Ned’s Atomic Dustbin occupies a strange space in musical history. Ned's formed in the UK in 1987, a period of great upheaval in the music industry. The winners of the New Wave era were still dominating the mainstream charts, Acid House was picking up steam in the underground as Britpop and Grunge lurked on the horizon. These conditions led to the short-lived genre of ‘grebo’, which incorporated elements of punk rock, electronic music, hip hop, and psychedelia. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin can thank their initial successes to a slot supporting The Wonder Stuff, who along with Pop Will Eat Itself were the biggest standouts of the grebo scene. They had a fierce teenage fanbase, leading to frequent moshing and crowd-surfing at their gigs. “The Neds” often wore skateboarding related shirts, prescient of their frequent appearances in 90’s skate videos. (“Gray Cell Green” makes a notable appearance in Rick Howard’s segment of classic vid Plan B.) God Fodder was their debut album after several prior singles, and is a solid document of the band’s unique double-bass driven sound. No, not the big standup thing: Ned’s has two bassists, Matt Cheslin playing traditional accompaniment with Alex Griffin playing the harmonic bass lines. God Fodder was a surprising grunge-era success in the US, likely on the back of the band’s exhaustive t-shirt campaign, with the group producing over 86 designs from 1987-1990. The record sounds like a compact history of alternative music in the UK up until this point, with the previously mentioned elements of electronica, hip-hop, and psychedelia blending with elements of punk rock, shoegaze, and industrial music. “Kill Your Television” is a rollicking, provocative start to the album, chainsaw guitar riffs and double-time drumming with sung-spoken-spat lyrics. “Grey Cell Green” starts with hazily strummed chords that are pushed aside by thunderous drumrolls and jagged guitar riffs. This record is pressed on limited edition blue marbled vinyl, and is a numbered limited edition of 1000.

• 180g blue marble colored vinyl
• includes printed insert
• individually stamped + numbered
• limited edition of 1000
• original release year: 1991
• music label: Music On Vinyl 2023

reviewed by BOMB THE BASS 09/2019