The Chameleons - Swamp Thing | Reaction!

You wanted it, you got it, it's The Chameleons! Like I said, I can see where Noel Gallagher said he was influenced by this band. The start of the song reminded me of "Columbia". I've reacted to so many great UK bands over the past months.
Thanks for watching!
linktr.ee/insignificantnick

[@robinroberts8996]

Great vid. I'd argue possibly the UKs most underrated band.

[@pythonbyte]

"not enough sunshine, too much rain" - you know this is a Manchester band. 'Soul in Isolation' is another great song from them.

[@thisworldofwater8017]

Three words: more Chameleons, please. You won't be disappointed. Maybe Don't Fall next. (Yeah, that was ten words. Sue me.)

[@transmit13]

"Don't Fall", "Up the Down Escalator" and "The Fan and the Bellows". All top shelf. Fantastic band. Check out the Peel sessions as well, just for yourself.

[@thoru4367]

I love this album it's utterly underrated

[@JohnSmith-xy7jc]

absolute banger

[@ijustneedmyself]

Finally someone reacted to the Chameleons! I figured it would be you. I wouldn't have chosen this one as I think there are superior songs for a first listen, but it's still a great* song. Please listen to something from Script of the Bridge. I got to see Mark Burgess perform their songs about a decade ago in NY with his band. Amazing.

[@sevensolaris]

I think this is an excellent song to start out with.

[@modsleix6]

Awesome song choice here! Honestly, you can't go wrong with The Chameleons. Each one of their albums is a masterpiece to me, though each has it's distinct flavor. The band has since become iconic in the last decade or so. I remember discovering them at a time when they were relatively unknown by most fans of the Post Punk and even Goth genres. So it's nice to see someone new take that first step into the world of The Chameleons' music. This track to me is one of the bittersweet gems that remind me of just how great this band was/is and how tragic their story played out. It just seemed like bad luck was waiting for them at every turn - from getting taken advantage of by the music industry again and again, to endless infighting, personal tragedies and so much more - it seems like they could just not get a break. Still, many fans like myself held out for the promise of a reunion at some point but, the sudden and tragic death of drummer John Lever a few years ago pretty much put an end to that. Luckily, they left a small but, powerful and significant body of work. No matter what song you pick from any of their albums, you're in for a treat. For any fan who is interested, check out Mark Burgess's book, _'View From A Hill'._ It's a must read for any fan of the band or simply anyone who enjoys reading about music and the musicians that made it. It's one of my personal favorites and one of the only real in-depth sources of info into the history of the band (albeit from Mark's point of view)... Other tracks worth considering for a listen (in my opinion) would be: _'Nathan's Phase'_ _'As High As You Can Go'_ _'Singing Rule Britannia (While The Walls Close In)'_ _'Ever After'_ _'Miracles And Wonders'_ John Lever R.I.P...

[@kevinhanson4703]

Absolutely love this band. Along with the smiths and new order the three bands to come out of Manchester

[@arm2644]

- John Lever RIP 2017 - Swamp thing was released in 1986, the fall of the Berlin wall was in 1989

[@rickb.4168]

Try ‘Ride’ Leave them all behind.

[@KevinKaffy]

Fantastic tune 👏

[@rickb.4168]

@@KevinKaffy in fact I’m going to go and listen to it again. Right now.

[@garagepunkfan]

Be sure to check out "Second Skin", "Don't Fall", "In Shreds", "Mad Jack" and "Up The Down Escalator", and "@ (While The Walls Close In"

[@NightWalker]

Love your videos! Here are two songs that will most likely leave you in awe: • Nina Hagen - Naturträne (preferably the live version on "Rockpalast"); • XTC - Complicated Game. You gotta listen to them, trust me on this one (they are similar to this type of music, kind of).

[@thisworldofwater8017]

Oh! Complicated Game! Yesyesyes. Literally stunning.

[@biggles3332]

Great to see a song by the Chameleons here, your channel has a great array of music compared to other channels, the subscribers here and yourself have great taste. Can i suggest another underrated band from manchester (Salford) the band is called The Fall listen to their song fantastic life its something else (great tv show too) theres no other band like them but many have tried.

[@jonathancole833]

The Fall - yet another great Manchester band!

[@larsvontrio]

@@jonathancole833 It took me until Extricate to get into them - but I reckon that is a really good album to start with for those not familiar with the raggedly multi-faceted output of The Fall.

[@jonathancole833]

I must admit that The Chameleons were never really on my radar, but I've just listened to some of their other stuff on the strength of this.

[@ijustneedmyself]

What did you listen to and what did you think?

[@jonathancole833]

@@ijustneedmyself I listened to Tears and Second Skin - pretty good, and I think I will listen to Script Of The Bridge in its entirety as it seems to be their best-acclaimed album!

[@ijustneedmyself]

@@jonathancole833 I'm glad you enjoyed them. Yes, please do! I hope you like it. I just love it so much. Two of the band members are touring as Chameleons Vox with The Mission next year. I already have my tickets for September 😁

[@thesoundlikechameleons2082]

I'm seeing them in December!

[@Az777]

Loving your channel, man. Lots of great suggestions in the comment section of that Killing Joke vid. I checked out quite a few of them myself and ended up with additions to my own personal playlist (Thanks, fellow subscribers!) I left a few suggestions myself, but I think if I were to choose only one, I'd go with The Bolshoi and their song Away. It would be interesting to hear your take on, and opinion of whether the title should be Away or A Way. 35 years later and there's still some debate about it. Either 'way', the music is awesome.

[@troggmeister]

'In shreds' is another good Chameleons tune

[@thesound-chameleonman3580]

Script of the bridge needs breaking in.... don't fall next 😉

[@rydelldownward7808]

One of my top favorite five songs of all time.

[@kevinhanson4703]

Second skin, Up the down escalator, perfume garden. Swamp thing made Noel Gallagher pick up a guitar

[@Kyle_heringer]

Nick, your videos are awesome!

[@dazzer7986]

my favourite song from my favourite album by my favourite band. thank you :)

[@johnmavroudis2054]

Between your XTC and Chameleons reactions, YOU are on the right track!! Great stuff! Next from The Chameleons? Try "Second Skin," "In Shreds," "Don't Fall," "Here Today" (about the murder of John Lennon... haunting and brilliant song), or "Tears." They have so many great songs for such a short career... Without The Chameleons, there would probably be no Interpol. One of the musical highlights of my life was flying from San Francisco to London... then taking a train to Manchester, England to see The Chameleons reunion show. Absolutely brilliant. BTW: One of their two guitarists does the album artwork. He's quite amazing.

[@kevinm4138]

Excellent choice Nick! I’ll join the band wagon and suggest “Don’t Fall “ from them as well. Since you’re going down the post punk path there’s been a bit of a post punk revival the last 3 years. Here’s a few suggestions. Fontaines D.C.- Televised Mind The Murder Capital- Green and Blue Shame -Dust on Trail Idles- Kill em with Kindness

[@KevinKaffy]

Fontaines DC - I don’t belong a recent fav of mine..great Irish band 👏

[@kevinm4138]

@@KevinKaffy both Fontaine’s albums are great. The Murder Capital is an Irish band as well.

[@thesoundlikechameleons2082]

vocally Marc Almond? I've heard this comparison before. Mark Burgess is a great front man and vocalist. - C

[@Aaron50001]

Fuckin Brilliant band

[@rickb.4168]

Just a fabulous opening.

[@69Phuket]

BBC Radio 6 Music had a band T shirt day recently. I sent them a pic of me in my Chameleons shirt. on insta, facebook and Whatsapp.. Nada! They're to rad it seems!

[@larsvontrio]

Hi Nick. Just discovered your reaction channel via the Bowie song. Was surprised but happy to see this Chameleons song in your mix. Your commentaries are entertainingly idiosyncratic and disarmingly down-to-earth honest - you are really good at this reaction form or discipline that's all the rage now (I like watching them, but as you perhaps can tell from just the length of this post, if I tried my hand at it I fear the result would be too much verbal tangential tangle). I was and still am a big fan of the Chameleons' albums and live shows, even though Mark Burgess is now firmly in charge with clones of Reg (the original ginger guitarist).and the blond other one, and maybe the drummer I'm not sure. They had a bust up years ago unfortunately,. Anyway the sound palette created by those two guitarists and by the muscular rhythm section doesn't need to be changed, it works so well - and can be emulated. But those two deserve sincere credit and thanks for that particular two-guitar blend, with one doing riffs with moderate distortion and delay, and the other getting all ethereal with extended chords and tons of delay and chorus like the offspring of Andy Summers and Stevie Nicks. (Incidentally I met Reg at some festival back in the day and we chatted about some of the personalities performing there which included Simple Minds's lead singer, whom Reg was on quite friendly terms with - now when I hear that bridge in Swamp Thing I wonder if there might have been a bit of friendly cribbing from that band's "Don't You Forget About Me"). However, Mark Burgess deserves a ton of credit for keeping the band's legacy alive and for his strong, even unshakeable vision. I also come from that rainy Lancashire area, and what we used to do as kids/teenagers every autumn (fall as you say) in October was go out looking for magic mushrooms and hopefully pick enough to get royally off our gourds. This curious rite of passage began around age 9 or 10 for a lot of us, and I feel like Mark, with his lyrics of dread, wonder and whimsy, became like a standard bearer of that generation. He didn't get his stuff from going to some university anyway - he was too busy being in a regionally successful band for that. But back to mushrooms, I've had 'em from other places in the world like Mexico and Thailand now, and I've come to the conclusion that those little white-cap buggers we picked are the best and the strongest. So that was a good way to alleviate that 70s and early 80s tedium of England, especially if you got on a roll and were ables to gather a stash for the winter months that ensued. That said, I'm not claiming Mark Burgess definitely was into such a diversion, but it would be one of my top questions to ask him one day. It is cool that Noel Gallagher gives the band props - I saw him recently on one of his infinite number of UK radio guest spots and when the DJ asked what song Noel would request to be played at an upcoming outside broadcast, he said just one, Swamp Thing. Anyway, I'll end by saying from my perspective the album they did a couple of years earlier called Script of the Bridge is their masterpiece (actually, one look at itrs cover, which was done by Reg or the other one, may lend credence to my hunch about a penchant for states of altered perception within that band in the early days, possibly).Script of the Bridge has got about 17 songs on it, all top tunes, but with 6 or 7 that sound like hits (yes, so fucking underrated, should have been bigger and appreciated nationally, but it doesn't matter at the end of the day as the songs will live on). But it is a mystery, their lack of renown, because the lyrical introspection notwithstanding, the music really was quite commercially viable - really catchy and often anthemic or rocking (Up the Down Escalator, Don't Fall, Less Than Human, Pleasure and Pain, Monkeyland, Here Again, to name some on Script). Hope you get around to giving that album a couple of listens, and this is advice to any rock or indie fan, because it's both an album and a lifelong friend. Anyway, all the best! PS... Hope you'll do a reaction to one of my songs when I get my shit together on KZbin (Spotify is absurd and I'm stopping being its bitch). Cheers.

