Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and one of the leading bands of the

indiepop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and ...

movement, taking their name from the headline of an

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

interview with

Clare Grogan Claire Patricia Grogan (born 17 March 1962), known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish singer and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well a ...

. They supposedly formed in 1986 when

Amelia Fletcher Amelia Fletcher (born 1 January 1966) is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and economist. Music career Fletcher has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present. Her bands included Talulah Gosh, ...

and Elizabeth Price, both wearing

Pastels A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

badges, met at a club in Oxford. Their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums),

Peter Momtchiloff Peter Momtchiloff (born 10 March 1962) is a British guitarist and bassist. He was educated at Winchester College and Worcester College, Oxford. His musical career began in 1978 playing bass guitar in Winchester band The Big Figure. At Oxford ...

(lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Pursey left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott.

History

The group made their live debut on 7 March 1986, and later the same year released a flexidisc on Sha La La flexilabel and two singles simultaneously on the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

-based label 53rd & 3rd, "Beatnik Boy" and "Steaming Train". These singles, especially the former, were unashamedly cutesy, something also reflected in the names the group had adopted for themselves: leader Amelia was "Marigold", while Elizabeth became "Pebbles". Mathew Fletcher was rather less flatteringly nicknamed "Fat Mat". Their appearance led to them being labelled as an "

anorak A parka, like the related anorak, is a type of coat with a hood, that may be lined with fur or fake fur. Parkas and anoraks are staples of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid A ...

indie" band. For their third single, the group returned to a song they had first recorded in session for

Janice Long Janice Berry (née Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. The first female presenter to have a ...

's show on Radio 1 in August 1986, "Talulah Gosh". Elizabeth Price left toward the end of the year to form The Carousel with

Razorcuts Razorcuts were an indie pop band formed in 1984 in London. The group centred on Gregory Webster and Tim Vass (who were previously in The Cinematics), with various musicians including Peter Momtchiloff of Heavenly and Talulah Gosh, Angus Stevenso ...

frontman

Gregory Webster Gregory Webster is a British musician. In 1985 he founded the Razorcuts with Tim Vass. He then played in The Carousel with Elizabeth Price (ex-Talulah Gosh Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading ...

, and so the single, released on 30 May 1987, was the first to feature replacement

Eithne Farry Eithne Farry is the former literary editor of ELLE. She is the author of "Yeah, I Made it Myself". She was a backing singer with Talulah Gosh and has reviewed a book for ''Marie Claire''. Works * ''Yeah, I Made it Myself: DIY Fashion for the Not ...

(vocals, tambourine). The single was less shambolic than their earlier offerings, and a video was made for it which was played on ''

The Chart Show ''The Chart Show'' (also known as ''The ITV Chart Show'' between 1989 and 1998) is a weekly syndicated music video programme, which ran in the United Kingdom from April 1986 until August 1998, with revivals in 2003 and 2008–2009. ''The Char ...

'' (then shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

), giving the band some mainstream exposure. The single was produced (some critics suggested it was over-produced) by John Rivers, as was the follow-up "Bringing Up Baby", a sophisticated pop song that reduced the band's "shambling" element to the point where mainstream success seemed a possibility. Indeed,

The Primitives The Primitives are an English indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash (The Primitives song), Crash". Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constant members throu ...

would later take precisely this route to success – but Talulah Gosh never made the national chart. The ironically-titled debut (compilation) album '' Rock Legends: Volume 69'' was released in October 1987, collecting tracks from the earlier singles and radio sessions. January 1988 saw not only the release of "Bringing Up Baby" but also the broadcast of a second Radio 1 session, this time for DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

. What was to be Talulah Gosh's last single, a punk thrash titled "Testcard Girl" (very loosely based on an old

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

advertising jingle), was released in May. The group split later that year. A posthumous collection of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio sessions was issued by

Sarah Records Sarah Records was a British independent record label active in Bristol between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop, which it released mostly on 7" singles. On reaching the catalogue number SARAH 100, the label celebrated i ...

in 1991, and a more comprehensive retrospective was released on

K Records K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent mu ...

in 1996. A limited edition EP of demos, recorded in 1986, was issued for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

in 2011, at which point a new retrospective album was also announced, at that time to be called ''Grrrr''. On 22 July 2013, Amelia Fletcher announced on her Facebook page that the album, now called ''Was It Just a Dream?'', would be released in October 2013. It was launched along with a DJ set by Amelia Fletcher, Eithne Farry and Elizabeth Price at the London club Scared To Dance. After the split, Peter joined

, while Amelia issued a one-off solo single, "Can You Keep a Secret?". Amelia and Mathew Fletcher and Peter Momtchiloff regrouped as Heavenly in late 1989, with Talulah Gosh co-founder Rob Pursey also returning to the fold. Following the break-up of Razorcuts, Scott formed Saturn V with

and Razorcuts drummer Struan Robertson.

Discography

Singles

*"I Told You So" (flexi disc, 1986) (given away with fanzines '' Are You Scared To Get Happy?'' No. 3 and ''Trout Fishing in Leytonstone'' No. 3) *"Beatnik Boy" (single, 1986) *"Steaming Train" (single, 1986) *"Talulah Gosh" (single, 1987) *"Bringing Up Baby" (single, 1987) *"Testcard Girl" (single, 1988) *"Demos EP" (single, 2011 – recorded 1986)

Compilations

*'' Rock Legends: Volume 69'' (singles compilation, 1987/ 8 – reissued in 1991 as Talulah Mania) *'' They've Scoffed the Lot'' (radio sessions, 1991) *'' Backwash'' (complete recordings plus live tracks, 1996) *'' Was It Just a Dream?'' (expanded version of ''Backwash'' adding demo tracks, 2013)

References

External links

*
Interview with Amelia Fletcher about Talulah GoshTwee Amigos
{{Authority control English pop music groups English indie pop groups Sarah Records artists Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1988 1986 establishments in England Musical groups from Oxford