)
*25 November 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 123 (BFBS)): 'Nude Spoons (12"-The Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)
*19 December 1989: 'A Matter Of Gender (12"-The Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)
;Later
*06 January 1997: 'Heart Of Glass' (Janice Long session, 8/9/85) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)
*02 February 1997: 'Even Dogs In The Wild (LP-The Affectionate Punch)' (Fiction) tribute to Billy MacKenzie
*08 February 1997: Would I Bounce Back
*25 February 2003: 'Nude Spoons (LP-The Radio One Sessions Volume One 1981-1983)' (Strange Fruit)
== Top Of The Pops ==
*12 August 1982 (TOTP): 18 Carat Love Affair #25
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists