The Housemartins

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The Housemartins were a British indie pop band that was active in the 1980s.

The band was formed in 1983 by Paul Heaton (vocals), Stan Cullimore (guitar), Ted Key (bass) and Chris Lang (drums). The band’s membership changed quite a lot over the years. Ted Key was replaced by Norman Cook — the future Fatboy Slim — and drummer Chris Lang was replaced by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with The Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway.

The band often referred to themselves as “the 4th best band in Hull,” referring to Kingston upon Hull, the city in England where the band formed in 1983. (The three bands that were “better” were Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and The Gargoyles.)

In 1986, the band broke through with the single

Happy Hour, which reached No. 3 in the UK charts helped by a claymation animated pop promo of a type that was in vogue at the time. At the end of the same year, they had a No. 1 single with a cover version of Isley Jasper Isley’s

Caravan of Love.

The band released three albums: London 0 Hull 4, The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, and the greatest bits compilation Now That’s What I Call Quite Good. A new collection, Best of the Housemartins, was released in 2004, and was available in a expanded edition with a DVD collecting their music video clips.

1	Happy Hour	465
2	Caravan of Love	385
3	Build	239
4	Me and the Farmer	172
5	Sheep	143
6	Five Get Over Excited	141
7	Flag Day	130
8	Think for a Minute	117
9	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death	110
10	Bow Down	101
11	We're Not Deep	90
11	Freedom	90
13	Lean on Me	81
14	The Mighty Ship	80
15	He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother	74

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socoisasboas wrote:
May 2008

Pa pa pa papel

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Gidan21 wrote:
May 2008

I love 'em. 0:

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PresidentLeever wrote:
April 2008

daaamn good!

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josuenger wrote:
March 2008

One of the best groups that ever has been around

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melsh wrote:
March 2008

Still as good and relevant 20 years on as they were when I was a kid.

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rotzoll wrote:
March 2008

stand up with pride :)

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HolyMaloney wrote:
February 2008

First single i ever owned.

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Fozzzie wrote:
February 2008

thank god i randomly found my mum's cassette of London 0 Hull 4 when i was about 12...good band!

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marcosvenicio wrote:
January 2008

Housemartins é o cara !!!

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lucimon wrote:
December 2007

I recently got into them after I found my Beautiful South cds again, Housemartins > Beautiful South (though I love them both)

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MonAdieu wrote:
November 2007

pa pa pa papel 8D

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explosivedog wrote:
September 2007

http://www.last.fm/group/Paul+Heaton+Is+Almost+Certainly+An+Celestial+Being

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herfungado wrote:
September 2007

A lot of wonderful songs, maybe some of them among the best of the 80's Unforgettable band

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swanaldo wrote:
September 2007

Indie ROCK band? Sorry?!? Probably the least 'rock' band I have ever heard. Someone change the wiki.

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road_to_ruin wrote:
September 2007

if liking them is wrong I don't want to be right.

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HaloModeD wrote:
August 2007

Oh yes... Build is an all-time favorite. Depressing but yet refreshing.

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zengintepe wrote:
July 2007

Build - beautiful, thoughtful, awesome!

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liberaltarheel wrote:
July 2007

happy hour is suchhhhh a good songggggg. i need to listen to more. thanks to FRED on xm radio :-)

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edosoutros wrote:
June 2007

They said: Now apathy is happy that it won without a fight... Think for a minute!

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HaloModeD wrote:
May 2007

All of their shit rocks.

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