A Year in the Life
How was it for you? The assembled Hot Press writers offer their own opinions on 1994 over the next five pages.
Liam Fay, 14 Dec 1994
SCUM SURFING
It is now undeniable that, collectively, the Irish Catholic clergy are a bunch of whoring, degenerate boozehounds. However, it would be wrong to tar every individual priest with the same sleazy brush. To be fair, the child molesters aren’t always drunks and most of the womanisers draw the line at sodomy.
1994 was yet another year of momentous upheaval in Ireland. The excrement has been meeting the air-conditioning with alarming regularity. At times, the prevailing atmosphere was reminiscent of nothing so much as that scene in The Birds when the schoolyard is silently but suddenly invaded by a portentous army of ravens. All manner of chickens, crows, parrots, hawks, doves and vultures have come home to roost during the past twelve months. Caws and coos fill the air, feathers flutter skyward and there’s a very nasty stain on the windscreen.
As ever, the banalities barked by our monkey-spank politicians consistently fail to address the changing realities. There’s always a dull moment with these people. Whenever they appear on TV, chanting their new mantra of openness, accountability and bags me the window seat on the government jet, most of us need regular calls from a paging service just to stay awake for longer than two minutes. And, another thing: why the hell is disgraced former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds forever banging on about the great strides that are being made in Northern Ireland? Is he doing PR for the tailoring industry up there or something?
Infinitely more unsettling than any of this, though, is the apparent inability of most of our artists, and specifically our rock artists, to engage themselves with the changes that are taking place in this society. This is a time of considerable excitement and flux in Ireland but you wouldn’t suspect that to listen to most of the rock albums released by homegrown acts this year. There are obvious and formidable exceptions but there’s also been far too much of the same old same old. Competent, solid, functional stuff but hopelessly derivative and irredeemably second-hand.
And, in so far as there is evidence of vitality in the so-called musical underground, it seems to bubble forth from a seething vat of resentment about other rock groups and the media, rather than from a genuine fomentation of anything more radical.
I’m not suggesting that bands should start writing songs called ‘Smells Like Hume/Adams’ or ‘What’s The Frequency Of Tax Fraud In The Beef Industry, Kenneth’. I also happily accept that there is always a place for the dumb, the depraved and the downright self-obsessed in any generation’s rock canon. I simply believe that at least some Irish songwriters should strive a little harder to reflect even scant flashes of the extraordinary national electrical storm that they must surely see all around them during these long, strange days.
Vision may be a little too much to expect from rock musicians but we are at least entitled to hope for eyesight.
Liam Fay
P.S. The worst wounds of 1994 were not self-inflicted. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The year’s biggest artistic tragedies were the death of Bill Hicks and the demise of That Petrol Emotion. R.I.P. both.
Liam Fay
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1996-03-11 - Frontlines
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Alryte! Liam Fay gets on the blower to Phil Redmond, the scouser who launched a thousand Brookside storylines, who chin wags about lesbianism, wife-beating, Emmerdale and, er, those Farm t-shirts!
1995-02-08 - Frontlines
The task facing SEÁN HAUGHEY is a daunting one: to attempt to emulate the achievements of his father, a man who spent decades at the very centre of Irish public life. Liam Fay talks to the most famous moustache in politics about life, love and the pursuit of happiness, and asks: is Dáil Éireann to be the House of the Rising Son? Pix: COLM HENRY.
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CLIFF RICHARD has come out in favour of caning as a punishment for law-breakers. liam fay reckons this is Biff’s bottom line, right enough.
1995-02-08 - Frontlines
From Sting to Frank Zappa, Derek Bell has been literally instrumental in establishing The Chieftains as your average rock legend’s favourite group. Liam Fay hears the full story about his ice cream binges with Van Morrison and his special liking for rosewood oboes!
1995-01-25 - Interview
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1995-01-25 - Interview
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1995-01-25 - Frontlines
He’s a legend, an icon and a farmer. His hit singles tally in this country is surpassed only by Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. He is, above all else, the man who brought... ...us ‘Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down’ and ‘Carrots From Clonoun’. Behold the unexpurgated brendan shIne on sex, drugs, drink, the accordion, grunge, GATT and Donie Cassidy’s wig. Interview: Liam Fay. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
1995-01-11 - Interview
Nog Nog Noggin ON HEAVEN’S DOOR Come with us on a fantastic voyage to the mythical kingdom of Gibletland in the wondrous empire of Sallynoggin where sex, drugs and rock'n'roll rule and where your decadent host is, eh, Dustin the Turkey. DUSTIN THE TURKEY!!! Read on but beware of fowl play. Your demented guide: LIAM FAY.
