What is Grebo exactly? I'm writing this post in hopes of conducting a sociological survey, not in expounding what I know on the subject. Hoping I get some comments here to school me on what it was like in early '90s midland U.K. or more particularly Leicester, where the "genre" or "subculture" or "fad" was officially born. I don't know much about the Gay Bikers on Acid, but I do know that Pop Will Eat Itself was a horrid, insufferable, figurehead for this movement. Not sure why I'm so intrigued when there really much to get worked up about, I suppose I'm more interested in the signifiers surrounding the craze. It was pre-Britpop and pre-Grunge and in a number of ways seemed to mirror the ugly punk-funk phenomenon that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were raping in our country -- only combining basic alternative rock tropes to house music and dayglo, Doc Martens and white dreads, soapbox rapping and Hypercolour t-shirts.
There was some good out of it -- if you count Ned's Atomic Dustbin as a contributor. God Fodder is classic '90s listening for myself. The Wonder Stuff and Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine were associated and marginally enjoyable -- but most of the stuff is simply cut-out bin material, incapable of surviving past the millennial switch. By example, Jesus Jones is considered quintessential "sell-out" Grebo, but I have to admit to being a sucker for "International Bright Young Thing". Then there was EMF who brought Grebo and the popularization of extacy to our shores. I believe it was their much overlooked and underrated flop of a sophomore album Stigma that killed the kids clean. So please. If you know a tried and true Grebo, let's hear the best of the bunch. I need pictures. I need proof that it was something to believe in.
Or else I swear I'll start Fiddlin' on ROMO. Don't make me do it.
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