That Petrol Emotion:
Following my recent BANDS THAT DIDN'T QUITE GET THEIR DUE 1: DR. FEELGOOD blog post, I thought I'd do another blog post about a band which, in my onion, never got their deserved due. The band in question are That Petrol Emotion. What a great name!
When I was living in London during the 1980s, I used to go and see a lot of bands live. Because we shared similar music tastes, I often went with one of my best friends, GIRLFRIEND 5, though we were no longer boyfriend/girlfriend by this time. That relationship only lasted about two days and we only kissed; we did shag a couple of times much later.
Bands that we'd often see included James, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Woodentops and, of course, That Petrol Emotion. They were all indie rock bands possibly on the verge of making it big. James did but That Petrol Emotion never fully made it big despite being championed by the influential BBC radio DJ, John Peel.
Formed in 1984, That Petrol Emotion were a London-based post-punk band all its members hailed from Northern Ireland bar for the American singer. The Rolling Stone magazine described the band as a cross between The Clash and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The New York Times described them as "a youthful Rolling Stones" crossed with a "revved-up Television". Raymond Gorman, one of the band's guitarists, described the band as "like the Undertones after taking drugs, literature and politics, with a lot more girls in the audience dancing."
All fair descriptions.
Though That Petrol Emotion released several singles and a few albums, none seriously bothered the charts. The band's Babble album, released in 1987, reached number 30 in the UK charts, and their Big Decision* single, taken from the album, peaked at number 43 in the charts.
I thought the band would go onto greater things and even crack America, which is widely seen as making it for a British band. But not to be, the band just faded away.
That Petrol Emotion's Big Decision:
Paul Whitehouse, a popular British comedian, admitted that he had unsuccessfully auditioned for the band. I guess if Paul Whitehouse's comedy partner, Bob Mortimer (known as Vic Reeves) can have a 1991 number one hit with the Dizzy song in collaboration with The Wonderstuff, then I can't blame the comedian for trying his luck with That Petrol Emotion. It didn't work out for Paul Whitehouse so he went fishing instead!
Do or did you like the music of That Petrol Emotion?
What band, or musical artist, have you seen the most live?
I have seen That Petrol Emotion live more than any other band with the exception of Joy Division, my favourite band ever. I've also seen A Certain Ratio, Alabama 3, Echo & the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes a lot.
That Petrol Emotion live:
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15 comments
can I ask you a question please?
You've asked this before and no question was forthcoming.
THis is the first I've heard of Petrol Emotion. I like their sound. I've seen Springsteen the most, at least 4 times. Next week, I will see the Drive By Truckers for the 4th time. They are certainly not on Springsteen's level of fame, but they are durable, being around almost 30 years.
I enjoyed the Drive-By truckers song. And I wish I had seen Bruce Springsteen live.
@spunkycumfun Bruce is still going, but he's not the same. It was always hard to get tickets. It's much easier to get to see the Truckers in small venues
@njfitguy1 I hear Springsteen plays very long sets.
@spunkycumfun He has. There are stories of his early years from people who caught him around NJ where he played for 4 hours.
@njfitguy1 That's a very long set even for diehard fans.
This video looks a little amateurish but it was done in 1980 by Chuck Statler, Γ’β¬Εthe godfather of the music videoΓ’β¬ (you can google it! Haha.)
I've never come across that song. I like it.
I like them - if they had been a local band to me back in the 80Γ’β¬β’s, they would have been in my rotation.
Hard to guess which band I saw the most - probably either FlaminΓ’β¬β’ Ohs or Sussman Lawrence. Both local bands that none outside of the Twin Cities would have heard of.
I've not come across the Flamin' Oh's, but I like the song you posted above, though not sure about the side-kicks of the keyboardist!
@spunkycumfun Joseph (the keyboardist) was quite a character.
Sadly, he was murdered in 1989 and the case has never been solved.
@smartasswoman He comes across as a character. It's very sad to hear he was murdered.
Shame they didn't get their due.🫀
Most bands fall by the wayside. It's quite a cut-throat and opportunistic business.
The good old times!
I enjoyed the 1980s living in London.
@spunkycumfun In 1981 and 1983 I visited London
@AuraAviatik6 London was quite a drab place in the early 1980s. It's livened up since.
I have never heard of Petrol Emotion before today, but thank you for sharing them with us. I hope your Thursday is filled with many fun and sexy thrills..
Not many people have come across That Petrol Emotion.
I have never heard of them, but is it that surprising? As much as I love music, I barely know anything about and only marred the surface in experiencing whatΓ’β¬β’s out there.
I went to see .38 special once, does that count? 🀣
I've never heard of .38 Special.