Scritti Politti-- Smash Hits, November 12-25 1981 From the underground...To the charts? We want hits, say the former cult heroes. Quite right, says Ian Birch.
If ever a group seemed to sum up the more tortured and achingly intellectual end of the independent circuit, it had to be them. To the pop-picker, they didn't so much put out singles as construct the kind of dense theories that University professors swop during tea-breaks. Song titles like "Is And Ought The Western World" and "Messthetics" were hardly heady invitations to the dancefloor. But times have changed and, like a lot of once "do-it-yourself" bands, Scritti Politti have decided to move overground. Just look at the new, successful Human League, for instance, who have elbowed aside the old group's experimental electronics in favour of glossy glamour and irresistibly bright pop songs. After all, more people listen to what you have to say when they can see you on "Top Of The Pops" and hear you on the radio. The first concrete example of Scritti's new strategy is the single "The 'Sweetest Girl'". In addition to having a simple title, it comes in a sharp sleeve that cheekily apes the design on Dunhill cigarette packets. The idea here is to combine style with a sting in the tail. And the music does exactly the same. the melody is instantly likeable while the words balance those 'subversive' stings with everyday emotions. Green, the band's singer, writer, guitarist and all-round prime mover, puts it in a nutshell. "When you've got a good tune, you might as well work in some devices like that. Then it makes it all the more appealing and you're dealing with something a little more, um, astute." The single is a taster for the album which should appear in January, as yet untitled. An advance tape of the work confirms the new slick attack. It's full of songs that are cunningly crafted and immediate with deft touches like honeyed-up back-vocals (courtesy of three girl singers), a nifty horn section and gliding synthesisers. The feel is not unlike early Marc Bolan with the new love for sweet soul music.
Green was the spokesman on this point. "In simple terms, we were sick to death of the ghetto of the Independent scene. The 'Garageland' sections of the music papers became more and more closeted with more and more people sitting in their bedrooms making cassettes and swopping them with other people making cassettes. There were more and more silly names and it began to smack more and more of 'hippy-ness'. It had become an ageing alternative that was never going to present a route for people who wanted to make their music on a wide scale. We never particularly wanted to become a cult group, but the music was very marginal and we were&173;perhaps rightly&173;sterotyped as intellectuals." "But, in fact, we were closet popsters!" jokes Matthew.
It suddenly dawned on him that this was a lot more fun than their old style, plus "you don't have to be lobotomised in order to make pop music. It's a real passion to make it. I think the music scene's a lot healthier than it has been for a long time." The band studiously set about learning both their instruments and the general craft of writing, mixing and producing "popular music". They were lucky in that their present record label, Rough Trade, not only gave them a salary of £50 each a week but also advanced them a lot of money to make the album. This star treatment, incidentally, caused some friction with the other bands on the label, especially as Rough Trade have&173;understandably&173;limited finances. Now with the album ready, they're planning a new, extended line-up and stage show. They're looking for an "extraordinarily wonderful" bass player (Nial, the original bassman, left a couple of months ago) and a keyboards expert. If the money is forthcoming, they'd also like to include backing singers, a horn section and maybe even a dance troupe! As Green says: "If you're going to do it, you might as well do it properly."
Over to Green: "I think the politics of punk does survive. It will win through and it does already with groups like The Jam. Paul Weller is a genuinely 'committed' song-writer. And there are a whole lot like him, people who aren't happy to make pap but want to make pop. They understand that what sells means something. "It finds a way into people's hearts in a way that Independent music never did. And I think it's all really good."
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