World Of Twist Invert Rock’n’Roll, Inspire Oasis
As their sole album is reissued, Daliesque Madchester-era dissenters mess with minds in vintage Snub TV clip.
What were Oasis nearly called? The Sons Of The Stage, after World Of Twist’s second single from 1991. A groovily menacing, pop art collision of psychedelic rock and dancefloor magnetism which demands you “get down to the noise and confusion”, Liam Gallagher even covered it as the B-side of the first Beady Eye record, while Marc Riley pantingly calls it “one of the most exciting records ever made.” Here it is on long-gone telly programme Snub TV with some oblique comment from the band, who for some long forgotten reason are interviewed in Withington swimming baths in south Manchester. See also the DIY-minded band’s revolving disc reading ROCK AND ROLL and giant shell for keyboardist MC Shells (credited with “swirls and sea noises”), but sadly not their celebrated papier-mâché volcano.
The song, probably World Of Twist’s finest moment, is on the double-disc reissue of their sole LP Quality Street, out later this month. The band's aesthetic – prog-punky rock and pop infused with the empathogenic rippedness of the times – is strongly evidence, despite the band saying they were disappointed with it. Guitar man Gordon King adds apposite notes, comparing late shapes-throwing frontman Tony Ogden to “a hybrid of Alan Rickman and Leonard Rossiter with Bryan Ferry’s hair” and recalling late drummer Nick Sanderson asking Peter Gabriel if they could borrow his Genesis masks while recording at Real World studios. For anyone piqued by such asides, there’s a teeming resource on the band here.
