The Soup Dragons were a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s, named after a character in the 1970s children's TV show The Clangers.
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History
The Soup Dragons formed in Bellshill, a town near Glasgow, in 1985. The line up was Sean Dickson (vocals, lead guitar), Jim McCulloch (guitar, second voice) who replaced Ian Whitehall and Sushil K. Dade (bass). The original drummer, Ross A. Sinclair, left the group after the first proper album, This Is Our Art, to pursue a career in art, and was replaced by Paul Quinn. Most of their songs were written by Dickson, while some were co-written with McCulloch. Originally lumped in with the C86 movement, along with fellow members of the Bellshill Sound, such as the BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub, they went through a number of stylistic changes in their career. Their first single was Buzzcocks-inspired pop-punk, and over the course of six singles (the first three collected in 1986 on a U.S. only compilation, Hang Ten), they gradually developed a more complex rock guitar sound, which culminated in their first album proper This Is Our Art. In the year following This Is Our Art their sound underwent a change from an indie rock sound, to the rock-dance crossover baggy sound, popular at the time with the release of the album Lovegod. This change mirrored that of fellow Scottish band Primal Scream, and can be attributed to the rise of the ecstasy-fueled acid house rave scene in the UK. In 1990, they released their most notable hit single in the UK, I'm Free, a cover of a Rolling Stones song. Subsequent albums continued the rock-dance crossover sound. In 1992 they enjoyed their biggest U.S. hit with "Divine Thing" which reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also hit #1 on the modern rock (alternative) charts. The band split in 1995 with Quinn joining fellow Bellshill band, Teenage Fanclub. Sushil K. Dade formed the experimental post rock band Future Pilot A.K.A., and singer Sean Dickson formed The High Fidelity. Jim McCulloch joined fellow Glaswegians Superstar, and has since formed musical collective Green Peppers. He writes and records with Isobel Campbell. Sean Dickson is now based in London. He DJs at some of London's most popular night clubs under the name of HI-FI Sean. Dickson writes and produces songs for Glasgow based electro group The Record Playerz.
Discography
Albums
- Hang Ten (compilation, 1986)
- This Is Our Art (1988) [#60 UK]
- Lovegod (1990) [#7 UK / #88 US]
- Hotwired (1992) [#74 UK / #97 US]
- Hydrophonic (1994)
Singles
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| 1986 | "The Sun Is In The Sky EP" |
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| 1986 | "Whole Wide World" |
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| 1986 | "Hang-Ten! E.P." |
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| 1987 | "Head Gone Astray" |
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Hang-Ten! |
| 1987 | "Can't Take No More" |
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This Is Our Art |
| 1987 | "Soft As Your Face" |
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This Is Our Art |
| 1988 | "The Majestic Head" |
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This Is Our Art |
| 1988 | "Kingdom Chairs" |
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This Is Our Art |
| 1988 | "4-Track Live E.P." |
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This Is Our Art |
| 1989 | "Backwards Dog" |
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Lovegod |
| 1989 | "Crotch Deep Trash" |
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Lovegod |
| 1990 | "Mother Universe" |
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Lovegod |
| 1990 | "I'm Free" |
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Lovegod |
| 1991 | "Electric Blues" |
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Electric Blues (single) |
| 1992 | "Divine Thing" |
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Hotwired |
| "Pleasure" |
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Hotwired | |
