I have a confession to make.. (E - 17 in general)

Member Name: kittykat18

Product:	E - 17 in general
Date:	26/11/01 (472 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reminds me of my "bad girl" days, I used to fancy them

Disadvantages: People think I'm sad

Ok I admit it, I was an East 17 fan. If someone is around my house and happens to notice my East 17 CD's I tend to get ribbed a bit. But I don't care. Wheras the majority of my class mates at school liked the Backstreet Boys, or Take That, or R Kelly if they were cool, I had a thing about East 17. Going to a posh girls grammar, the 4 lads with shaved heads seemed like the epitomy of a bit of rough to me! My favourite was John, who you may remember as the tall one with a bald head (ie, not Brian, the midget, Tony, the songwriter, or Terry, the ugly one).

The reason I consider this a confession os because my musical preferences don't usually include pop, especially boy bands. I never saw East 17 as a boy band though, they were in a different league as their music has influences from RnB, dance and rap. My normal choices include rock, indie and drum n bass! So when people find out I like East 17 they usually think it's really funny/weird/sad.

In case you know nothing about East 17, they were a four peice boy band-esque pop group in the mid nineties. The name East 17 is because they are from Walthamstow in East London and E17 is the postcode there. Famous for having shaved heads and wearing baggy army print trousers, they inspired youth...Okay, maybe not, but they made some good songs.

Before you close this window and go to read something else, let me tell you why I liked them. Yes, I did fancy them, but I actually liked their music too. House of Love, (with the dog barking at the beginning), Let it Rain, Stay another Day are three East 17 songs you may have heard of. My favourite is/was It's all right. Check it out! They also did a duet with Gabrielle called If I ever, and Thunder. If you are interesting in reminiscing along with me, you can get their greatest hits album. It has a white cover and I picked my copy up from Tower Records for the price of £5. I don't know why East 17 are held in such low regard, when Tony,
the songwriter, is very talented and writes great songs.

I went to see East 17 in concert a few days before Christmas in 1996, having managed to find some fellow East 17 fans in my class at school. It was at the NEC in Birmingham, and I was blown away! We were only a few rows from the front, they played all their best songs and the lights and dancing were excellent. The most hysterical thing about the concert were the boys in the audience that were clones of east 17, with shaved heads and army trousers, the height of fashion back in 1996. The most devoted followers of Brian Harvey even balanced their baseball caps on their heads in the same way as the man himself, trying to add precious inches to their height. It was a great night anyway, and I was glad I caught them in concert before they split up so unfortunately due to Brians big gob.

If you don't know what happened, Brian Harvey said that he had taken 13 ecstacy tablets in one night, and so the band sacked him. As he was the lead singer, the band couldn't really carry on. I wouldn't say I was gutted when it happened, but I was angry! It's okay for Noel Gallagher to say that taking E is the same as having a cup of coffee, but Brian got sacked for his comment. It's so hypocritical. I suppose East 17 thought it was a bad influence on their young fans who wouuld instantly rush out and take ecstacy. Well I will admit to having taken ecstasy, but it was nothing to do with Brian Harvey!

Note that the DooYoo category is named E-17 as that is what East 17 renamed themselves although I haven't heard or seen any existence of them in recent years. If you spot any ex members in a dole queue near you, let me know! I know that Brian Harvey did a song recently called Ole, Ole, Ole, with Wycelf Jean.

No radio station ever plays East 17 songs now so I have to console myself by playing my old albums. I didn't actually bring them to uni, as I wanted to be "cool&
quot; and thought my flat mates may get the wrong impression of me if they heard East 17 wafting through the wall. I have seen the errors of my ways, and after Christmas the said CD's are returning with me! And if any of you have a problem with that, let me know, and I will make sure I play it louder!

I am glad I have got that confession off my chest, I feel a lot better now. Thank you for reading. If you could leave an embarrassing comfession about your own musical tastes in the comments I would feel even better. :-)

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