'Lazybone' - Shonen Knife (1992)

"You don’t need to be serious,

You don’t need to be a walrus.

You don’t need to be nervous,

You don’t need to be an eggman."

If you were reading Melody Maker in 1992, chances are you own a Shonen Knife record. This gloriously kooky Japanese buzzpop trio were on every page. Everett True would be eulogising about the Knife from the mosh pit of some pub gig in Camden. While Kurt Cobain would be going giddy over them in a centre page spread. And so it was off to Rough Trade to dig through the import section to finally hear what they actually sounded like.

Melody Maker was always great at making you feel connected to a musical ‘scene’ – from ‘Eskimos’ and ‘blonde’, to the ‘new wave of new wave’ and 'alt-country'. Even if those scenes were primarily limited to its readership, lasted about two months, and you only knew one other other person who had even heard of them in your day-to-day life.  

Yes, for this reason alone, we need Melody Maker back. Right now. Who knows how many other wonderful Japanese buzzpop trios we’re missing out on in its absence.