Construction For The Modern Idiot - The Wonder Stuff

I've never really understood the need for music to have to be cool, but I absolutely have played along - often to my disadvantage. It really is a strange situation to be in - whilst you want your taste in music to make you stand out from the crowd; to define you almost, at the same time you want confirmation that what you are listening to is 'on trend'. And there we have the first problem, 'On trend'. Sounds too much like marketing speak to me and, as we know, as soon as music is packaged up and marketed it loses something. Music is an art form so surely transcends any attempt to market, define and ultimately constrain it.

If you like a song, you like it regardless of whether you should or not, and often your appendages betray your inner feelings as you subconsciously tap along to a song you know you shouldn't like. I myself am partial to a well written pop tune regardless of whether it is cool - how else can I explain the presence of a All Saints single in my collection?

So I was dismayed when The Wonder Stuff, who had previously been championed by the music press, suddenly became the latest in a long line of bands that were no longer 'essential'. Well to me they were and 'Construction For The Modern Idiot' was another excellent album from the Stuffies yet it got critically mauled in the press. I can't recall the exact reason for the criticism but I seem to remember it revolved around it marking the end of the playful Stuffies and the start of an unwelcome maturity. In which other art form would criticism be metered out for being too mature? Would the critics have preferred if they had continued to churn out cartoon hit singles like 'Size Of A Cow' for the rest of their career? Probably.

This album contains some of their most accomplished songwriting; 'Full Of Life (Happy Now)', 'Storm Drain', 'On The Ropes', 'Swell' and 'Hush' are all absolutely top tunes. We were all suitably impressed by the album to see them several time during the tour following the release of the album including twice in the same week at Newcastle and Leeds. Well worth the effort though to hear some of this album performed by a band at their peak. A peak that continues to this day.