1994-12-14 - Interview
Of all their undeniable qualities, it is Ash’s bone dry sense of humour and their eye for unnervingly absurd detail that bodes most auspiciously for their long-term future.
1994-11-16 - REVIEW
Billed as the publishing event of the century, Crossing The Threshold Of Hope by Pope John Paul has already netted its author an advance of $10 million and is currently topping bestseller lists the world over. LIAM FAY wades through this extra helping of papal bull and comes to the conclusion that His Holiness is now, certifiably, as crazy as a shithouse rat.
1994-11-16 - Frontlines
While commercial success hasn’t exactly come a-knockin’ on his door, Pierce Turner, in stoical mood, tells Liam Fay why he’s not all that bothered at the relative lack of lolly rolling in but how with his new live album Manaña In Manhattan just released, the wily Wexford wizard believes his time will come . . . Pic: Cathal Dawson.
1994-11-02 - Interview
While commercial success hasn't exactly come a-knockin' on his door, Pierce Turner, in stoical mood, tells Liam Fay why he's not all that bothered at the relative lack of lolly rolling in but how with his new live album Manana In Manhattan just released, the wily Wexford wizard believes his time will come.
1994-11-02 - Interview
Oliver Stone’s controversial new movie Natural Born Killers has been banned in Ireland. Liam Fay finds it hard to discover why.
1994-11-02 - Frontlines
As founder and director of the acclaimed choral group, Anuna, MICHAEL McGLYNN has established himself as one of the country's most gifted and innovated composers. However, he has also become a figure by some elements in the Irish Music Industry and been dismissed by others as a "pig ignorant arrogant bastard" Inetrview: LIAM FAY
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But try finding someone who doesn’t like it. The album Monster is yet another glittering addition to arguably the most astonishing canon in pop music, ever. Here, in a historic summit, the world’s greatest fortnightly rock paper gets together with the world’s greatest rock band for an intimate chat about the big issues: sex, death, drinking and, of course, rrrrrock’n’roll. What else is there? Interview: Liam Fay
1994-10-19 - Interview
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1994-10-05 - Frontlines
With compass in hand and their newly unfurled Map Of The Universe nestling comfortably on their laps, Blink are boldly going where few Irish bands have gone before. But what happens when they get to Cork and Ballybunion? Intrepid explorer LIAM FAY dons his rucksack, climbs aboard the Blinkmobile and survives to tell the tale.
1994-09-21 - Interview
Striking Gold and setting a new World record might be enough to satisfy some athletes but for Sonia O'Sullivan such exploits are merely a warm-up for the glories that lie ahead. Ireland's athletics superstar talks to Liam Fay about winning, losing and the personal sacrifices she's prepared to make in order to become the best.
1994-09-21 - Interview
“I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me,” says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
1994-09-21 - Interview
I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me, says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
1994-09-21 - Interview
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1994-09-07 - REVIEW
LIAM FAY gets a hot line to DAVID BYRNE on the eve of his Dublin concerts and found a pretty talkative head, discussing everything from Brazlian merengue music to Tommy Cooper.
1994-09-07 - Interview
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1994-09-07 - Frontlines
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1994-08-24 - REVIEW
The Miss Ireland competition is in its 45th year. Liam Fay went along to the Burlington Hotel final to come to (metaphorical) grips with the assets of Miss Irish Sun Newspaper, among others. He found the experience deeply embarrassing. Pix: Colm Henry.
1994-08-24 - Frontlines
They are a hunted species, forced to live out their lives in covert(s) under constant threat from marauding hounds and their society masters. You’d imagine that a fox would know something about what it feels like to be gay in ’90s Ireland but not johnny fox, the independent TD for Wicklow. Here, he unleashes an unrestrained attack on homosexuality, the practice of which he believes should never have been decriminalised in this country. For good measure, he also has a go at the government’s ‘liberal agenda’, the European Community, Bord Fáilte and the standard of refereeing at GAA football matches. Interview: Liam Fay. Pics: Cathal Dawson
1994-08-24 - Frontlines
She can't sit still. She has the attention span of a senile goldfish. And she has got some very strange personal habits. But Bjork is still one of the brightest and most compelling pop stars the nineties has produced thus far. LIAM FAY travels to darkest Blackpool for a close and often strange encounter with the Icelandic imp herself.
