1976 Showaddywaddy: Under The Moon Of Love

To my mind there are two general working definitions of 'rock & roll'. On one hand, it's basic music typified by a driving, primal backbeat laced with sexual tension and the implicit danger of imminent violence, both of which are generally reflected in innuendo riddled lyrics. On the other, it's a catch-all genre of safe and nostalgic good time dance music that supposedly blasted out of imaginary jukeboxes in an unspecified yet idealised sixties 'American Graffiti' landscape of diners and drive-ins. In our modern day, 'R&B' has a similar dual definition; it all depends on who you ask to define it.

Falling firmly into the latter category, Showaddywaddy had been purveyors of (mostly) rock & roll cover versions both well known and obscure since 1973, with 'Under The Moon Of Love' being originally a US hit for Curtis Lee in 1961. Showaddywaddy's version is almost a tracing paper copy with the only differences being what it erases. The squally backing vocals of the original are tidied up (and actually improve the song by putting more focus on the stuttering melody), but so is the greasy Gene Barge/Church Street Five a-like swagger of the original's saxophone riff.

What all this housekeeping does is make the song safe, and in defusing any flashpoints Showaddywaddy offer up a risk free clapathon that even your gran would sing along to at a family knees up. Fun maybe, but it's the sound of a band and a genre trapped in paralysis. True enough that Showaddywaddy never made any claims as innovators or pretended they were anything other than cartoon revivalists in bolo ties and brothel creepers, but nothing changes by standing still either.

'Under The Moon Of Love' was co-written by Tommy Boyce who also co-wrote '(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone' for Paul Revere & The Raiders (though made famous by The Monkees). And while Showaddywaddy were lording it at the top of the charts with the former song, at almost exactly the same time in Wessex Studios, the Sex Pistols were demoing the latter and imbuing it with the hiss and the danger that would come to terrorise an uncomprehending generation the way Elvis did with a simple shake of his hips twenty years previously.

And there we have it - one writer, two songs, two bands and both sides of the rock & roll coin. All contemporary footage show Showaddywaddy having a blast in their retro Ted outfits, but hindsight shows it was later than they thought.