Strange Young Alien

Bid

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 10 oct 2025

Eine der Gründungsmythen von The Smiths besagt, dass die sehr eigenwilligen Charaktere Johnny Marr und Morrissey nur zusammenfinden konnten, weil sich beide anno 1981/82 immerhin auf The Monochrome Set als ihre gemeinsame Lieblingsformation einigen konnten. Diese bereits 1978 gegründete Post-Punk-Band aus Süd-London mit Sänger und Texter Bid vermischt(e) schon immer musikalisch furios Sixties Twist mit brillanten Gitarrenmelodien und textlich exotische Mystik mit gehörigen Portionen Humor und Weltwissen.
Und genau hier setzt Bids 'Strange Young Alien' als Werkschau seines ungewöhnlichen Schaffens an ... Im ersten Teil erzählt Bid mittels seiner Lyrics und der entsprechenden Kommentare über seine Jugend in Indien, dem Himalaya und Kanada, verrät Interna aus der britischen Musikindustrie und berichtet von seiner dramatischen Aneurysma-Erkrankung. Im zweiten Teil begeben sich Bid und seine zahlreichen Alter Egos quasi auf die Meta-Ebene, auf der die Songtexte mittels amüsanter Hintergrundfakten und exzentrischem Witz analysiert werden.
Eine Veröffentlichung in englischer Sprache.

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Descriere

It's not often that a songwriter will deny being the author of his own lyrics, even less so when writing the introduction to a whole book of them. But, without giving too much away, that's exactly what Bid, the man of words both behind and in front of unashamedly literate UK post-punk psych sophisticates the Monochrome Set, sets out to do in STRANGE YOUNG ALIEN. If you have followed the past five decades or so of his band's career, you may well have asked yourself what might possess anyone to write lines such as 'Every night at sleepy time / I hang my skin out on the line', from 'Eine Symphonie des Grauens'. You will find a very definite, highly intriguing answer to this question in Bid's book, though most certainly no literal interpretation. There are background stories, to be sure. Amusing and disturbing ones. Like the disfiguring haircut that set off events to inspire 'Letter from Viola'. Or the supermarket worker immortalised as 'The Cosmonaut'. Or the curious cases of the stalker and the spy, relating to 'Reach for Your Gun' and 'Hello, Save Me' respectively. But essentially, the more you learn about Bid's writing process, the more mysterious it gets. Part I of the book is technically a memoir, from his childhood experience in India and the Himalayas via his adventures in the music business to the near-fatal aneurysm that physically rearranged Bid's brain in 2010. Part II is a helpful compendium of some of the most fundamentally misheard lyrics in pop, from 'He's Frank', 'Jet Set Junta' and 'The Lighter Side of Dating' all the way to 'The Ruling Class'. Most centrally though, STRANGE YOUNG ALIEN is a book about the human brain, specifically its being inhabited by 'the Creature', as Bid likes to call his artistic other self that was revealed to him after his stroke. Getting to know the Creature through his description of this revelation may fundamentally change not just the way you understand Bid's lyrics, but the artistic mind as such. Contrary to appearances, then, this book isn't just one for fans of The Monochrome Set, though they'll doubtless be pleased. This is not just a lyric book - as well as containing many song lyrics it has a short biographical story charting the bands lifespan and Bid's special relationship with his uncontrolled inner artistic demon.