Something Shocking – Pink
Fury Records – F3015 [1991] reissued on Vampirette Vamp104 [2005]
1.Spend, spend, spend 2.Flight 101 3.Motorbike beat 4.Something shocking pink 5.Just ain’t a man 6.Jokers wild 7.Take me for a ride 8.Cheat 9.Going nowhere fast 10.Rocking disease 11.Feels so good 12.Only good for one thing 13.Love is blind 14.Who cares 15.Gun totin’ man
Something Shocking started around late 1986/early 1987 with Vanessa Emery on bass and vocals, Doug Shepperd on guitar and Pete on drums. They soon recruited Emma Goss on double bass, allowing Vanessa to fully concentrate on vocals. The four of them recorded one song that gave its name to the sampler “Something To Remember” for Fury records. Soon after Doug left to rejoin The Rattlers where he played before. His replacement was Mike who’s just left Demented Are Go. This influence can definitely be heard on Mike’s Flight 101, which is close to DAG’s Flight 103. Mike wrote the majority of the band’s originals which eventually caused a bit of tensions within the band. This line up recorded “Pink” in two days, an album that deserves to be rediscovered today.It’s a very good lp with a wide range of influences that makes of Something Shocking a one of a kind band mixing classic psychobilly with punk, 80’s pop and 60’s girl group. It seems very unfair they never achieved a higher degree of success. The band was tight, the song were really well crafted and melodic and Vanessa’s voice is quite good. But too pop to be a major act on the psychobillly scene (though they appeared on the Big Rumble) and too psycho to seduce a big label, the band was not in a comfortable position and quickly found itself in a dead end. Seeing how some bands cross over markets today, one can only think that Something Shocking came too soon.
