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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

"I can remember being in clubs with Bill and people being really standoffish. I realise now it was deference to Bill's abilities. They knew he could wipe the floor with them. They knew they couldn't compete. They were a little bit scared of us." — Alan Rankine #TheAssociates

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Today would have been Billy MacKenzie's 69th birthday. Happy Birthday, Billy 💙

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Billy MacKenzie March 27th 1957 — Jan. 22nd 1997 "Billy was a dandy, a poet, a pop star, a madman and a charmer. He was excessive and condemned, fêted and ignored, inspired and rejected, spoilt and heroic. He had no doubts whatsoever and he had all the doubts in the world..."

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Alan Rankine with the band Sunset Gun. Alan produced their first single "Be Thankful."

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Billy MacKenzie by Tom Sheehan. Photographed for Melody Maker, 8th September 1984.

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

"Music is a drug ― but because it is pure, it doesn't destroy your heart or your head. The chemical makeup of your whole body changes when you hear something you really love. I'm interested in the physiological side of music." 📸 Billy MacKenzie by Lex Van Rossen, 1984

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

"Billy MacKenzie is a headstrong man. The night before our interview, he nearly lost his nose to a parrot. The bird was initially quite charmed by MacKenzie's warbling and readily imitated him. But when the notes got more difficult, the parrot attacked him. Every bird has its pride."

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

"With music, you give out a tremendous amount of energy. Psychically, what happens is that you leave yourself vulnerable to negative feelings because you've put out all your positive feelings. Your defences are down because you've put out so much." 📸 Billy MacKenzie of The Associates by George Chin

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Alan Rankine and Billy MacKenzie of The Associates photographed by David Corio, 1980

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Billy MacKenzie of The Associates photographed by Chris Noble in 1984

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

"'Party Fears Two' is about the disorientation you feel from the overindulgence in alcohol. It's a subject everyone can understand because people do strong things when they're drunk. I usually get over affectionate. I start kissing everyone." 📸 Billy MacKenzie by Paul Slattery

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

"I've got a really close affinity with animals. I work with them. I'm attached to them. You've got to have a communication with animals. The first time I saw a whippet it was like an electric shock because it was the closest thing to a cheetah." 📸 Billy MacKenzie by George Chin

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The Associates photographed in their publicist Chris Carr's office, 1981. 📸Mike Laye #AlanRankine #BillyMacKenzie

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

"If rock music is a slow tortoise then The Associates are an elusive butterfly. They make an electric music that might be on a point between John Barry & Erik Satie. They cannot be pinned down. They cannot be caught." Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine photographed by Anton Corbijn

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

"I think the best thing anybody could do is fall in love with somebody and if it works forever then great — and if it doesn't, well, just try again." 📸 Billy MacKenzie photographed by Eugene Adebari #TheAssociates

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

"I'm naturally very curious about things in me and around me. I'm fascinated by those moments in everyday life that so easily pass by without people attaching any significance to them. Those are the situations I write about." 📸 Billy MacKenzie photographed by Eugene Adebari

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Billy MacKenzie photographed by Jillian Edelstein in 1992 #TheAssociates

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

"When people see me I want them to realise that there are no boundaries, that you don't have to be operatic or soul or country. I'm just a singer." Billy MacKenzie of The Associates photographed by Richard Haughton

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

"There's loads of that romantic melancholy in me. I'm insufferable to live with. I'm totally idealistic and constantly disillusioned by unrequited love." 📸 Billy MacKenzie photographed by Richard Haughton, 1984

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

The Associates photographed by Sheila Rock, 1981

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RJJNY @rjjny.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Bank Holiday/Memorial Day Associates/Billy Mackenzie. Barring a lottery win, I think a copy of their first release is going to remain out of reach. #weekendsingles @18caratbilly.bsky.social

Photograph of the front covers of twelve 7" vinyl single releases from 1980-1982 by the band the Associates: 1) The Affectionate Punch 2) Kites/Mona Property Girl (A side under the name 39 Lyon Street) 3) Tell Me Easter's On A Friday 4) Q Quarters 5) Kitchen Person (featuring a photo of singer Billy Mackenzie on the cover) 6) Message Oblique Speech (featuring a photo of bandmate Alan Rankine holding a cigar on the cover) 7) A 8) White Car In Germany (featuring a photo of Billy & Alan in a swimming pool by Antoine Giacomoni) 9) Party Fears Two 10) Club Country 11) 18 Carat Love Affair 12) A Matter Of Gender

Photo of the 1982 7" vinyl single Ice Cream Factory by MacKenzie Sings Orbidöig (front cover features a partly undressed Action Man doll submerged in liquid) and a clear flexidisc issued by Flexipop magazine containing a version of Even Dogs In The Wild by the Associates.

