Friday, September 26, 2025

For Girls! Dept. - Soft Machine For Girls!

Cover Art© IoF© Art Department o' Art Dept.

 

Inclusivity is a long and revered tradition here at th' IoF©! Our trail-blazing recognition of basic human rights for Bikini Testers has garnered plaudits worldwide, and our award-winning For Girls! series has adapted the most off-puttingly "difficult" bands to the sensitive tastes of the "weaker sex" (bless 'em!). Think of the series as the musical equivalent of Classics Illustrated comics [below left - Ed.] ! Those popular abridgements of otherwise unreadable literary masterpieces such as Moby Dick and Don Quixote instilled a love of Fine Literature in a whole generation!

Yes, we like to think that the For Girls! series is of equal importance! No longer shall the little lasses feel excluded from the fun of listening to "boys only" bands such as Captain Beefheart, the Velvet Undergrounds, the Led Zeppelins, the Pink Floyds, the King Crimsons, and now, the Soft Machines!

We've smoothed out those "rough edges", concentrating on the more hummable qualities of this oft-challenging combo! And although the purist may carp that some of the selections - blended seamlessly into a Thirty-Minute Medley O' Melody™ - are solo performances, no dolly-bird is going to bother her pretty little head about that!

So, if you know any girls [you're kidding, right? - Ed.], or maybe someone you know does, why not give them a copy of this swell long-playing album LP record? Its feminine allure is heightened by the oh-so-sensitive cover design,  making it a swell companion for her Peter, Paul and Mary albums!

 

This piece created in a fit of cabin fever during the rainy season. Please address all complaints to Babs.

55 comments:

  1. Join in the undignified scramble for the deliverable by listing your Top Three Worst Bands! Here's how it works: think of the band you hate the most, then put that at the top of the list! That's your "number one"! Now comes the tricky bit! What's the band you hate nearly as much? Hmmm! Thinking caps on, fellows! That's your "number two"! To round out your list of three, think of another band you wish you'd never heard! That's your "number three" right there!

    If you don't really "hate" any band, but have a mild dislike for some, go through the exercise with this parameter in mind!

    If you can't think of any bands at all right now, come back later when the meds kick in!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A = Abba
    B = Beegees
    C = Car-penters
    D = Cire Straits
    E = Eagles
    F = Fleetwood Mac (after 1974)
    G = Grateful Dead
    H = Hall & Oates
    I = Inxs
    J = Jefferson Airplane/Starship
    K = Kiss
    L = Led Zeppelin
    M = Metalica
    N = Nitty Fritty Dirt Band
    O = Oak Ridge Boys
    P = Paul Simon
    Q = Quicksilver Messenger Service
    R = Rolling Stones
    S = Simon & Garfunkel
    T = Toto
    U = You Too
    V = Vangelis
    W = Waits, Tom
    X = surprisingly empty (I kinda liked XTC)
    Y = Yes
    Z = ZZ Top

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should have quit while you were ahead.

      Delete
    2. Any combo of three for me, Farq. Pass the helium puh-lease

      Delete
  3. Elton John
    T Rex
    The Doors

    I don't post comments very often, but I read your blog and its comments regularly. Thanks for the giggles. Duncan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And well done on your Top Two! Alas, your third choice forces me to operate this here lever to open the trapdoor under your feet.

      Delete
    2. I Like the rest of the band, but Morrison was an overrated wanker.

      Delete
    3. Without him, they were just a competent LA go-go band:

      https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2024/09/theres-no-way-we-can-do-this-doors.html

      Delete
    4. Good article. Also a good appraisal of the band. I think the main thing that put me off with Jim was a bootleg collaboration album with Jimi Hendrix that he ruined with his drunken babble. Peace, Love and Flowers

      Delete
    5. Appreciate him at his best, forgive and forget him at his worst.

