The Housemartins

The 1980s saw many bands that took there music very seriously but now and again a Band will pop up and rip up the text book and put a smile back on the faces with there music and videos. One notable band was Hull's fourth best band The Housemartins who burst onto the scene in the mid 1980s with there infectious college rock sound that got the foot stomping.

The band initially started as a busking duo with Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore and after a few personnel changes they ended up with two further members with Dave Hemmingway and Norman Cook who would go on to be the future Fatboy Slim.

There big break came on the BBC radio Show John Peel Sessions in 1985 and the song Happy Hour was released in the UK and peaked at number 3 in the charts. The song barely lasted 2 and a half minutes but was constantly played on Radio and the video featured the Porky Poet Phill Jupitus. The video saw the clever use of clay models animated onto the video and was a popular video on most music programmes.

The band enjoyed great success and the release of the debut album 'London 0 Hull 4' and by the end of 1986 the band had it's first UK number one single with the a cappella style release of the Isleys brothers classic Caravan of Love. Unfortunately, the band missed out on the Christmas number one when Jackie Wilson knocked them off two days before Christmas!

The debut album reached number 3 in the UK charts and the follow up 'people who grinned themselves to death' was also a top 10 recipient peaking at number 9. They released 9 singles during there brief foray with 6 top 20 singles including Build, Five get over excited and think for a minute.

The band split on good terms with Heaton and Hemingway deciding to form The Beautiful South and Norman Cook went onto form Beats International who enjoyed a number one in the late 1980s with Just be good to me.

The band released a greatest hits collection when they announced there split called Now that's what I call quite good and again the album displayed all there material B sides and session recordings, again the album reached top 10 in 1988. There was talk the band would reform but so far that has not happen but the memories of this band will live on with there infectious tunes and clever lyrics.