Sunnyboys

The Sunnyboys first self-titled album came out in September 1981. It featured the classic song “Alone With You” with its jangly melodic riff and harmonies, offset with a raw guitar solo and some deeply pensive lyrics of love (possibly foreshadowing Jeremy Oxley’s own personal struggles). Before then, I had grown up listening and loving The Beatles, watching some old Saturday cartoons featuring their early song catalogue, and some voice actors impersonating their Liverpool accents in the animations themselves. I particularly loved those early sweet jangly guitar sounds from the iconic Rickenbacker guitars that John Lennon and George Harrison can be seen playing in their classic and magnificent black and white film “A Hard Day’s Night”. But it seemed a long time ago in 1981, that I had enjoyed some new fresh vibrant guitar pop. Of course, there had been various Psychedelic, Garage, Mod and Power Pop genres in the 1960s, and into the 1970s with The Who, The Kinks, The Byrds, The Raspberries and Badfinger amongst too many others to mention, but these were generally listened to in back catalogue mode, even though many of the bands were still performing – the vibrancy, energy and momentary presence was often missing. The next band to come close to emulate the hit making standard in pop of The Beatles was the wonderful Swedish pop from ABBA, which I love to this day, but they were not a classic guitar pop band. I also could not help but get into many of the Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock acts like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. But after listening to “Alone With You” from the Sunnyboys when it was released in October 1981, my psyche returned back to those great power pop, raw, jangly and melodic guitar sounds I had first loved growing up, and it came with some of that energy and vibrancy that I had been missing. Unfortunately, I had not quite locked into the energy that The Jam was making on the punk and mod scene in the late 1970s, who possibly could have filled that hole but I was to discover them quite soon. So the Sunnyboys, were a watershed moment in my music listening and I have forever held a deep love of Indie Pop, Indie Rock and Power Pop sounds, even to this day when I listen to many recent artists whose roots go back to the 1960s guitar sounds. Even as I started to get into the Punk of the legendary bands like the The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Saints, it still felt to me a pop / rock guitar melody disguised below the snarl, noise, distortion and feedback of the guitars, and still reminded me of The Beatles. So the Sunnyboys self-titled first album remains one of my all time favourite albums, which I still listen to from time-to-time, and a significant time in my musical listening history. Personal and health issues stopped the Sunnyboys from ever realising their full potential, but there are three great albums to refer back to, and the classic first album above all else burns so brightly for me. Music is personal and set in time, so no-one cannot listen to this album the way I did back in 1981, and in the same way I can never listen to current performers such as boygenius, Car Seat Headrest or Twenty One Pilots, as today’s generation, although I may love their sounds as much as anyone. Some current favourites of today’s generation, does also include the 2000s bands like the Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. As these are more closely rooted in the punk revival of the late 1970s, I am going to selfishly and quite arrogantly take ownership of that one and keep it for myself 😊.