THE HARD STUFF ALBUMS
Various Artists
Massive Wagons
MCMURTRIE/PRESS MASSIVE WAGONS: JOHN
NWOCR – The Official New Wave Of Classic Rock Volume One WWW.NWOCR.COM
Geoff Barton, who first coined the term ‘NWOBHM’, weighs in on its similarly acronym-d successor.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave in Borneo this past year or so – and, given these covid-troubled times, it’s perfectly possible – you’ll likely have noticed that the latest so-called ground-breaking musical phenomenon is (peal of trumpets ahoy) the New Wave Of Classic Rock – or NWOCR for short shorts. But let’s ignore that surprise Royal Teens/Freddie And The Dreamers reference and instead suggest that said phenomenon should be called ‘Knocker’ – in much the same way as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM, is pronounced ‘Ner-wobbum’. (That enough acronyms for ya, Line Of Duty fans? Not if this OCU – Old Critic, Undeniably – has anything to do with it.)
Now S-CG-BMPs, they come and they go. Some leave an indelible impression – punk, grunge, garage, thrash, new wave, nu metal, New Romantic, krautrock, hair-metal, pomp-rock, emo, Britpop, the aforementioned NWOBHM and many, many more. Others not so much. Garry Bushell’s notorious Oi! fandango admittedly caused plenty of fuss and bother, albeit for all the wrong reasons, but does anyone remember his follow-up foray Punk Pathetique, spearheaded by the Toy Dolls’ Nellie The Elephant? Thought not. Meanwhile, was Futurism ever even a wotsit? The mod renewal? Third-wave ska? Skunk rock? Crunkcore? Romo? Bonk rock? Coastal lifestyle acoustic rock? Kawaii metal? Hawaii Metal? The above musical inventions – because they were inventions – withered on the vine and singularly failed to impress Joseph and Josephine Public.