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Pete Paphides

@petepaphides.bsky.social
14K followers 502 following 2.3K posts

It may look to the untrained eye, I'm sitting on my arse all day. www.patreon.com/c/NeedleMythology

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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Thanks so much Jim. It was happening upon your original Mojo review a few weeks ago that prompted me to seek it out!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Will You Find Me by Ida – the 2LP edition or the 4LP one? Any steers?
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good morning all. Inspired by an exceptionally lovely message from @passing4human.bsky.social, I've revisited and (slightly) updated this piece which is ostensibly about Pure by The Lightning Seeds but, as is my wont, ends up about being about a lot more besides. www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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“I think all my songs are about being scared of change.” How one song explained Ian Broudie’s past and predicted his future. | Pete Paphides
Because it was Top of the Pops, I know the exact date I first heard one of Ian Broudie’s songs. Not only do I know the date, but I remember
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I think that, by going to all this trouble to get in touch, you've underscored your own point about love and connectivity. Waking up to your message has put a spring in my step and set me up for the day. It's also prompted me to update the piece and upload it onto my site. Thank you so much Fran. x
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The Mariners @themarinersband.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We’re huge fans of Honeybus and all the associated solo albums and unreleased gems The call and response backing vocals on She Sold Blackpool Rock are a genuinely genius bit of songwriting (Then she told me that she knew) (How they make the letters go right through) Off to put Story on now
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It was originally a press biography but the band were so happy with it that they asked if they could use it as part of the album artwork. So I made a few tweaks and this was the result. The best bit of all this was Glenn telling me how much he'd loved reading Broken Greek! The stuff of dreams!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thank you so much Paul. I'm guessing this is the CD? Because none of this is on the vinyl. How lovely to finally see it!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Marvellous! But do you know what's weird? My copy doesn't seem to have my sleevenotes on it! Any chance of a photo?
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
So much to love about Honeybus: how Pete Dello was so instantly unimpressed by pop stardom; how the rest of the band rose to the challenge of making an amazing album without him; and, best of all imho, the imperishably strange magic of their shoulda-been smash She Sold Blackpool Rock.
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“I don’t belong to the public and I don’t belong to anybody really.” Why pop stardom ended almost as soon as it began for Honeybus | Pete Paphides
For me, there are few happier places than a randomly discovered documentary that tells, in molecular detail, the story of a how a really gre
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Well of course it's not a real criticism, more an expedient by which to point at the scope of Cathi's achievement. Hats off to you for publishing it! x
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I think I might be entering my Autumn Of Goth and it's all Cathi Unsworth's fault. www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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“I don’t know why Slade The Leveller couldn’t sleep, but actually, the main reason I couldn’t sleep is that I’d left it too late to revise for my O-levels.” | Pete Paphides
The past week spent reading Cathi Unsworth’s Season Of The Witch: The Book Of Goth has been an absolute revelation to me. My only slight not
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Let's hear it for Bernard Jewry/Shane Fenton/Alvin Stardust – serial opportunist, pop supersub and not your typical renaissance man. www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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How Shane Fenton walked his way to pop stardom in a dead man's shoes. And then repeated the trick ten years later. | Pete Paphides
Pre-Fabs Mansfield combo The Fentones get a glancing mention in Bob Stanley’s magnificent new book The Shadows: The Definitive Story. They w
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Professor Stanley Unwin @professorunwin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Timeline is once agail an infinile streab of crossly-postit and screen-grabby of hateymost and offensy dross from digifold cesspits. Deep folly! More unfalollowit, and considerapers of deletage of this final social media presence.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Thanks! Well, you wouldn't have been short of record shops in Brum. When did you get there?
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We overlapped! Did we ever meet? Have I asked you this before? If so, apologies!
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Simon Tucker @situcker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
As a fellow Lampeter alumni I really enjoyed this. Sadly Hag passed away a couple of years ago and the shop no longer exists but whilst it did it was glorious. It also came with a worker called Bob who was brilliantly critical of music taste and who sold me my first album by The Fall (who he loved)
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Scenes from a West Wales market town in 1989 and why, at this time of year, you'll always find me listening to The Notorious Byrd Brothers. www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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“Who was Hag? A mental image formed in my mind. I expected some spiral-eyed acid casualty who had come here 20 years previously, perhaps when Hawkwind played here.” | Pete Paphides
It’s autumn 1989 and I’m in a state of mild confusion. This being my first ever Wednesday in the Welsh market town of Lampeter, I’ve walked
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Ach! Autocorrect!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
It’s even better when you listen to the words. The verse that ends “Just remember we’re so lucky to be wobbling free” is especially beautiful.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
That sounds marvellous, although I can see why he maybe felt it wasn't a natural fit for the album. Thanks Ned.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ooh, thank you. I'm presently sitting in a crowded kitchen, but will look forward to listening before bedtime.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Bloodflowers is the best Cure album and that’s a hill I’m willing to be debagged on.
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Brónagh 🇮🇪🇵🇸🚴‍♀️ @beebsymca.eurosky.social · 16/09/2026
This is great. Follow the evolution of one of the best pop songs ever (and my ringtone). And to accompany this, read @petepaphides.bsky.social piece on the band and the movie about them. Everything about a-ha is more complicated than you think.
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On a-ha – The Movie: "It's Some Kind Of Monster without the therapist. It’s Get Back without Paul." | Pete Paphides
On a-ha – The Movie: "It's Some Kind Of Monster without the therapist. It’s Get Back without Paul." by Pete Paphides on Patreon. Join Pete Paphides's community for exclusive content and updates.
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Ian Walker @fenlandgent.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
