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The Television Personalities are an English rock group with a varying line-up. The only constant member is singer–songwriterDan Treacy (born
19 June 1960), who uses the band as a vehicle for his music. The band's first release (January 1978) wasthe single "14th Floor"/"Oxford
Street W1", while their second, the EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? features one of their best-known songs, "Part Time Punks".
The Television Personalities' first album ...And Don't The Kids Just Love It was released in 1981. It set the template for theirsubsequent
career: neo-psychedelia, an obsession with youth c ...read more
The Television Personalities are an English rock group with a varying line-up. The only constant member is singer–songwriterDan Treacy (born
19 June 1960), who uses the band as a vehicle for his music. The band's first release (January 1978) wasthe single "14th Floor"/"Oxford
Street W1", while their second, the EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? features one of their best-known songs, "Part Time Punks".
The Television Personalities' first album ...And Don't The Kids Just Love It was released in 1981. It set the template for theirsubsequent
career: neo-psychedelia, an obsession with youth culture of the 1960s, a fey, slightly camp lyrical attitude, andthe occasional classic pop
song. Their second album Mummy Your Not Watching Me [sic] demonstrated increased psychedelicinfluences. Their third album, entitled They
Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles showed Treacy's sense of humour; theTVPs were never to have any major commercial success in
the UK – although their albums sold respectably in Germany,Sweden and the Netherlands. The first three albums featured Treacy and
schoolmate Ed Ball; Ball left the band to found TheTimes, but rejoined in 2004.
The band were offered the support slot on Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's 1984 UK solo dates, but were promptly droppedafter reading
out former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett's home address.
The 1984 album The Painted Word was unexpectedly dark in content, reflecting Treacy's despair at Thatcherite Britain andhis personal
circumstances.
Various lineup changes prevented their next album (Privilege) from appearing until 1990. Their subsequent album Closer to Godwas a
combination of fey sixties style pop and darker material, similar in tone to The Painted Word.
The album Don't Cry Baby, It's Only a Movie was released in 1998.
From 1998 to June 2004, Dan Treacy was incarcerated for shoplifting to feed his drug habit. He spent time aboard HM Prisonship Weare in
Portland Harbour, Dorset, England. He has referred to the Weare as "The Good Ship Lollipop". The experiencehelped him put his life and
career back on track.
In February 2006, a new TVPs album, My Dark Places was released. Despite their relatively small independent sales, the TVPswere very
influential on British music in the 1980s, especially the so-called C86 generation and many of the bands on CreationRecords.
In an article in The Guardian on 24 April 2006, it was implied that Dan Treacy was in some way behind the Arctic Monkeys,although this was
based on little more than a perceived similarity between their lyrical style and that of Treacy, and the factthat the lead singer of Arctic
Monkeys, Alex Turner is not credited with the band's songwriting.
It was reported in October 2011 that Treacy was seriously ill after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain. « hide |
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