Hidden But Not Forgotten: The Stylus Magazine Non-Definitive History of the Hidden Track

Stylus Staff

“Me Too” — Various 90s British Indie Bands Who Couldn’t Get Enough


Indie bands in the mid-90s absolutely could not resist the lure of the secret track. After all, if it was enough for The Beatles and The Clash, it must be good enough for every two-bit guitar-chugger from Hounslow. Witness Dodgy tack a 30-second space-drone-pop reprise of the melody from “We Are Together” onto the end of the climactic gospel-rock blow-out of “Grassman” on their classy Homegrown LP, or The Boo Radleys sticking a minute of the ghost of Stephen King muttering instructions to turn off your radio and TV set before the start of their Kingsize album, and a ditty about food at the end of the beatific “Wilder” which closes Wake Up!. Then teenage wastrels Ash concluded their debut LP 1977 with the infamous “Sick Party,” 8-odd minutes of them necking vodka and emptying their guts onto the studio floor. The Bluetones even included a hidden track on a CD-single, attaching their hard-to-find debut track “Are You Blue Or Are You Blind” on the “Marblehead Johnson” single.

Super Furry Animals made the rather self-defeating decision to hide the best track on Guerrilla before the album had even started, and if that wasn’t enough they also finished the LP with 7 minutes of silence before a very loud and disturbing one-bar reprise of “Chewing Chewing Gum.” There’s not much to do in Wales but take drugs and make music, evidently.
Nick Southall


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