The Luddites

Ahhh the "going out song", you know , one of the 2 or 3 singles that neve make it back into the box, but remain leant up against the speaker- often with no sleeve or just the white inner one. The songs you play when youre crimping your hair and putting your bots on. The last thing you hear as you drain your glass or wipe the mirror prior to heading out on friday nite. How does that translate to itunes..eh?

Anyway Doppelganger by Hull band the Luddites was one of my staple "going out songs" for a long while, theres something about the big build up , then after 2 minutes or so the guy sings - the lyrics (sort of cool and oblique but not too pseudy) , the simple chugging/scything guitar sounds, awesome.

"The Light bulb shatters, with the strength of your cry, of your cry.
What the hell is this place were in, ive never been here, before today...."

I always think of this band/single as epitomising how I feel about punk rocks potential :  a little chunk of plastic left by a band no-one ever heard of, no-one ever saw and who never went anywhere but still theres a couple of minutes of magic that captures a feeling/time/emotion  eternally for the people who connect with it.

I'm only aware of the one show they did in London, at the Bridgehouse on 6th June 1984...
The Luddites - Doppleganger

The internet tells me that the drummer went on to play on 13 Beautiful South Albums...Im not sure which image is worse: that of an ex housemartin labouring over the lyrics to 130+ Beautiful South songs or some sad fuck who actually owns the full set.