Favorite Manchester Bands #5 - Chameleons
@teamfreak16 (43421)
Denver, Colorado
December 11, 2017 7:45pm CST
Yep, Manchester, England is hands down my favorite musical city. Simply put, I've never heard a Manchester band I haven't liked, so I'm counting down my favorites. We are at #5: The Chameleons.
Known as the Chameleons UK here in the States, the band formed in 1981, held it together until 1987, then reformed in 2000 until 2003.
Vocalist/bassist/lyricist Mark Burgess has since kept it going as ChameleonsVox.
The band signed to Epic Records after several appearances on BBC Radio program, The John Peel Show.
The band released six studio albums and seven singles. Despite the decent output, the Chameleons never quite gained the popularity that they deserved. Which is sad, because these guys just did not record bad songs.
I've linked to the studio version of "Return of the Roughnecks," which contains one of my favorite lyrics:
"You want to drink
but when you try to drink
there's someone pissing in the water."
Enjoy!
(Info verified by Wikipedia)
Notes by Mark - The title came from the notebook I had with me the evening of the acid trip at Tandle Hill. I'd written down all these weird phrases like 'Sc...
3 people like this
3 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
12 Dec 17
I remember the Chameleons UK. They got some play here.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
12 Dec 17
KROQ I would think would've been all over them. Too bad nobody else did.
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@FourWalls (62164)
• United States
12 Dec 17
They have a very familiar sound to them, only beefed up. I love that line, too!
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@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
12 Dec 17
Remember when Interpol was doing their Joy Division sound? I thought a lot of their guitars sounded like these guys.
1 person likes this
@misunderstood_zombie (8142)
• United States
12 Dec 17
I don't think I've heard them before, but the sound is very unique.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
12 Dec 17
They did kind of have their own sound.
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