A RECORD UNLIKELY EVER TO BE BROKEN

Between 1996 and 1999, the wonderful Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci released eight great singles on the bounce, all of which sold enough to reach the Top 75, but none of which sold enough to get a crucial placing in the Top 40.

Patio Song - #41
Diamond Dew - #42
Young Girls & Happy Endings/Dark Nights - #49
Sweet Johnny - #60
Let's Get Together (In Our Minds) - #43
Spanish Dance Troupe - #47
Poodle Rockin - #52
Stood On Gold - #65

No other band has managed to hit the crossbar on so many occasions. And when you think of how many substandard bits of music have cracked the charts over the tears, you have to conclude that there really is no justice in this fickle world.

Gorky’s (or maybe I should call them The Mynci – as in Hey, Hey We’re The Mynci) were victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I am guessing at this, but I would suspect that all of the above singles would only have been released on CD as the mid-late 90s was the period when vinyl was a complete no-no in the music industry. It would be another decade before vinyl was fashionable again, with much of the comeback being triggered off by the technology of USB turntables.

Singles nowadays can be had for around £1 or £2. Back then, the cost would have been anything between £2 and £4 depending on where you went out to buy it. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci were the type of band who had a very loyal fan base who would unfailingly get a hold of all releases, but in the days before digital downloading and the subsequent lowering of prices in the record shops, it was an expensive gamble to buy something you weren’t wholly familiar with – and other than the likes of Mark Radcliffe and John Peel, no DJs gave the band any sort of national exposure, so most folk remained ignorant of the joy to be had from listening to a band whose work reminded me so often of the really early recordings by James.

I don’t see anyone else ever having such a run of near-misses ever again. For one thing, so much has changed in the way we all ‘consume’ music that an act like Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci would get far more exposure and go on to sell in greater quantities (but then again, they could very easily get lost amidst all the new material that gets released day after day after day).

There’s also the fact that such is the lower number of sales needed to get a chart hit nowadays that I’m guessing all eight of the singles would have been at least 25 places higher in the chart rundown.

Finally, there’s no way record companies would now be willing to show such patience and tolerance towards any act that doesn’t deliver instant success in terms of sales, and there’s no way single after single would be released in that way.

I thought I had all of these singles sitting on the CD shelves just to the left hand side of where I sit and type these words, but there seems to one missing (Poodle Rockin), so it will need to be a quick hunt on e-bay to rectify that. In the meantime, here’s my three personal favourites:-

mp3 : Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - Young Girls And Happy Ending
mp3 : Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - Diamond Dew
mp3 : Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - Spanish Dance Troupe

Happy Listening.