It's The Facts of Life

My meander through my music brings us now to one of the great misanthropes of English music, Luke Haines, in his Black Box Recorder guise. Formerly of The Auteurs, Haines (appropriately, la haine is French for 'hatred') and his colleagues John Moore (previously in The Jesus and Mary Chain) and Sarah Nixey used cool, modernist pop tunes, cold synthesizers and Nixey's unique pseudo-posh half-singing, half-talking love-it-or-hate-it tones to explore the degraded state of British culture - hence the name, I guess, as a Black Box Recorder tells you what's gone wrong after a catastrophe.

Over the course of England Made Me, The Facts of Life and Passionoia, Haines makes it pretty clear that he's disgusted by England, himself, and you. There aren't any light moments, though the tunes are often deceptively sugary - it's hard not to get 'life is unfair / kill yourself or get over it' from 'Child Psychology' out of your head (banned from radio play, oddly).

I thoroughly recommend The Auteurs, Baader-Meinhof, Luke Haines and Black Box Recorder. His book, Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part In Its Downfall is also a magnificent read. In it, he claims credit for what he sees as the few saving graces of Britpop, names names as the guilty parties, extends old enmities and makes some new enemies - while candidly admitting that he'd become a monster. It takes someone special to dedicate their lives and artistic talent to holding grudges - it's a quality I admire.

For such a misanthrope, Haines found at least one person to love - his colleague Sarah. Ahhh.

Here's 'Child Psychology', 'England Made Me', 'The Facts of Life' and my favourite, 'Andrew Ridgeley' (yes, about the one from Wham who wasn't George Michael).