      Delete
  4. The first two picks are difficult because I can’t decide who deserves the number one slot. But I have to make my decision, so here it is:

    1) Queen
    2) Boston
    3) The Eagles

    I don’t actually detest The Eagles. I just find their music to be incredibly boring. No other group or musician bores me more, so that’s why I slotted them in position 3.

    Gbrand

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your Top One is probably mine, too. Saintly Sir Freddie, keeping his AIDS a secret when an announcement could have done nothing but good. Boston? One blindingly great hit single doesn't make enough of a band to hate. The Eagles? They're pretty good.

      Delete
    2. I think it was a private thing, Freddie having AIDS. People don't respect privacy, then and now. The bollocks that it was up to him. When he died his confession did more good in one day than the whole Reagan/Thatcher administration did in their periods. Queen was great, they played outside their boxes. They rattled up a Ban over I Want To Break Free video. Great. The musical diversity in 1979-1981 Crazy Little Thing - Mustapha - Flash - Another One Bites The Dust - Save Me - Under Pressure. You still might hate them. I do love them

      Delete
    3. The diversity of their output was equaled only by its sheer crapness. Queen was a show tune band, very much like Abba in that sense, and everything they recorded could have been from a "Rock Musical" written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, and as authentic. This is not a good thing. Nor is keeping AIDS a secret. He could, and should, have done a lot of good as an educator while he was alive.

      Delete
  5. The music revisionism about Abba is appalling. Weak europop of the lousiest kind. Until they became "hip", they were music for people who didn't like music. Reciprocally, I also dislike the music revisionism that has made Black Sabbath hip, as I liked them when it was mostly downer freaks and acid casualties who made their fandom, and normies into MY THINGS is unacceptable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is driving me nuts. I'm certain a did a "Critical Re-assessment - ABBA" (still shit) piece, but I can't for the life of me find it. Shockingly horrible group, and in my Top Three. I quite like the first Sabs album, though but.

      Delete
  6. In Rotational order depending on mood

    ABBA
    Coldplay
    Rush

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1) The Dave Clark(e) Five - dislike them so much I can't be bothered to check the spelling.
    2) Stereophonics
    3) Billy Idol
    Bubbling under - Pat Boone

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What an imaginative and interesting choice the DC5 is! Kudos!

      Delete
  8. 1. Hootie & the Blowfish
    2. Imagine Dragons
    3. Limp Bizkit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know enough about these bands to comment. And I never will.

      Delete
  9. 1. Grateful Dead
    2. Rush
    3. The Eagles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't make me get up offa this couch

      Delete
    2. Decades ago, when my 2 kids were pre-teens, I was driving them and their mother to a week long stay at the beach in Fl. For some reason, the 2 of them started arguing loudly with each other, and continued to do so despite their mom's pleas to stop. I pulled the car off to the shoulder of the interstae and in a very low pitched, angry, voice, reminded them of the crazy ass things they got to do and that I otherwise could buy a beach house with the savings and then threatened to turn the car around and bring everyone home for a week of hell if the arguing did not immediately cease. To this day, both kids (now in their late 30s), remember that incident and tell me its the only time that they were afraid of me. And, while at the time I felt fully convinced that I acted properly, since then I feel nothing but remorse over it.
      And, I punch you back in your arm, dear sir!

      Delete
  10. 1. U2 2. The Police 3. Queen Pretentious & overrated the lot of 'em.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Police? There's a lot to hate about them (mainly "Sting", whose vanity could extinguish the sun), but I play their deep cuts with pleasure from time to time. "Every Breath You Take" isn't a deep cut, but it is a brilliant piece of music by any standards.

      Delete
  11. 1. Kiss 2. Kid Rock 3. Led Zeppelin
    I kinda don't hate a small amount of Zep, and I quite enjoy Plant & Krauss, but please, those others?..buh-bye!

