Comments on: SHAKIN’ STEVENS – “This Ole House”

By: Mike Jones

Mike Jones — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:30:17 +0000

That comment about twenty people attending a gig – bollocks. Shaky’s live shows have never faultered despite chart placing declining during the end of the 1080s. He still had a very strong fan base – and still does to this day, he still packs out Theatres, and continues to tour across Europe. Oh and from 1979 untill 1992, his manager was a woman, not a man. Well, if he’s still got it in him after all these years (He is sixty three now) then who is to argue? Especially if people are sitll willing to see him, Shaky is very good live. (For the record Marie Marie is a belter and in my opinion better than This Ole House, TOH still being a very good rnr record, it was a bit too “novelty” compared to the crisp production of Marie Marie) All in all, Shaky is and was a good entertainer, a good performer and was the biggest selling singles artist of the 1980s. :)

By: MikeMCSG

MikeMCSG — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:51:01 +0000

As a closet New Romantic at the time I could not believe this was No 1. It was by far the worst record in the charts so how could it top the pile over classics like Reward, Einstein A Go Go and Planet Earth ?
I saw Shaky as a big threat (quite rightly as it turned out) to my hopes for the future charts being dominated by moody melodramatic synth-pop He was the bubble-burster on a par with General Galtieri a year later who destroyed my political hopes for the SDP.

I never forgave Shaky for this. He was the bad fairy of the 80s marring many an otherwise classic line up on TOTP with his stupid dancing like a middle-aged embarassing uncle turning up at his neice’s birthday party.

Of course at this distance I can appreciate that he was a very professional and hard-working entertainer who appealed to an entirely different pre-teen demographic from the rest of the charts. His records achieved high positions because he had no real competition for so long; they came through the middle when sales to teens were split between so many other artists.

When SAW came along and targeted the younger kids with Kylie and Jason he was finished and really he was the lesser of two evils.

By: Alyson Tamara Guard

Alyson Tamara Guard — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:12:23 +0000

Someone (I forget who) on Australian TV recently told a poignant anecdote about SS, about SSs manager trying to sneak out a gig attended by 20 people at the fag end of his career by crawling along the floor only for SS to bust him and ask what he was doing…

I just felt sad what becomes of our heroes…poor SS, although he was no Adam Ant, deserved better!

By: Malice Cooper

Malice Cooper — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:29:06 +0000

Wretched dross with a tired old rock ‘n’ roller, polluting the airwaves with his sound and the TV with his faded denim.
This makes Captain Sensible’s “Happy talk” seem classy in comparison but the saddest thing of all is there was much worse to come from Shaky.

By: Conrad

Conrad — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:45:10 +0000

Actually for a 4 (or similar from most commentators) this record has generated a lot of positive comment – I guess partly that stems from the fact that Shaky had paid his dues and was a credible artist with a genuine belief in what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Roxy Music’s one and only appearance on Popular has generated a considerably less positive response on the whole. Who’d have thunk it?

By: DV

DV — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:05:28 +0000

I can’t believe you only gave this 4 – ‘This Ole House’ is one of the greatest number ones ever.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:50:02 +0000

So, a respected cult figure consciously switches tack in order to become a kiddie-friendly mainstream pop star… I wonder whether we’ll be finding another such example in 1981?

By: Erithian

Erithian — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:51:03 +0000

“Sprightly” and “bouncy” are two words used upthread, and they sum this up nicely. A great one for jumping around to at student discos when you’re none too self-conscious (see also “Antmusic”) and a lot of fun. So is the vid of Shaky dancing around the ole house in question, even if the backing singers get a bit cheesy.

As I mentioned yonks ago (and got spoiler-bunnied for it) in I can’t remember which thread, Shaky and the Sunsets actually predated the rock’n’roll revival of the 70s and went back as far as the time Sha Na Na were playing Woodstock. I’d forgotten before looking it up just now that he was also in the West End production of “Elvis” in the late 70s. With that kind of dues-paying, he deserved his time among the biggest pop stars in the country, and if he did become showbiz, he was entitled to. Bit of an ornery old bugger though, by all accounts.

(Still a fan of Danny Baker, but Six-O-Six rather than NME.)

