My Radio Sounds Different In The Dark

One of my favourite songs of the 90s, this wasn't even a minor hit in the UK. Ridiculous. It is absolutely brilliant - and I couldn't have been more thrilled to discover the promo vid kicking about the internet today.

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The Would Be's - My Radio Sounds Different in the Dark mp3

Three of a Kind #106

I'm really enjoying Caroline's Radio, the new single - and homage to the famous pirate radio station of the 60s - from Scots popsters Bubblegum Lemonade; not just because it's a very good song in its own right but also because it's reminded me of, and provided me with the perfect excuse to dig out, a couple of my favourite songs on a similar theme i.e. My Radio Sounds Different in the Dark by fab early-90s Irish combo The Would Be's (sic) and On The Radio by Sweden's own Concretes. Sometimes these things just fall into your lap.

The Would Be's - My Radio Sounds Different in the Dark mp3

The Concretes - On The Radio m4a

Bubblegum Lemonade - Caroline's Radio mp3 (right click)

You can order the full three-track Caroline's Radio EP from the Matinée Recordings website

Now everyone knows my radio sounds different in the dark

Not to be confused with Jessica Griffin's would-be-goods, The Would Be's were an Irish indiepop band active between 1989 and 1991 (although, according to their profile on Last FM, they reformed in 2000). Band members were Paul, Mattie and Eamonn Finnegan, Pascal Smith, Aidan O'Reilly and lead vocalist Eileen Gogan, who'd taken over when original singer Julie McDonnell left the band shortly after their debut single reached #12 in John Peel's Festive Fifty - which seems to be becoming a bit of a recurring theme for this week's blog entrants!). Now, while their grammar might not always have been the best, The Would Be's didn't half write some good tunes.

I only own one solitary Would Be's record - The Wonderful EP - but it does contain a genuinely great pop song in the trombone-tastic My Radio Sounds Different In The Dark. This could and should have been one of the big hits of 1991, but aside from Gary Crowley and the aforementioned Peel, who both championed the band on their respective shows, it received pitifully little radio airplay - in the dark or otherwise. (Oh the irony!) Eileen Gogan is providing vox on this one, by the way.

The Would Be's - My Radio Sounds Different In The Dark mp3 (left click)