Exactly how "big" are/were The Wildhearts?

[nuno75]

For me... the 90's area that generally coincided with The Wildhearts peak is mostly associated with bands like Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Green Day, Soundgarden, etc.

To me 'Grunge' peaked here in 1992 When Nirvana headlined Reading Festival (also on the bill were Mudhoney, Melvins, Screaming Trees, Smashing Pumpkins) going strong into 1993 .....when the WH's gain attention with earth Vs and I hear them for the first time!

...I'd say Wildhearts were at the peak (of that period anyway) around 94-95 ... so it was almost after the whole grunge thing...Kurt was dead and 'Britpop' was the talk of the town and like people have said it was Blur and Oasis who were big.

Green Day were just starting to breakthough over here in '94 with the single 'longview' but they were still pretty much off the radar for people outside of the 'alt/punk scene' Dookie got them noticed by 'alternative' music fans but they really weren't that big.....no bigger than Rancid or NOFX. etc.

this is how I saw it anyway ... obviously in other areas and in other groups of people in other towns and cities it might have been seen differently.

Yep, I never got to grips with grunge. I always leant towards the glam style rock n roll. The Wildhearts were often in Kerrang and Sounds pre earth vs, but like a pratt, I never used to buy EPs so missed out on Mondo and Dont be happy. I bought earth vs the day it was released and never looked back until EN was release. Just could not, and still cannot get into that album. 94 and 95 was the peak including the legendary performance at Donington.

EN was a tough swallow for me too. Eventually I did get past the noise, but even then I only ever really got into five of the songs. Pissjoy and Thunderfuck eventually became favorites of mine even among the other albums. My only really issue now is the actual sonic differences... meaning I just can't get them to sound decent on the stereo without throwing everything else out of whack.

[Damian]

At Phoenix 96 they were upped to the main stage and played above Beck, The Flaming Lips and Fun Loving Criminals!

...and immediately before Dodgy and the Foo Fighters. I was there and they were great.

[Radish]

XL t-shirts, Reading festival, 'Sounds' and Deadline magazine...... good times!

(ok, and now I feel really old!!)

[Sniff] Deadline... [sigh] now there's nostalgia. To enlighten our American cousin (and other non-enlightened types) Deadline was a hit-the-nail-right-on-the-fucking-head magazine that got the feeling of the times (can't bring myself to write zeitgeist - bugger) just right, for me at least. Comic strips like Tank Girl, Sadist, Bastard Bunny and so on, great articles with bands like Carter USM, I think even Nirvana appeared. Unfortunately killed off by the car crash that was the Tank Girl film (I tried to enjoy it, I really did). Can't remember the Wildhearts ever cropping up in it, might have to have a check back through my collection.
To creep back on topic, I'd say the Wildhearts hit their peak around 1995/1996, top 10 album, top 15 singles, TOTP appearances, in most of the music magazines, t-shirts seemingly everywhere (I remember the irony of about a squillion 'Demand the right to be unique' t-shirts at Donington 94 ). Popularity-wise I'd say they were in the same league as many UK 'indie' types, PWEI, Carter USM, Mansun, maybe edging towards Suede. Compared to a US band, I'd say a the time of Basket Case they were pretty much on a par with Green Day (in the UK at least), which if I remember was something Ginger referred to in an interview, that if GD's label could push them over here then if EastWest had pushed the Wildies in the US they might have had a similar level of success, given the vaguely similar style/genre of music.
I think there's been a fair number of UK rock bands that have suffered similar fates to the Wildhearts, i.e. showed talent and promise then been screwed over by an uniniterested unintelligent record industry despite successful albums, successful singles, sell-out tours etc. - for examples see Little Angels (number 1 album, dropped by label), Terrorvision (number 2 single, dropped by label), Thunder (top 10 albums, sell-out tours), Dogs D'Amour (US tour supported by Mother Love Bone), Therapy? and many more that I can't name without scrolling through my iPod. Any one or more of these could have been huge had they been based in the US and supported by a Geffen or something. Poetic justice maybe that many of these record companies are now either gone or in deep shit, and the bands (with the exception of Little Angels) are all still going.
Blimey, best get on with some work. And remember to dig out my Deadline t-shirt to wear this weekend...

[shat noir]

dig out my Deadline t-shirt to wear this weekend...

i have a teenage fanclub / deadline tshirt which i still wear quite often..
it's stood the test of time remarkably, although admittedly it is prob on it's last legs now.


regarding the WH's popularity.. the old press thread should indicate the level of coverage they once recieved

[Pacman]

Donnington 94, wow, that was some gig, perforamce of the year.

[Radish]

Donnington 94, wow, that was some gig, perforamce of the year.

Yes, an all-time classic. My memories of the day (other than all of the DTRTBU t-shirts) are Terrorvision, [gap] then Wildhearts slaying the 2nd stage, followed by a bit of Sepultura demolishing the main stage, followed by Extreme (I was trying to get a space for the headliner) getting ignored by the crowd for being so utterly dull and up their own arses especially following what had been before, finished off by Aerosmith playing a blinder. I guess another indication of how big the Wildhearts were in 94, that they headlined (they did didn't they? I should know I suppose as I was there, but my memory is a bit fuzzy) a new 2nd stage at the biggest rock/metal festival going at the time after an album and a bit.

[Damian]

Donnington 94, wow, that was some gig, perforamce of the year.