By: Glue Factory

Glue Factory — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:19:29 +0000

Re: the Shaky/punk crossover, I remember seeing a TV clip from the late 70s with Danny Baker where he spoke of trying to organise some kind of meeting-of-the-tribes gig between the punks and the rockabilly/rock-n-roll revivalists and Shakin’ Stevens name was mooted. Having only been familiar with Shaky as an exponent of fluffy, friendly, music for six-year olds, the idea of him once having a kind of credibility seemed extraordinary

Mind you, the thought of Danny Baker having some kind of credibility also seems quite wierd :-) I say that as a fan of him, but he does seem a long way removed from that era now.

By: rosie

rosie — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:14:41 +0000

That’s a shame, I thought the image of such a gig on a rocky outcrop on Dartmoor would have been quite something.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:03:12 +0000

God, I’d forgotten about “Marie Marie”. That actually was rather good.

By: a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît

a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:46:49 +0000

i mean “tour” — my yes addiction is obviously getting out of hand again

By: a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît

a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:46:03 +0000

while on virgin the pistols were also for a while slated to go on tour with henry cow (so a member of the latter once told me, in some amusement)

a shaky/pistols/cow tor wd have been, erm, i’m not sure what it would have been, but audience response to itself would doubtless have been interesting

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:20:17 +0000

A Johnny Rotten radio interview from the Sex Pistols peak (after he’d picked a Peter Hammill song as his all time favourite song) ended with him saying he was off to see Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets that night.

This is kind of irresistible, isn’t it? I’m not at all sure if Rosemary C’s version is clearly superior, in spite of my recent pre-rock immersion. Bounciest death disc evs. Do you think he might have covered it because it includes the line – sung with Presleyan relish – “this ole house is gettin’ shaky”? It’s certainly not an obvious cover, nor was Hot Dog, his first hit, the original of which I only heard last week. Marie Marie, TOH’s predecessor, was very good indeed.

Lovely, elastic guitar parts – would that have been Dave Edmunds? TOH fits in with the Rockpile/Queen Of Hearts/Rocky Burnette late 70s school of r’n'r more than the emerging Stray Cats/Polecats strain which, in retrospect, seems more proto-psychobilly. A 7 from me.

By: vinylscot

vinylscot — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:11:52 +0000

Shakin’ Stevens had been around for years by this time, and despite a relative lack of commercial success, he had always enjoyed a good deal of critical success and respect for his authentic brand of rock and roll, supporting the Stones, and getting Dave Edmunds to produce his first album.

I think it’s generally accepted that Shaky “sold out” for commercial success, eschewing authenticity and quality for populism and a fast buck. (Oddly enough, the follow-up to this, his own “You Drive Me Crazy”, was easily his best 80s hit, despite or because of being almost a carbon copy of Rocky Burnette’s “Tired Of Toeing The Line”)

If you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, he had paid his dues, and perhaps the success of this rather turned his head. The covers which followed over the next few years (including a G. Glitter hit!) can’t have overly taxed him, and at the time he seemed to be an ideal non-threatening idol for the under-eights.

I’s still rather he hadn’t done it. 3.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:33:42 +0000

I remember that Jim’ll Fix It! The girl lived her Dream of being a POSH BOARDER! for a day and a night… there was a DISCO! where she and her new best chums jumped up and down a lot to the strains of an Oriental-flavoured future 1981 Number One… and Shaky made a second appearance after lights-out in the dorm, to make sure they were all tucked up snug and tight.

A strange journey, considering Shaky’s credentials as a respected R&R performer during the 1970s, Communist Party benefits and all. During the Punk/Ted wars of Summer 77, there was even talk of a Shaky/Pistols co-headlining “unity” gig, as noted with anticipatory approval by Sniffin’ Glue.

“This Ole House” wasn’t for me, but at least it’s executed with spirit and a sense of fun.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:08:41 +0000

Tom , I am sorry to do this but…..

……I NEED HELP – from A UK resident !

My daughter & I collect Christmas CD’s and we want but cannot buy , in Canada , the Glasvegas mini Xmas CD, which comes packaged with their debut CD . Nowhere on line or in stores.

Anybody over there willing to buy it for us and send it to me and I will re-imburse you cost + 1 pint of beer ?

