The One and Only (We Could Have Been the Wombles - Tom Bromley)

Member Name: duskmaiden

Product:	We Could Have Been the Wombles - Tom Bromley
Date:	26/10/06 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: funny, memories

Disadvantages: beieng reminded of things like Orville, The tweets and mr Blobby

Were you one of those people who tuned into the Top 40 with Mark Godier or Bruno Brookes every Sunday? Did you religiously tape all your favourite songs? If you answered yes to these questions “We Could Have been the Wombles by Tom Bromley might be the book for you. I picked this book up in the library as I was intrigued by the title. I remember the Wombles from way back when they were on the television. I recall them very vaguely having a musical career. In fact they were very successful and had five top 20 singles. Not bad for furry things (or men in furry suits to be precise) who wandered Wimbledon Common. Other musical (well some not so ) musical stars such as Orville the green duck and Roland Rat were not so fortunate only having one big hit before going back to children’s TV and panto.

The point of “We Could Have been the Wombles” is to commemorate the good, bad and ugly of pop music that are known as one hit wonders. These are the acts that are massive for a month or so with a song that is everywhere, then nothing. Their next single flops (they might not even release another one) and they are forgotten about. Well they are never truly forgotten (even if we try hard to erase them from our memory) as some of the songs are too famous (or more likely to be infamous) for that fate.

I enjoyed Tom Bromley’s trawl through the strange world of the one hit wonder. It reminded me of a literary version of the nostalgia and list shows (I love the 100 best type of shows) that were fashionable a few years ago. It’s even better than them because you do not have to listen to some of the more horrendous songs such as Mr Blobby or the nauseating “There’s No one Quite like Grandma by Saint Winifred’s School Choir. (Not entirely true as I ended up singing most of these in my head). Tthe other advantage is you do not get z list celebrities giving sound bites or not very amusing tales about their memories of the so songs.

The book starts well as the foreword is written by Phil Jupitus (the large built captain on never mind The Buzzcoks). He’s someone I quite like, even more so since I started listening to his show on BBC 6 music. In it he basically puzzles over the purchasing power of the Great British Public.

The introduction is very useful. If it was an academic book it would be the methodologies chapter as it defines what exactly a one hit wonder is and the reasons they exist. The book will cause arguments if read with friends as the book features artists who had one massive (i.e. top 20) hit but some of them have had a couple of minor hits (i.e. top 30 or 40) and there is the occasional one such as Babylon Zoo (remember them, Space man speeded ultra fast. Was I the only one who actually did not mind the whole song even the gothy bits?) who had a second top 20 hit that no one remembers.


The book is divided into chapter which categorise the one hit wonders depending if they are Christmas or summer hits, ones from TV or film, a dance craze or the dreaded puppet or cartoon. Bromley has devised a system of symbols if the artist happens to fall into a number of categories. There are also symbols for whether the artist is dead or the groups has reformed and whether the track is great or just plain cheesy and annoying!

Bromley devotes a page or so to each of the artists and profiles them, the song and what they did after their ten seconds of fame. There are even recommendations for further listening ff you are crazy enough to dare to explore the artist’s carer in further detail (would you want to with things like The Tweets)? In between each chapter there are little factoids/ top 5 lists. These were quite good until they started repeating information that could be found in the main text. I hate it when that happens.

The book is a very easy read. I read the 333 pages in a few days. I liked the style of the book as it is witty without being too rude about any of the artists even the totally naff ones. I found myself chuckling away due to his observations on the artist’s looks, or on the banal song lyrics. This book took me down memory lane. Who remembers the daft lyrics to the Chicken Song by Spitting Image? Who vowed never to take heroin just because of the cast of Grange Hill telling you “Just say no”? Who will admit to dancing to Iitsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” at the school disc? . I can put my hand up and answer yes to all of those questions. It’s also one of those books that would be useful in a pub quiz as there are so many little facts and bits and pieces I never knew such as Saint Winfried’s School is in Stockport.

Music taste is very subjective and personal. We all have our guilty pleasure. I quite like Brian and Michael’s Matchstick Men and Matchstick Cat’s and Dogs”. I’m not sure how the author can put Deep Blue Something’ Breakfast at Tiffanys is one of the worst one hit wonders ever. I love the song as it reminds me of being at uni and just find it quite catchy.

I would really recommend this book if you want to chortle down memory lane to the rubbish music (and the odd diamond) we actually bought. Just be thankful it does not come with a free CD.

Penguin-£8.99
ISBN 0-141-01711

Summary: A walk down bad memory lane