My wildly subjective take on this brilliant article is that in 1985, Wood Green, & its new shopping centre, was the spiritual home of American independent music’s lyrical literary - Southern Gothic & Emily Dickinson - aspirations. Wood Green is a magical place. So were 80s shopping centres.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It certainly wasn’t fake - I didn’t mean to imply that it was. But I do feel that, musically speaking, it was a compromise. Dennis Drew pretty much says as much in one of the quotes I used.
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Mark Tough @marktough.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is a lovely piece. It's interesting, though, that in framing things relative to the departure of John Lombardo after The Wishing Chair, it backgrounds what to me was the most notable -- and to me, saddest -- aspects of 10K's journey to full-blown AltPopularity. ...
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Travels With Brindle is still composing a silent movie score @travelswithbrindle.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
When I was a teen, I wanted to be Natalie Merchant. This is a lovely retrospective
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
In view of Bruno's initial transgression, I'm inclined to agree. As for Phil's loss of form, he's too good to overthink himself into oblivion. At some point it'll all click back into place.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
He's too good for it not to be temporary, but it's nonetheless perplexing.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Sorry! I tried to word it as delicately as I could!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
[FOOTBALL SPOILER] . . . . . . . . . Should Phil Foden feel happy that his sending off didn't cost Man City the game or worried that they did better without him?
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Apologies for the shameful quantity of typos in the earlier version. I think I've caught them all now.
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Mat Riches @matriches.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Loved reading this.
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Mortlake N. @naikcorb.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
There was a period in '83 when Peel was playing songs from Secrets Of The I Ching as much as Hand In Glove or This Charming Man - I couldn't choose a fave.
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The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is brill, Pete. I love 10,000 Maniacs - came to The Wishing Chair first, mostly because of Just As The Tide Was A-Flowing. Going to stick that on now. Wouldn't a book-length version of this be great, 'ey?
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
All the best people love the early work of 10,000 Maniacs.
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Simon 🪗 @mzdt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
If you only read one piece of music writing today, read this. Loved those John + Mary albums. :-)
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
For around a year or so, R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs seemed to be moving in sync: writing about the same stuff; working with the same producer and even recording their albums back-to-back in the same London studio. Both records are firm fixtures in my all-time top ten. Allow me to elaborate...
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For 12 months, R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs moved in sync. But if you only know Fables Of The Reconstruction you only know half the story: Revisiting The Wishing Chair | Pete Paphides
In the Rough Trade pop-up store at this year’s Green Man festival, there were about six boxes given over to second-hand records. I picked up
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
That would have done it! I still play it from time to time!
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Thank you Simon! You should have come and said hello! x
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I blazed through this, all the time thinking what a brilliant topic it would be for a documentary or a biopic. I hope it falls into the hands of someone who might be able to help make it happen. We truly seem to have forgotten what a radical new sound those early Shadows singles were.
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wrongtom @wrongtom.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Anyway, there's always room for some shameless self promo. Here's my piece for @thequietus.com about the recent comp of early Musical Youth recordings, including their original demo of Pass The Kutchie on @petepaphides.bsky.social's Needle Mythology label thequietus.com/quietus-revi...
thequietus.com
Reissue of the Week: Mash Down Birmingham by Musical Youth | The Quietus
Wrongtom dismantles the unhelpful idea of the one hit wonder with some help from a new anthology of early recordings by Musical Youth
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Wallytbm @wallytbm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My introduction to The Rockingbirds was also the song Jonathan Jonathan - a great piece by @petepaphides.bsky.social www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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“Was it really a good use of police resources to land their chopper in order to caution someone for speeding on an empty road while bellowing atonally to The Rockingbirds?” | Pete Paphides
My summer of 1992 was all about The Rockingbirds. It started with Jonathan Jonathan, a musical fan letter to Jonathan Richman that mirrored
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Thank you @shedfeller.bsky.social – this is quite glorious.
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It does, but it cost me so much time and money to do the first one! Perhaps in time... x
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Oh yes. That's exceptional! Do you have a FPL?
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EggPod Express @eggpod.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
And that’s a wrap! Next series, when it’s done Thanks to @marklewisohn.bsky.social @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social @gailrenard.bsky.social Mary Cockram, Andy Bown, @quantick.bsky.social @petepaphides.bsky.social @parlogram.bsky.social Maureen O’Grady, @iammilliam.bsky.social David Hepworth & Ron Geesin
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Does anyone else spend possibly too much time trying to figure out how Bernie Taupin and Elton John's lyrics-first, tune-second system works? I have a theory. But it's just a theory. www.patreon.com/NeedleMythol...
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Bangerac #10: Elton John: Turn The Lights Out When You Leave | Pete Paphides
Welcome to the tenth in an occasional series which sees my gumshoe poppelganger Jim Bangerac sing the praises of a wonderful song from a not
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I've been playing this album repeatedly over the past fortnight. At various points, it makes me think of Van Morrison's The Way Young Lovers Do, Peter Doherty's Grace/Wastelands, Stephen Duffy's I Love My Friends and also The Clientele and The Waterboys.
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“By making the album of his life, Matthew Edwards has made, well... he's made the album of his life.” | Pete Paphides
Do you ever think about how it works when your life flashes before you? Do you imagine something akin to when you’re rewinding a recorded pr
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Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I simply must share with someone* the realisation that if you sing the opening lines of The Killers' All These Things That I've Done, the melody is improbably close to the verses of Star by Earth Wind & Fire. [*you]
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