The Footie and Music XI
Posted on August 16, 2010 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: footie, subsbench | Add a Comment »

Occasionally I get an idea about assembling a team, but with a theme. I then throw out these challenges on Twitter to see if anyone can help me fill in the teamsheet for a first XI. Last week I was looking for a #RotundXI and got a good few names which I could assemble two teams. Will do that another time though.
Today the idea is more inline to what we are all about – a #FootieAndMusicXI.
I received some excellent suggestions from newfieldchris who runs the Saggar Makers Social Club, and from Fredorrarci who rules Sport Is A TV Show with an iron fist. Thanks chaps.
Below is a rundown of the first team, plus the subs – and a team manager.
The eccentric goalkeeper Arnold Layne who has put that drug thing behind him and is the first name on the list now.
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Pink Floyd – Arnold Layne |
The solid centre back Charlie Brown, who has a persecution complex and he thinks that the referees are always out to get him. Not good with free kicks.
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The Coasters – Charlie Brown |
Absolutely nothing is known about this player.
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Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Tony Adams |
One of the two Jonnie’s in the team, much to the delight of opposing fans. The veteran Johnny Thunder who has a distinguished career in the top flight.
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The Kinks – Johnny Thunder |
Partnering his namesake at the back is a tricky right back who’s good at getting up for the crosses, can be see floating into the box.
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Shelley Fabares – Johnny Angel |
The midfield enforcer and captain of the team. Do you feel lucky punk ?
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Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood |
The quick left sided midfielder, Kevin Carter sometimes joins in attack.
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Manic Street Preachers – Kevin Carter |
The tricky Italian winger who can play on the left or the right.
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The Auteurs – Lenny Valentino |
A product of the youth system, namesake son of the 60′s legend.
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The Jam – David Watts |
The right sided player who is absolutely blind as a bat and much to the annoyance of his boss, is constantly losing his contacts during matches.
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Weezer – Buddy Holly |
Ernold Same, a summer signing and the flying Dutch winger is just coming back from injury.
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Blur – Ernold Same |
- and the team coach… who some say walks like a woman and wears a bra…
[Subs Bench]
Three that are gathering splinters, probably make a change around 70 mins if it’s a stalemate:
Jimmy Ray out of the wilderness, signed on a free but fans keep on asking… / The sturdy defender Alex Chilton, just off the treatment table. / The ever retiring reserve ‘keeper Andy Warhol.
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» Jimmy Ray – Are You Jimmy Ray ?
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» The Replacements – Alex Chilton
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[In The Stands]
There were a few others that didn’t make the squad and will have to play their football elsewhere…
You can find these and all the above selections via 6 Mirrors.
» If you are looking for a few names to form your own team. Try here.
If this was an actual team then it would be somebody like Bolton Wanderers. Don’t have a name for this XI. Suggestions below. Also if you’ve got a candidate that the F&M XI scouts should look at. Again leave a comment below.
Related Posts:
Cicciolina Revisted
Posted on February 19, 2010 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: Italia90, WorldCup, WorldCup90 | 4 Comments »

