As a subgenre that paid tribute to previous genres of British music, among the biggest games music critics and fans played in the 1990s was comparing indie bands to other, more famous British bands.  Oasis were The Beatles of Britpop.  Blur was its version of The Kinks and The Jam.  Suede were probably its David Bowie, though they also took quite a bit from T.Rex during their most commercially successful period after Bernard Butler left.  With how controversial they were, Menswear were probably the Herman’s Hermits, or if I had to use a non-British band more recognizable to my readers, The Monkees.  So, if it’s easy to name a comparison for several bands less recognizable than them in the music scene, then who would be arguably the second most famous band of the British Invasion, The Rolling Stones?  Well, that would be The Charlatans.

Though not as well-remembered as several of their contemporaries, The Charlatans were one of the most successful.  And quite a bit of their material comes across as updated versions of Rolling Stones songs, in particular with frontman Tim Burgess’s voice bridging the gap by being just as raspy and swaggering as Mick Jagger and just as annoying as Liam Gallagher.  And then there’s their single “Just When You’re Thinking Things Over,” a song that sounds entirely like a re-write of “Sympathy For The Devil” with its piano and Burgess’s vocals.  

But like so many Britpop bands, The Charlatans got their start in the previous wave of British indie with Madchester.  In the more hedonistic landscape of the time, The Charlatans relied more frequently on dance rhythms and electronic effects than they would with their more straightforward Britpop material.  I may be talking about these guys again in 1990 with their hit song “The Only One I Know,” as well as in 1991 with follow-up single “Then,” a personal favorite of mine.  But 1992 was a way harder year to crash my party for the best list, which makes this year way more of an accomplishment.  And The Charlatans caught a goldmine when Rob Collins launched a massive organ hook onto the world.

“Weirdo” – The Charlatans

Modern Rock
#1 peak (May 23, 1992)
#2 year-end, 16 weeks on chart

UK
#19 peak (March 7, 1992), 4 weeks on chart

The nineties was the decade the spirit of the sixties fought back, at least in British alternative music.  Madchester, shoegazing, and Britpop all attempted to bring back psychedelia with either old inspirations such as previous bands or atmospheres, or new techniques such as alternative tunings and new guitar effects made possible through the use of distortion pedals.  But few ever got as close to replicating the psychedelia of the sixties as effectively as “Weirdo,” a song whose music created a new, epic take on an old style.

Being honest, I’m not sure if there’s anything to write home about the lyrics.  When going through his band’s greatest hits with DigitalSpy in 2015, Tim Burgess spent the entire time discussing the song’s music and production.  When even your frontman is completely bypassing the words that he is singing, then you know this isn’t a great song because of the lyrics.  Heck, the lyrics seem to be dissing someone for being a jerk… not really great subject matter.

Look at your ugly shame
What are you talking for
Look at your ugly shame
There’s too much for me to know about

Not exactly Shakesphere, I’d say.  “Weirdo” made the best list entirely because of the song’s music, production, and the performances of the band members around Burgess.

First off, that beat.  With its combination of electronic effects with drums and bass, this really shouldn’t work.  Just ask me how I feel about the numerous rock songs this year that tried having trade-offs between actual drums and trap beats.  But man does it work on “Weirdo.”  With Rob Collins leading the way with his F#m and G chords on organ, drummer Jon Brookes adds a surprisingly danceable groove with his tight snare, and bassist Martin Blunt adds an simple bass pattern switching between the F# and the E tonic, but works thanks to syncopation.  Combined with the keyboard, the verses to “Weirdo” sound like the most epic Mario Kart race theme of all time.  I still need to try the game out with this song playing in the background, probably on Toad Turnpike.

Adding to the rhythm section is guitarist Mark Collins, whose guitar just screams during his guitar solo after the second chorus, marking an effective contrast to the dance groove.  Then in the chorus, his guitar hits with his flickering tremolo effect on the Dm and G chords.  But there is one man who outright steals this song.  The musician who turned a good Madchester song and turned it into one of the best songs of the year:  Rob Collins.

Rob Collins was the band’s keyboardist, and although all tracks by the Charlatans were credited to the band, he was the band’s primary songwriter.  He was the keyboardist on the band’s first five albums, from their 1990 debut Some Friendly to 1997’s Tellin’ Stories.  Unfortunately, he was a tortured soul who spent time in jail for unwittingly transporting a friend to commit robbery later in 1992, resulting in Collins spending four months in jail.  And just as with Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley and Chris Cornell on the other side of the Atlantic, this story has a sad ending.  In the summer of 1996, while the Charlatans were at Rockfield Studios recording Tellin’ Stories, Collins made the fateful decision to go for a drive in his BMW whilst drunk, and without the use of a seatbelt.  He crashed his car while driving back to the studio, and died as a result of his injuries.  The band was just three weeks away from their biggest show ever, opening for Oasis at their massive Knebworth gig.  Collins’s death robbed us of a woefully underrated artist, because when he was on, his impact on songs was massive.

The list of Collins riffs is endless.  The opening organ riff to the Charlatans’s biggest hit, “The Only One I Know,” the solo that concludes “Then,” the arpeggiated piano opening to their next single, “Tremolo Song.”  But “Weirdo” was his greatest performance.  When you put the song on, you’re not listening to ponder the meaning of life.  You’re here to undergo the Rob Collins Experience.

It all starts with the intro.  As soon as Collins’s titanic opening chords come in, you are hit with a giant psychedelic wave that never lets up for the entire length of the song.  It’s probably one of the greatest keyboard parts in alternative music, with how loud and crushing the impact the chords make is.  Few keyboard parts are as powerful as they are intended, because of how artificial they sound.  But Collins’s F#sus opening chords are so thunderous, so jarring, that they immediately make you drop what you are doing and hook you into the song.  And then at the end of the song, who else to cap it off but Rob?  His trills between E and F# leading up to that bombastic A note are just glorious, with how they just break through the soundscape.  “Weirdo” is a good song with the basic rock instrumentation, but Collins turns “Weirdo” into a great song: a song with a forceful impact, the type that always leaves an impression on you every time you hear it.

In a world where the British were desperately looking to grab onto anything that could challenge the Americans, they found a desperately needed weapon with “Weirdo” and its keyboard riffs.  It may not be the most famous song the Charlatans would release, but it was their tormented keyboard genius’s finest hour.

UP NEXT: Guns & Roses are at #7… but is it the song by them you think it is?

SOURCES

Nissim, Mayer. “A Beginner’s Guide To The Charlatans With Tim Burgess.” Digital Spy 20 January 2015. Web. 27 August 2022 https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a622923/a-beginners-guide-to-the-charlatans-with-tim-burgess/.

Chords taken from Chordify: https://chordify.net/chords/the-charlatans-songs/weirdo-2-chords.

“New Beginning For The Charlatans.” Yorkshire Evening Post 27 May 2008. Web. 27 August 2022. Information gathered from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Collins_(musician)#cite_note-beginning-3.

Kaufman, Gil. “The Real Dope on Charlatan’s Rob Collins.” MTV News 2020. Web. 27 August 2022. Information gathered from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Collins_(musician)#cite_note-beginning-3.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from Discogs

Photo of Rob Collins from Dead Dead Good Management