1994-08-10 - Interview
There has been no increase in the rate of teenage pregnancy since 1972 . . . and that’s official! Report LIAM FAY.
1994-03-09 - Frontlines
It is still possible to ban a book or magazine in Ireland if it advocates the use of contraception. Report: LIAM FAY
1994-03-09 - Frontlines
Liam Fay teams up with the IMRO hit squad as they venture north to Monaghan in search of bars, discos and other such venues that do not have a licence to thrill, or at least a licence for the public performing of music.
1994-02-23 - Interview
Er, perhaps not, but after 25 years of waxing, back-combing and tottering around on six-inch heels, Mr. Pussy has certainly earned the right to call himself ‘Ireland’s Most Misleading Lady’. LIAM FAY gets a lesson in cross-dressing from the man who’s stripped Bono to the waist, offered solace to Charlie Haughey and stuck a hairy appendage under Ringo Starr’s nose. PIX: Colm Henry
1994-02-23 - Frontlines
As they prepare to storm Dublin's Olympia for two reunion shows later this month, LIAM FAY talks unfinished business to KEITH DONALD and EOGHAN O'NEILL of MOVING HEARTS
1994-02-09 - Interview
LIAM FAY celebrates the re-release of Gram Parsons’ two solo albums, G.P. and GRIEVOUS ANGEL on mid-price CD with an appraisal of the life and work of the man dubbed The Father of Country Rock.
1994-02-09 - Interview
Since writing her book The Morning After: Sex, Fear And Feminism, author Katie Roiphe has been subjected to an unprecedented level of private and public vilification for her outspoken views on rape. Here, she talks to Liam Fay about the growing complexity of sexual politics in the States. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
1994-02-09 - Frontlines
It’s a rare thing indeed to hear an Irish lesbian speak openly and frankly about her life, lusts and loves. Gay writer, EMMA DONOGHUE, however, is one of the first of a new and more confident generation. At twenty-four, she has already produced a prodigious body of work ranging from drama to cultural history to her just-published first novel, Stir Fry. In the process, she has emerged as a proud and powerful voice for hundreds of young lesbians in this country. Interview: LIAM FAY. Pix: COLM HENRY
1994-01-26 - Frontlines
LIAM FAY reviews 1993 from the vantage point of the newspapers.
1993-12-15 - Frontlines
It was a night of mayhem, hysteria and high decibel screaming which left LIAM FAY psychologically, emotionally and aesthetically scarred. It was TAKE THAT’S Irish debut at The Point. This is his report from the front line.
1993-12-01 - Interview
During the late eighties, Aslan were among the most celebrated of Irish rock acts, immensely popular at home and signed to EMI, a major multinational label, on which they released their debut album, Feel No Shame. And then it all came unstuck, amid squalid tabloid accusations of drug addiction, egotism and recrimination. Now they re back, older, wiser and more resolute but with their musical batteries recharged, a new contract with BMG under their belts and that old emotional band intact. Report: Liam Fay (with additional reporting by George Byrne).
1993-12-01 - Interview
Historian and broadcaster ROBERT KEE is best known for his acclaimed series Ireland – A Television History. He talks to LIAM FAY about the Northern conflict and the role of censorship in prolonging it.
1993-11-17 - Frontlines
There is only one way to combat AIDS and that is to resist it - with information, education, safer sex, condoms, awareness, agitation and solidarity. We're all in this together - and we're in it for the long haul. Report: Liam Fay.
1993-11-17 - Frontlines
WILLIAM GIBSON is no ordinary science-fiction writer. Aside from coining such essential nineties' terms as Cyberspace and Cyberpunk, his work has also influenced everyone from computer hackers to scientists developing virtual reality technology. In the rock world, he's regarded as a visionary and artists as diverse as U2, Billy Idol and The Rolling Stones have all claimed inspiration from his novels. Interview: Liam Fay. Cyberpics: Cathal Dawson.
1993-10-20 - Frontlines
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