When going through my CD collection here (with a view flogging them to a second hand record shop) I rediscovered some half forgotten gems in the form of my Pop Will Eat Itself collection. It must have been about 10 years since I played any of the CD’s – plus vinyl – half of them I bought on plastic before that compact disc revolution took over.
I’ve dismissed music in the ’90s as a sh’t pointless decade, but there were some exceptions. Radiohead and Nirvana excepted, but Pop Will Eat Itself too.
I know that I’ve rasied some eyebrows with mentioning PWEI in the same breath as those two, but if you have any of their albums in your collection go back and have a listen to them. They have a place in musical history. All these mashups that you hear now – they were doing it years and years before.
But I digest. The reason for this (unplanned until yesterday) reappearance of the Hungarian-born/Italian prOn star-cum-politician *ahem* is because of PWEI’s “tribute” to her.
Cicciolina’s…don’t google her unless your safe search is on… it’s difficult to find a picture of her with her clothes on… real name is Ilona Staller…Did you also know that her stage name of La Cicciolina means “the cuddly one” in Italian and when political speeches, in fact at any given moment she liked to pop a tit out – as I mentioned when I first posted about her.
As I was listening to the Poppies this track played and I decided at that moment to gather together all the various versions of the song. After a quick bit of research… to find more info about the tune you mucky minded people… I fortuitously stumbled across this great review/comment on Discogs.com »
:Pop Will Eat Itself always maintained their punk attitude, even when producing acid house/new beat-influenced dub tunes like Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina. Released as ‘The Unofficial World Cup Theme’ in Spring 1990, the tune samples football fan chants, tv speakers, a female opera singer, and features trumpet, piano, a mighty bassline, and a breakbeat at 112bpm. Only occasionally, Clint and Graham of the Poppies chant their slogan of ‘Cicciolina for Italia 1990′, but the tune is rather to be called an instrumental. It has stood the test of time remarkably well, and from today’s perspective it can be said that Pop Will Eat Itself were on one level with acid dub pioneers Renegade Soundwave and Meat Beat Manifesto in 1990. “
- Take a moment to read the whole thing. It gives an excellent background all about this single.
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Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (1st Half) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Touched… (Edited Highlights) * Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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I think that Edited Highlights and 7 inch version are one in the same, but I’ve added them because I’m a completist.
It is with grateful thanks to The Vinyl Villain and Madchester Rave On for originally posting & letting me borrow a tune (or two) to complete the above. Both are exceptional places to visit.
Additional:
I asked JC of The Vinyl Villain (the supplier of the 12″ version) which other PWEI track I should throw in and he suggested Wise Up! Sucker and it to be dedicated to Garry Cook, the Manchester City Chief Exec who in his words: “….is doing his single-handed best to turn Man City into the most hated team in Englishire.” He also used the word loathsome in his description, which as a long suffering Citeh supporter myself I’m inclined to agree with. His remarks also gave me an idea for another F&M post, but that’s for another day.
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» Pop Will Eat Itself – Wise Up! Sucker |
But it doesn’t end there:
As well as Cicciolina’s political oration and video fellatio, she tried another line of work in the guise as a pop star. A few samples of her output, in English and in Italian below:
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Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Cicciolina & Franco Franchi – Cappuccetto Rosso Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Cicciolina – Muscolo Rosso [see note] Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Ilona Stalla (Cicciolina) – It’s All Up To You Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
» If you like that sort of thing then you can find more of this sort of thing here. Safe(ish) for work.
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[Subs Bench] Allstar But No Stars
Posted on February 4, 2010 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: England, WorldCup, WorldCup2006 | Add a Comment »

This is a postscript to the one from the other day that looked at some well known names who were compelled to sing for England.
The ones I selected were the “best” in the bunch of tunes which were either designed to earn a bit of coin for themselves or to raise money for others.
There were a couple of other songs done in which groups of “celebrities” were gathered together in the name of charidee (mate) – and yes it was for a good cause, but they really should have just emptied their own wallets and not tried to sing.
Sadly for you I’m going to remind everybody again of what those songs were.
Both acts must have confused the general public slightly because of their names. Both of them were known as something something Allstars.
- The first one takes the route that every bugger else took when they banged out a re-worded cover version of a familiar tune. A song that is closely associated with (I’ve still got to get that posted and tell their footie and music story) Brighton & Hove Albion.
What song ? A version of The Piranhas hit (from 1980, that got to number 6) ‘Tom Hark’ – which in itself was a reworked version of a much older tune, but more about that another time.
Who was on this one ? Some of the Talksport presenters (at the time) including Rodney Marsh, Micky Quinn and that twAt James Whale.
Was it for charidee ? Unknown, looks like it wasn’t.
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» Talksport Allstars – We’re England (Tom Hark) |
That is halfway decent compared with…
What song ? A re-worded version of the Dads Army Theme.
Who was on this one ? They got I think one of the maybe two or three original Dads Army actors still alive, but they didn’t get a decent one. It was that Warden bloke. Plus they had Frank Bruno (don’t know how he fits in to all this but he’s on his uppers and needed the work) and they got the two England scorers from the 1966 World Cup Final. Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters hang your heads in shame. I know it was for charity but getting in bed with that low/no class tabloid with this pathetic tune…
Was it for charidee ? Yes.
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Stream only. The less people that have this the better.
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I’ve left this one on a sour note. I usually have something else to balance it out, not this time though.
It is better that we get this one out of the way and forgotten.
- There are still a couple more Engl/WC2006 tunes worth a mention, but as I said lets leave it for now.
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Music and Football Too
Posted on January 19, 2010 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: footie | 1 Comment »
It is a big hello and thank to to Eric from e-rawk who dropped me a line just before Chrimbo with some good suggestions for music and football. His submissions are a variation on a series which I began, but haven’t continued yet, that had links to footieandmusic, no matter how tenuous it was.
In my posts I went with bands that share the same name as a football team... I told you it was thin… and Eric found artists who slip football references into their songs.
Oh and the “e-rawk” name ? He tells me that it came from a fleeting nickname he had whilst fronting a Scorpions cover band. The band lasted for a year… 5 years ago.
You shouldn’t have told me that Eric.
On with the music:
The Decemberists

