People - Hothouse Flowers

Hothouse Flowers musical career was doomed from the moment they were claimed to be 'the next U2'. Not by the band themselves, I hasten to add, but by the' all-knowing' music critics. And who were we to disagree?

So what did Hothouse Flowers actually do to have this praise heaped upon them? Well to understand this you had to be a music fan in the back end of the 1980s. By 1988 U2 were riding high; The Joshua Tree had been released and they had embarked upon a stadium filling world tour. In short they were huge; filling arenas and selling albums by the 'Bucketload'. And just how many albums is that? Lots!

For those who are unfamiliar with quantitive terms for music sales it is a carefully thought-out method of measurement. The smallest amount is a 'Handfull'. This is usually reserved for relatively unsuccessful debut albums or experimental singles; usually heard in phrases such as "....[insert band name here] then released a challenging third single which, due to its non-radio friendly running length only notched up a handfull of sales". So it is rather a derogatory term. Any sales exceeding a 'Handfull' are classed as a 'Caseload'. Obviously this will depend upon the size and type of case being used but the phrase generally means more than a few; for example "Due to the popularity of the movie, the accompanying album sold by the caseload". The next point on the scale is a 'Bucketfull'. Clearly at this stage the artist in question is doing rather well and likely to be filling arenas and selling out tours. It is an envious position and one in which U2 found themselves in 1988. Whilst the majority of recording artists would be content to regularly sell 'Bucketloads' some go on to exceed even this humongous amount. For the select few their popularity would see their sales continue to rise to truly mammoth proportions. These are of course known as being able to sell albums by the 'Shedload'..... Sorry but I fear that I have digressed somewhat....

So against this backdrop, Hothouse Flowers were thrust onto the world stage. Their similarity to U2 was uncanny. Firstly they were from Ireland. Secondly they played instruments. And Thirdly.....err they had legs? Yes in the heady times of the late 1980s all you needed to be classed as the 'the next U2' was to be from the same country, alive and have a passing interest in music. Mind you, the search for the 'the next U2' got really out of hand when in 2000 even U2 were touted as being 'the next U2'. It all got so confusing that Bono somehow ended up re-applying for his own job. Apparently actually being in U2 was no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the wider U2 market as the search for 'the next U2' reached frenzied proportions.

So despite a solid debut album there was no way that Hothouse Flowers could've lived up to expectations. They were not, and I expect did not want to be, 'the next U2' as the U2 role was already filled with no signs of it ever being vacated. Instead they wanted to be a hard working and talented celtic tinged rock band. Which is, rather handily, what they were. Unfortunately for the press this was not acceptable so they continued to make pointless comparisons to their fellow compatriots.

Fortunately for new bands on the scene, the search for 'the next U2' has abated; in part due to the decline of the popularity of U2 but also because no-one is exactly sure what 'the next U2' should sound like. Sensing a gap in the comparison market, the 'all-knowing critics' have pushed ahead unbounded. So instead of a singular comparison we are now often presented with 'the next Adele', 'the next Amy Winehouse', 'the next Artic Monkeys' or 'the next Justin Bieber'. Strangely enough no-one has ever been touted as 'the next Phil Collins', but I suspect that it's only a matter of time.......