[@FederinzC]

Interesting thoughts, thanks! In any case, Dave Fielding was the red headed ethereal guitarist/keyboardist, the other guitarist Reg Smithies had spiky black hair as well as John Lever the drummer. They had a blond drummer for a short while in 1982.

[@larsvontrio]

@@FederinzC Thanks for clearing that up. So it was Dave that I spoke to at that festival, which might have been in York or maybe not. (One of the new guys has greying blond hair I realize now so the memory of that on video had replaced my real memory.) I saw them about 5 times from 1984-1986, always loud and amazing they were. What are your favorite songs?

[@FederinzC]

@@larsvontrio It surely must have been great times, I was very young and did not even know of their existence when they broke up the second time. Must ahve been interesting to talk with Dave, how was he? Hard to pick the songs, just to say a few I think Less Than Human, Monkeyland, Silence Sea And Sky, Perfume Garden, Home is Where The Heart Is, Caution, Soul in Isolation. But they're all so good and touch so unbelievably deep inside. And Reg's cover-arts are "the stuff dreams are made of". Your favourite songs?

[@larsvontrio]

@@FederinzC Those were good times Music wasn't too centered around London and gigs were really affordable. Dave was cool. I spotted him talking to a small group of people, in their late teens like me, so I wandered over. Mainly the chat was about acts on the festival's bill, and us wondering what he though about some of them. including Sisters of Mercy (wasn't too familiar with their music but thought they had a good live sound, which was true), Billy Bragg (spreading awareness about the plight of the miners on national strike). I think Simple Minds may have originally been on the bill, or perhaps they did play but I missed them, but I really liked their early records so probably the former. A tabloid story about Jim Kerr's wife (another famous musician) having a miscarriage came up, which Dave said was rough obviously, and we moved on from that subject. I remember noting that he seemed to be refreshingly normal,. not full of himself, and positive about others. That's quite the norm these days, but at the time you had some elements within certain northern bands like The Bunnymen and New Order who were being abrasive and setting up rivalries with other groups, and that was rubbing off on younger people a bit, in that shit-talking and dismissive sniping were pretty prevalent. I just remember liking Dave's diplomatic attitude and thinking it really suited the Chameleons. He was relaxed but perhaps mindful that he was an ambassador for the group. Their set was fine that day, but it was outdoors in daylight so, you know, the lights and smoke and immersive volume were absent. You mentioned some songs from What Does Anything Mean, Basically and reminded me of how beautiful, and even at times florid, the guitars especially are on that album. So for quality it has to be put alongside Script, which it's a real nice progression from. Cheers

[@kellywann3794]

A fantastic and very underrated album.

[@williamwoods7374]

Take a listen to "Perfume Garden"

[@leefr76]

Reaction request to New Rose by The Damned, possibly my favourite punk song, and of course an absolute classic.

[@jonathancole833]

Reputedly the first UK punk song!

[@johnhawk1089]

Since you mentioned Spongebob, maybe reviewing a Ween sing would be good since a Ween song inspired the creation of the show.

[@johnhawk1089]

Please listen to Petty Thief Lout by The Fall

[@thoru4367]

Please NIck do Tobira of Life by Mariya Takeuchi