I don’t need this by Christmas – so no rush to send.

By: Martin Skidmore

Martin Skidmore — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:26:50 +0000

re #18: I wish Shakey had been performing with Norman Tebbit.

I never had any time for Shakey: young adult me was pretty serious about music, and light-ent versions of old rock ‘n’ roll numbers just bugged me. His natural home seemed more alongside Des and Yarwood and Davro, as in the list above, rather than on TOTP. To be fair, he was a decent singer and a lively performer doing perfectly serviceable versions of songs I imagine he loved, so no call for my old sneeriness at all – but I still can’t get anything much from these records.

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:57:09 +0000

Ah. Yes. This. This is where i really start, almost-seven carsmile was a huge shakey fan, only to be matched by 1981′s Actual King Of Pop. I also, had never twigged it being about dying, but dudes! it had some people! in a house! singing! what is a shingle anyway? etcetcetc.

By: pink champale

pink champale — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:09:13 +0000

er yeah. possibly she did get to stay overnight too.

By: a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît

a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:04:47 +0000

itinerary
“5pm: midnight dormie feast”

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:47:15 +0000

Surely going to boarding school FOR A DAY is kind of missing the whole ‘boarding’ point a bit!

By: pink champale

pink champale — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:39:11 +0000

Lurker #8, don’t worry, shakey is still entertaining the pre-schoolers. last night’s ‘space pirates’ (a bizarre c-beebies show which features a band of puppet rats performing songs such as ‘she’s like a rainbow’ with the aim – as far as i can tell – of turning toddlers into mini paola hewitts) closed with the video for this ole house (and confirmed it as hard to dislike).

even more excitingly, shakey’s jim’ll fix it appearance (#11) was with a girl from my class at primary school! she must have been a big mallory towers fan or something as she asked to go to a boarding school for the day. the producers obviously then decided this was a bit dull and had shakey turn up for no good reason. thinking back, I’m not sure she actually got much playground cachet from having touched the denim hem of shakey’s garment. not like the the simon le bon suit of armour horseback girl.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:44:09 +0000

Light entertainment watch: As you might expect, a long and distinguished career for Shakin’ Stevens. Sample appearances include;

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Mike Yarwood, Paul Nicholas, Michael Barrymore, Shakin’ Stevens, Don Deluise (1985)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Ray Alan, Joe Longthorne, Rose Marie, Shakin’ Stevens (1987)

LET’S ROCK: with Lulu, Joe Brown, Alvin Stardust, Shakin’ Stevens (1981)

LIVE FROM HER MAJESTY’S: with Petula Clark, Shakin’ Stevens, Dana, Bobby Davro (1985)

THE MAIN ATTRACTION: with Larry Grayson, Roy Jay, Modern Romance, Elaine Paige, Shakin’ Stevens, Shields and Yarnell, Charlie Drake, John Junkin, Anna Dawson (1983)

OH BOY!: with Alvin Stardust, Shakin’ Stevens (1979)

OH BOY!: with GBH, Don Lang, Fumble, Freddie ‘Fingers’ Lee, Alvin Stardust, Shakin’ Stevens, Johnny Storm, Rockin’ Shades (1979)

WOGAN: with Norman Tebbit, Anthony Andrews, Julie Walters, Shakin’ Stevens, Bonnie Tyler (1984)

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:36:02 +0000

TOTPWatch; Shakin’ Stevens performed ‘This Ole House’ live in the studio on two occasions.

5 March 1981. Also in the studio that week were; Duran Duran, Phil Collins and The Who, plus Legs & Co’s interpretation of ‘Jones Vs Jones’. The host was Mike Read.

2 April 1981. Also in the studio in a packed programme that week were; Stiff Little Fingers, Light Of The World, Liquid Gold, The Children of Tansley School, Sugar Minott, Lena Zavaroni and Spandau Ballet, plus Legs & Co’s interpretation of ‘Can You Feel It?’. Simon Bates was the host.

Incidentally, Shakin’ Stevens has repressed repeat showings of most of his Top of the Pops appearances. I think that the reason for this embargo must be over money – the only one that I’ve seen on Top of the Pops 2 is his Christmas hit, for which perhaps the BBC is prepared to pay over the odds for.