Yes, an all-time classic. My memories of the day (other than all of the DTRTBU t-shirts) are Terrorvision, [gap] then Wildhearts slaying the 2nd stage, followed by a bit of Sepultura demolishing the main stage, followed by Extreme (I was trying to get a space for the headliner) getting ignored by the crowd for being so utterly dull and up their own arses especially following what had been before, finished off by Aerosmith playing a blinder. I guess another indication of how big the Wildhearts were in 94, that they headlined (they did didn't they? I should know I suppose as I was there, but my memory is a bit fuzzy) a new 2nd stage at the biggest rock/metal festival going at the time after an album and a bit.

Yeah, Aerosmith were something else that night. I also remember they had an amazing light show and that a plane shot overhead very low at the exact moment that Living On The Edge stopped in the middle. On the other hand, I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner last week.

Erm, amd at this point I hadn't heard of The Wildhearts and didn't watch them. I was about two months away from realising my mistake, as I recall.

[percy]

Yeah, Aerosmith were something else that night. I also remember they had an amazing light show and that a plane shot overhead very low at the exact moment that Living On The Edge stopped in the middle.

I was gonna post the same thing! That was a very cool moment!

And WH were awesome that day. I remember missing the start of the set though, as I was running from watching Pantera on the main stage!

P

[Radish]

Yeah, Aerosmith were something else that night. I also remember they had an amazing light show and that a plane shot overhead very low at the exact moment that Living On The Edge stopped in the middle. On the other hand, I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner last week.
.

I still wonder if that was set up deliberately. No idea how they could have choreographed the take-off time of what I remember was a reasonably sizeable jet for it to fly right across the top of the stage for Steve Tyler to chase for exactly the same amount of time the 'bom-bom-bom' break in LOTE lasted without invoking several demons and/or deities that would most likely have been busy backstage with Ginger and the lads at the time, but it just seemed too bloody perfect timing for it not to be. Utterly awesome moment, never seen anything like it before or since.
Although The Wildhearts still had performance of the day for me.

I didn't have dinner last week, the voices told me not to.

[maxpower]

Having appeared to surived CJ's departure (which to me was the start of the implosion) & the release of PHUQ in 1995 did hit big in the UK but finding the right replacement for CJ was proving difficult for me Devin Townsend wasn't right & the less said about Mark Keds (Senseless Things) the better ironic he played on Friend For Five Minutes on the Just In Lust single

Everything appeard rosey with The Wildhearts in 1996, with Jef Stretfield aboard, Sick of Drugs EP & Red Light, Green Light EP's doing quite well the former being the highest single to date number 14, I remember seeing them on the UK tour & they even secured a support slot with ACDC on the Ballbreaker tour on the UK leg (which I also went to) & they were set for the USA (which could have made them) but they had no money & had to pull out (that was the story at the time)

Endless Nameless in 1997 everyone has their opinion of it, I think its fantastic for the songs alone maybe not the sound, the UK tour was cancelled by then Honeycrack had been & gone ... the Jelly's were around & 3CR were the hopefulls.

For me The Wildhearts didn't quite get the exposure or hit the heights of Terrovision who did peak in 1996 with Perserverance hitting the UK top 5, Bad Actress hit the top 10 & hit number 2 with Tequila in 1999 (but their 3rd album was their downfall Shaving Peaches sounded tired & still does) & the 4th album Good To Go which is fantastic just didn't sell & they called it a day

Its a cliche but its true everything happens for a reason but I feel this line-up won't change it doesn't need to Rich is a far superior drummer to Stidi, Jon Poole never seemed right but Scott looked at home from day 1& whatever Danny is upto I just hope he is fit & well.

With a bit of luck maybe 2009 could get The Wildhearts back in the public eye, outisde the rock circles like someone said most people haven't heard of them but we all know they have been the best band in UK since 1993 - even with all the problems which are well documented the one constant has always been the music.

I for one will be eternally grateful for that

[WiredOut]

In terms of their Japanese profile, I have a Kerrang! article by Ian Winwood from 2002 that follows the WH round Japan. It states that Ginger was stopped quite regularly by strangers on the street in Osaka and Tokyo to get photos and autographs.

Sounds like Ginger had/has some level of mild-to-moderate but genuine fame there.

The Wildies are a cult thing now in the UK but I am surprised when people on here say they've hardly met anyone who's heard of them.

I live in Fife at the east coast of Scotland and over the 13 years I've been a fan, I've probably met 30 to 40 people who knew who the WH were without me having to tell them.

But I did manage to piss about and spend 6 years of my twenties at Uni in Fife and Dundee, plus I spend a fair amount of time in Edinburgh. Maybe the mixture of young wasters you get exposed to in some environments makes a difference in recognition terms?

But hey I even went out to a local pub recently wearing a WH shirt and two guys I didn't know started singing TV Tan to me. I think they were musicians, though, which makes a difference too, maybe. My little brother is also an accomplished musician and often plays with a local band called Valmyer Pass, the lead songwriter of whom is a massive Ginger/WH fan. So I often see little connections.

If any of this helps.

[InstantKarma]

I can't add a whole lot to what's been said before as I think everyone's summed it up pretty well, but I have had a feeling for many years now that The Wildhearts will be one of those bands that you hear of who aren't big at the time but who eventually get picked up by a new generation and who influence many bands in the future. Ginger's songwriting ability, alone, is reason enough for that imo.