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The Decemberists – This Sporting Life |
“I fell on the playing field
The work of an errant heel
The din of the crowd and the loud commotion
Went deafening silence and stopped emotion
The season was almost done
We managed it 12 to 1…”
I'm not the only one who thinks the intro/drums sounds like Lust For Life am I ?
Thought not.
The Lucksmiths
…were an Australian band who sadly broke up just last year.

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The Lucksmiths – Tmrw Vs Yday |
“And on your left
Is all that’s left of the bowling green
A town without a football team”
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The Lucksmiths – Goodness Gracious |
The opening line: “What a beautiful day for a crushing defeat” and then:
“Don’t be hopeful on my behalf
I’d like to offer my resignation
And strangle myself with a football scarf
Or act in self-defenestration..”
Bell and Sebastian

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» Bell and Sebastian – Another Sunny Day |
“Another day in June, we’ll pick eleven for football
We’re playing for our lives the referee gives us fck all
I saw you in the corner of my eye on the sidelines…”
and of course…
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B & S – I Don’t Want To Play Football |
“I don’t want to play football
I don’t understand the thrill of the game
I don’t want to play football
I don’t understand the thrill of the running, catching, throwing
Taking orders from a moron…”
Some good selections there E-Rawk, I now bestow the title of Chief (football&music) Scout upon you.
If you’d like to become a F&M scout then email us here with any music/footie songs you’ve spotted.
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[Subs Bench] I Am Electro Boy
Posted on November 22, 2009 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: wigan | 1 Comment »
In honour of Paul Scharner who scored that single Wigan goal today…

» [Link] The Mighty Boosh – Electro
Handball ? Probably.
But come on… the other lot had nine – including an o.g from Kirkland, so cut him some slack.

This is not the first time. He’s got previous.
Natty taste with spectacles too.
[In case you don't know what I'm talking about:
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[Subs Bench] Jorge Ben Covered
Posted on November 18, 2009 | Filed under: Music, Subs Bench | Tags: Brazil | 1 Comment »
...continuing the Brazil week...
Lots of interest in the Jorge Ben collection, so here is some extra material from various artists who have covered the man himself.

First up is the one you know from that Nike advert – which is a cover by Tamba Trio:
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Next one is Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66:
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» Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Mais Que Nada
…plus the 2006 re-recording with the Black Eyed Peas:
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» Sergio Mendes/Black Eyed Peas – Mas Que Nada
There are lots of other cover versions but these are enough, let’s not talk about the rest.
I haven’t posted the Jorge Ben original, but here is a cover version which made it onto the France ’98 soundtrack CD:
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» Daniela Mercury – Pais Tropical
Finally for now here are two examples…
…on how to take a great song and completely ruin it:
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…and how to pay a huge compliment to the original:
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