Saturday, January 16, 2021

Troubles-gum

Simon Young's new biography of Therapy?, So Much For The 30 Year Plan, is one of many books on my current wishlist - not least because I loved them for most of the first decade (the brilliance of 1994's Troublegum in particular remains undimmed) but have largely lost touch with them for the last two and so would be intrigued to know what they've been up to.

In a Quietus article marking the book's publication, Eamon Sweeney has taken an interesting angle, focusing on how the band's origins in conflict-torn Northern Ireland shaped their identity and on how they managed to rise above and escape the sectarian violence.

It's not clear whether this is a significant thread within the book itself, but either way it made me think of Paul Ferris' The Boy On The Shed, which I read last year. Much more than merely the memoir of a failed-footballer-turned-physio, the early section of Ferris' book contained some fascinating and often moving insights into what it was like to grow up during the Troubles.

No comments: