THRASHING DOVES
FROM: London
SOUND Money falling into a bottomless pit
"They were right up there in the expectation stakes." recalls Thrashing Doves manager Dave Hill. "I've been involved with a few but that was crazy." Hill. then managing The Pretenders had heard a demo by The Climb. fronted by brothers Ken and Brian Foreman, taken the band on and placed them on a Pretenders tour "but I couldn't get them arrested". A change of name a swap of rock for dance"and it went bananas".
A&M Head Of A&R Chris Briggs was convinced by the songs and brought in Sex Pistols/Pretenders producer Chris Thomas and, in America, mainstream pros like Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain. Having already baulked at the inflated deal, the UK music press sniffily deemed the Doves an industry hype: "That launching pad is important." argues Hill "and they made a lot of press enemies." The Doves made Number 50 with their third single Beautiful Imbalance. Saturday Superstore guest Margaret Thatcher gave the video top marks. "What worse thing could happen to a young band, than having Thatcher tell the nation's youngsters they were jolly good?" Briggs reflects.
When Acid House exploded. the brothers wanted to experiment and Jesus On The Payroll arrived with a dance remix but, having been launched by hype, Thrashing Doves were hoist by their own petard. Briggs departed. leaving an uninspired A&M team to fund a cheap second album: "The hand were in such a financial hole. A&M pulled the plug." laments Hill. who had given up management by that point. "There sometimes isn't an answer why it goes wrong." Briggs concludes" If you get half of what you're doing right. you're a fucking genius."