Jacknife Lee has described Britpop because the “Make America Nice Once more of its day”, dismissing it as “xenophobic shite” and “misogynist”.
The Irish producer is thought for his work alongside among the greatest names in music, having labored on main albums by U2, R.E.M., Taylor Swift, Snow Patrol, The Killers and One Route. Within the ‘90s, nevertheless, he was the guitarist within the cult Dublin indie-punk group Compulsion.
That band have simply re-released their two studio albums ‘Comforter’ (1994) and ‘The Future Is Medium’ (1996) on Friday (Might 2) by way of One Little Impartial Data.
Chatting with Louder Sound in assist of the re-releases, Lee has mirrored on the time interval through which Compulsion’s music was initially launched, an period in British and Irish guitar music that was dominated by the Britpop motion.
Requested what it was that he didn’t recognize about Britpop, Lee responded: “It was such a nostalgic look again at an older England, like what folks noticed as ‘glory days’ for Britain, the 1966 World Cup, The Kinks, the Small Faces, trying again to when Britain had colonies they usually didn’t fucking complain.”
“And Britpop was the Make America Nice Once more of its day, all that Rule Britannia shit. I used to be pissed off, at that form of Britpop xenophobic shite, it was misogynist, it was Loaded journal, it was TFI Friday, it was simply fucking lads asking for tits out. It was horrible, and we hated it.”
Explaining how he noticed Compulsion as standing in opposition to that, he continued: “We have been a bit proper on, with a really form of Marxist outlook on issues, and in order that was fuelling our anger. We have been raging fucking lunatics with amphetamines, railing in opposition to the world. So there was no means we have been going to affix any of these teams, as a result of none of it appealed. Our angle on the time was ‘Fuck England, look to Dusseldorf’. And with the American post-grunge/punk factor, I believe after we have been informed we’d slot in, we simply ran away from it.”
After Compulsion cut up in 1997, Lee went on to pursue a solo recording profession, releasing his first album ‘Muy Rico’ in 1998, adopted by ‘Punk Rock Excessive Curler’ in 2001 and a self-titled third album in 2007.
It’s his work behind the manufacturing desk, nevertheless, that has seen Lee obtain his biggest success. A few of his early producer credit embrace Snow Patrol’s 2003 breakout album ‘Closing Straw’ and U2’s ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ in 2004. He additionally helmed the ultimate two R.E.M. albums ‘Speed up’ (2008) and ‘Collapse Into Now’ (2011).
Extra not too long ago, he co-wrote and co-produced ‘The Final Time’ from Taylor Swift’s ‘Purple’ in 2012, which featured Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody. He additionally collaborated with The Remedy’s Lol Tolhurst and Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Budgie on the album ‘Los Angeles’ in 2023.
