Mogwai arrived into a world that wasn’t especially interested in hearing from them. The mid ‘90s were all about the Britpop, looking back towards a ‘60s of ‘proper’ music for young people. Forgetting that the Beatles had once been radical innovators, groups like Oasis tried to ossify rock’n’roll, photocopying the template of the Who, the Stones and the Kinks and turning it into anthemic surges of meaninglessness. What exactly is a wonderwall?
Like a shy unevolved mammal biding its time on a shady corner of the Serengeti, the members of Mogwai patiently waited, listening to the newly unfashionable slowcore bands like Slint, Rodan, The God Machine and Codeine, as well as the sonic experimentalists such as Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine.
Their first album was called ‘Mogwai Young Team’ and the title in those pre-internet days was intriguing enough to get me to invest. And I remained intrigued, if not quite blown away (you had to hear ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ live to completely get it). I had already become a follower of slowcore, though this was rather a lonely occupation back then. I’d seen Codeine in 1993 in a basement venue with a handful of others and you could sense they were coming to the end of the road. So Mogwai seemed a good step forward to the cul-de-sac that post-rock had found itself in, adding texture to the slowness.
One by one, their albums slowly crept forward. Some classic tracks emerged. ‘CODY’. ‘Hunted by a freak’. ‘Friend of the night’. A pal in my music club, who I don’t think had ever given them the time of day before, was stunned by ‘Take me somewhere nice’. Their most consistent offering is, I think, ‘Mr Beast’: the confluence of their early progression towards mainstream acceptance while not losing sight of their pioneering restlessness of spirit.
Eventually, bizarrely, they scored a number one album with ‘As The Love Continues’. I still don’t quite see how that happened. But there’s no denying that in the UK their last 5 albums have come in at numbers 35, 25, 10, 6 and 1. It’s been a long haul, but finally the mainstream has embraced their thing. I did not see that coming. It’s kinda good.
Although, also worth noting that Liam Gallagher’s 3 solo albums have all gone to number 1. It's an imperfect world.
Tracklist:
I’m Jim Morrison I’m Dead, Mogwai
In bad dreams, The God Machine
CODY, Mogwai
Loss leader, Codeine
Hunted by a freak, Mogwai
Bible silver corner, Rodan
Glasgow mega-snake, Mogwai
Feed me with you kiss, My Bloody Valentine
I know you are but what am I?, Mogwai
Metamorphosis: One, Philip Glass
Good morning captain, Slint