Grebo Expectations

Grebo was a short-lived musical movement that peaked around 1987 and was chiefly involved with Black Country groovers like Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and The Wonderstuff. Journalists like James Brown from Sounds and Jon Langford from the Mekons whipped it onwards and somewhere in the media melee there was Gay Bykers On Acid and Crazyhead from LA (the Leicester Area).

Pop Will Eat Itself took their name from a line from an NME review, written by Dave Quantick. They were zesty chaps from Stourbridge, and I had a good few messy nights with the guys around Camden and Mornington Crescent. After a while they progressed from 'Oh Grebo I Think I Love You' and 'Beaver Patrol' to the daft and danceable 'Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina'. A while later I wrote an unfavourable album review and was involved in an unpleasant moment with a band member who accused me of only liking "spudpicker music".

Since then I've heard of a few reformations, enjoyed the Bentley Rhythm Ace project and watched as Poppie Clint Mansell has gradually established himself as a soundtrack composer in Los Angeles. There's a Facebook connection and therefore I get interesting updates. Today I heard that Clint had got himself a Grammy nomination for his work on Black Swan. From grebo to Grammy, that's quite the journey.