The following article that was published in freebie newspaper 
'London Lite' on October 23rd featured a lookback on the marvel that was 
Gene. Hats off to Paul Connolly for his write-up about them.


Life is not fair. It's one of the first things we learn as children but 
early assimilation doesn't make it any easier to bear. That girl or boy 
who should reciprocate your interest, and would, if only they'd take the 
time to get to know you. Or that job for which you would have been perfect 
but which eluded you because the boss didn't take a shine to you. Our 
lives are full of these morale-sapping disappointments.

As I wipe away a tear at the thought of Susan Hubert rebuffing my 
different advances at primary school my eye alights upon evidence of 
another gross injustice. Someone has just sent me a CD called 
'Gene - The Collection', a best-of album from one of Britpop's casualties 
which is being released this week.

Now those of you of a certain age will probably recall Gene - they were 
generally regarded as one of the second-division bands of Britpop. If 
Blur, Oasis and Pulp were the heavyweights, then Gene, along with Dodgy, 
Shed Seven and Sleeper were seen as makeweights - bands that had the odd 
good tune but weren't relly cut out for superstardom. I can think of no 
reason to argue with that categorisation of the last three bands, 
especially the laughably awful Shed Seven. But Gene, well, they were a 
different story. They didn't just have one or two good songs, they had at 
least a dozen and probably three of those were truly great songs 
(download the monumental Olympian, the rumbustious Be My Light Be My Guide 
and the unbearably tender Oh Lover and tell me I'm wrong).

Gene really should have been huge. But they fell victim to the idiots in 
the music press who claimed that the fact they were influenced by The 
Smiths discredited their entire canon. Remember these were the same people 
who lauded Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene, neither of which sounded 
remotely like The Beatles or The Small Faces. Ahem.

Of course, in those days the music press was still taken seriously by 
radio programmers and the critical battering that Gene received meant that 
their singles received little support from radio, apart from John Peel, 
who adored them.

Gene finally gave up the ghost a couple of years ago. Even then their 
farewell show, at the huge London Astoria, was rammed. The fact they 
could still sell out a 3,000-capacity venue spoke volumes for just how 
good they were - you couldn't imagine Sleeper or Dodgy doing the same.

Thre are others. Take The Sound, a brilliant Eighties hybrid of U2 and 
Joy Division, whose failure to make it was so unfathomable that lead 
singer, Adrian Borland, threw himself in front of a train in 1999. 
Finally, want conclusive proof that pop life isn't fair? Have a look at 
amazon.co.uk. Type in Ocean Colour Scene. Yep, they're still making 
records.