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Today would have been Alan Rankine's 67th birthday. 💙 Happy Birthday, Alan 🌹 #TheAssociates

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Gordon Watson @gordonwatson.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Gets better with every new edition @18caratbilly.bsky.social

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

The Associates "Breakfast" single signed by Billy MacKenzie and Martin Rushent. "Talk to me, I'll stay these vagabond nights..."

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

"Bill and I had this thing that was bigger than us. Like an invisible thread. It’s like a thing called the God particle. All this stuff that’s around us is here but you can’t see it, but that’s what it is. It's tangible." The Associates photographed by Sheila Rock

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

An unpublished outtake of Billy MacKenzie from the photo session for The Associates single Those First Impressions. 🌸 📸 Special thanks to Richard Haughton

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Alan Rankine & Billy MacKenzie backstage at the Gigant in Apeldoorn on 10 January 1981. 📸 Roy Tee #TheAssociates

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RJJNY @rjjny.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

12" from The Associates #weekendsingles @18caratbilly.bsky.social #billymackenzie #alanrankine

An image of the front covers of six 12" vinyl single releases by The Associates from the early 1980s: Q Quarters, Kitchen Person, White Car In Germany, Party Fears Two, Message Oblique Speech, Tell Me Easter's On A Friday. Three of the covers feature photographs of band members Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine.

An image of the back covers for six 12" vinyl single releases by The Associates from the early 1980s, showing the track listings: Q Quarters / Kissed / Q Quarters (Original), Kitchen Person / An Even Whiter Car, White Car In Germany / The Associate, Party Fears Two / Its Better This Way, Message Oblique Speech / Blue Soap, Tell Me Easter's On A Friday / Straw Towels.

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Remembering the one and only Billy MacKenzie on what would have been his 68th birthday. Happy Birthday, Billy 🎂💙

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

"Musically as well as lyrically, there's a feeling of clowning, fooling and madness. The group do everything they can to torture meaning. The Associates rejoice, justly, in seeing what cannot be seen everyday." THE ASSOCIATES photographed by Tom Sheehan, 1981. #billymackenzie #alanrankine

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Luke Perry @gammarayvoltaire.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Love The Associates so much. I go through a Billy Mackenzie phase every so often and just end up watching as many YouTube videos and TV clips as possible. youtu.be/aJEkCDd6s-E?...

youtu.be

Associates - Club Country (TOTP 1982)

YouTube video by Top Of The Pops Redubbed

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birgerolof @bjlueeyes.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Billy MacKenzie var en av dom bästa sångarna någonsin. Den här pärlan är värd att lyssna på.

open.spotify.com

The Girl That Took Me

The Associates · Perhaps (Expanded) · Song · 2020

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

"Shapes affect me. I visualise the music that I produce; it's just that no one else can see it. I like to put the shapes of inanimate objects into an audio sense." #BillyMacKenzie #TheAssociates 📸 Lex Van Rossen

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Scottish Post-Punk @scotspostpunk.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Billy MacKenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) 📸 Simon Clegg at Bungalow Bar, Paisley

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

"It's said that when you're three years old, you lose half of yourself. Well, to me, people spend the rest of their lives chasing after the lost part. They're always scrambling for perfection." Billy MacKenzie 27/3/1957 — 22/1/1997

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Richard @ricrus77.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

If I was a teenager in the early 80s, I’m almost certain my bedroom walls will have had a few posters of Billy Mackenzie hanging up. That man was beautiful ❤️

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RJJNY @rjjny.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Fold out poster that came with some copies of Associates - Fourth Drawer Down. Photograph by Antoine Giacomoni.

Photograph of Scottish band The Associates by Antoine Giacomoni that was included as a poster with some copies of their 1982 album Fourth Drawer Down. Shows Alan Rankine and Billy Mackenzie in a swimming pool.

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

📸 Alan Rankine and Billy MacKenzie photographed by Jill Furmanovsky during a cover session for Smash Hits, 1982 #TheAssociates

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Billy MacKenzie and Zodiac Mindwarp at the Limelight Club 📸Andy Phillips #TheAssociates

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For Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine @18caratbilly.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

The magnificent Alan Rankine passed away two years ago today. RIP 🩵 1958—2023 #TheAssociates

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Scottish Post-Punk @scotspostpunk.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

In no particular order; some of my favourite Scottish albums… Billy MacKenzie: Beyond the Sun youtu.be/HXNf8OqhIBk?...

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ShotFromBothSides @shotfrombothsides.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

The greatest male vocalist ever to come out of this country. Billy Mackenzie of The Associates. Here’s one of his solo tracks from Outernational. youtu.be/0dPXY_uL9Wc #billymackenzie #associates #dundee

youtu.be

BILLY MACKENZIE Because You Love 1992

YouTube video by Apostolos Annis

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