REWIND: Longpigs - 'On And On'

More wonderful music from 1996 as RW/FF takes you aboard a musical TARDIS on a journey through musical history. If you weren't around or were too young to remember the mid 90s, consider this a lesson of enlightenment. If you (like me) were lucky enough to experience it all first time around, then these posts make a fine nostalgic blast from the blast.

Another Britpop-era classic, this one is a song that I remember first hearing on a Smash Hits tape, of all places. The Sheffield-based Longpigs were originally signed to Elecktra Records in the early 90s but suffered the foulest of luck at the beginning of their career. Firstly frontman Crispin Hunt was seriously injured in a car crash, resulting in him being in a coma for 3 days. Soon after, the UK arm of their record label, closed leaving the Longpigs' future hanging in the balance. Elektra set a price of £500,000 to release them from their recording contract, and they were soon signed to U2's label Mother Records. The band released their debut album 'The Sun Is Often Out' in April 1996, shortly after scoring their first Top 20 hit with this beauty of a song. The stunning 'On And On' reached number 16 in the UK singles charts.

Like many bands of the mid 90s, the Longpigs enjoyed mixed fortunes. Their second album was released in 1999 and wasn't a huge commercial success. Mother Records closed down the following year, and the band split. Guitarist Richard Hawley has enjoyed the most high profile career of all the group, touring with Pulp in the early 2000s before releasing a number of critically acclaimed solo albums. Frontman Crispin Hunt went on to work as a songwriter and/or record producer for Ellie Goulding, Florence and The Machine, Newton Faulkner, Cee-Lo Green, Natalie Imbruglia, Gabriella Cilmi, Liam Frost, Ron Sexsmith, Kate Walsh. and Jake Bugg, amongst others.