Sleeper – live at Glastonbury 1995 – recorded June 23, 1995 – BBC Radio 1 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Sleeper this week. Recorded live at Glastonbury, on June 23rd 1995 by the ever present BBC Radio 1 an broadcast live.
The band’s debut album release Smart was certified gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies. It was followed by the platinum-selling (over 300,000 copies) release The It Girl which yielded four singles and airplay chart hits “What Do I Do Now?”, “Nice Guy Eddie”, “Sale of the Century” and “Statuesque”. Sleeper recorded a cover of the Blondie song “Atomic”, which was used in the film Trainspotting, after Blondie refused to allow the use of the original version. “Statuesque” also features in the movie and its follow-up soundtrack volume. The band’s third album, Pleased to Meet You, was released to relatively lacklustre sales (although still a UK Top 10 hit and certified silver) and a public change of mood by the end of Britpop and its association with Cool Britannia, and the band split after a final headline tour around the
Frontwoman Louise Wener, along with Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, was one of Britpop’s biggest female stars, and became one of its enduring sex symbols, placing highly in Melody Maker and NME “Sexiest Woman” polls two years running. Wener enjoyed significant media coverage, including an NME front cover and a slot as guest presenter of Top of the Pops, and multiple appearances on TFI Friday. Billboard described how Wener’s “forthright opinions on female sexuality, censorship, and other issues, have been manna for feature editors.”
The band was the inspiration for the phrase “Sleeperbloke”, referring to the disparity between the glamorous singer Wener and the other frequently ignored members of the band (who tended to be far more anonymous and stood at the back). This pejorative term was used by music press journalists and musicians, to refer to any person of limited standing within a band or an especially drab and unremarkable individual. The “Sleeperblokes” themselves were reported to be highly amused by the phrase, and even produced an ironic “Sleeperbloke” T-shirt to go with Wener’s “Another Female Fronted Band” T-shirt, both of which sold well.
Crank it up and enjoy the show.