    ReplyDelete
  12. For your consideration:
    Queen
    Abba
    The Velvet Underground

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes! The Velvet Underground are probably the most overrated of all.
      Sneer.
      Duncan

      Delete
    2. It can't be a coincidence they haven't made an album since this piece appeared:
      https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2024/11/sacred-cows-and-elephant-in-room-dept.html

      Delete
  13. Queen
    Kid Rock (does he even count?)
    Led Zep

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's still in Assembly. I'm using the instigulator reel from the old KleppenhauserGMBH Veeblefetzer VF-5G, so the autoclaving process takes a little longer to reach the new bitrate threshold of @193.

      Delete
    2. Oh, well that makes sense, now! If you had the Fliptoid reduction unit, you'd be able to do that without flanging, but that unit's been out of production since the Truman era. No rush!

      Delete
  14. 1. Kansas
    2. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
    3. R.E.O. Speedwagon
    unhonourable mention
    Def Leppad
    Dave Matthews Band
    Hootie & the Blowfish
    Kiss
    Billy Idol
    Osmonds
    New Seekers (I do love the original one)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Phantom Of The Rock OperaSeptember 27, 2025 at 11:56 AM

    1. The Bay City Rollers
    2. Any pick N mix boy band starting with 'Take That'
    3. The Spice Girls (I really really really wanna puke a lot)

    And as a bonus at 4. "D:ream" (I hate that freaking song)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are basically pop groups for little girls. Don't you hate any grown-up bands?

      Delete
    2. A friend in Seville was one of the drummers for The Bay City Rollers. He was hired to be the "bad boy" of the band, an image that he took to heart and then was summarily fired when he was caught with a white powdery substance and a very young woman in the group's tour bus. He did go on to a much more distinguished musical career, including stints with Fripp, Bowie and Sting (ok, maybe not that distinguished), all of whom had no issue with the bad boy so long as he could hold down the back beat.

      Delete
  16. I don't hate any bands. There are records that are not to my taste at this time. Some of my favorite records (now) are records I didn't like on first airing. I can articulate why I don't like a record; usually it's "This has been going on too long. Is there a single edit?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're missing out on a lot of wholesome enjoyment. Also, this isn't about disliking records, it's about certain bands which through sheer force of personality and lack of talent give rise to unreasonable loathing,

      Delete
  17. 1 - Kiss - I was told they would be good live, they were not.
    2 - The Ramones - I was told they would be good live, they were not.
    3 - Jefferson Starship - I thought they might be good live, they were not.

    I’ve always disliked Simple Minds for some prejudicial reason, however I’ve never seen them live, and accidentally heard one of their early albums once and rather enjoyed it, so I left them out of my three choices.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your reasons for H8Rness are sound. There's nothing like the feeling of betrayal, and being treated like a fool, when a vaunted act delivers a shit performance. I used to vaunt the Kinks until I saw them, and ever since I've wanted to slap Ray Davies in the face repeatedly with a squid.

      Delete
  18. Boy, there sure is a lot of Queen hate going in here, no doubt to the delight of the host of these shenanigans.

    So just to be contrarian and annoy our venerable host:

    Captain Beefheart.

    In Greil Marcus' words: "What is this shit?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's fine, OBG. There are those fortunate enough to have seen the light, and those who still writhe around in the dirt at our feet.

      Delete
  19. P.S. Venerable host, you are in fine old school form in your piece, though.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Dolly-bird" made me laugh. I would love to work it into a future conversation without getting punched. OBG is right - you are in fine form.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 1.Hermans Hermits ruins a good radio show too often,
    Proclaimers ear worm champions of nonsense,
    Sex Pistols ruined a decade of musos who copied this marketing smudge and made listening to radio a visit to Chiro as I reached for anything to turn it down or off and rooned a pleasant morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Terrific choices, Reedsman! Herman's Hermits are the Dave Clark Five's equal in slappability terms, plus the unwanted bonus of freckles. The Proclaimers exemplify Scottish culture to perfection, and as such deserve a good horse-whipping. The Sex Pistols are just a big fucking nuisance, as fake as The Clash, and basically the Monkees of punk. The Punkees? Only without the good times and good songs. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood are a couple of prize scumbags.

      Delete

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