Line #30 Music/IanDuryAndTheBlockheads


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ian_dury_00.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The Blockheads during their 1970s heyday. Ian Dury is the grinning man wearing the CoolShades.]]
3
4	->''Hit me with your rhythm stick,\
5	Hit me, hit me.''
6	-->"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"
7
8	Born in 1942, Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) rose to fame in Britain in the 1970s. As front man, lead singer and lyricist of the Blockheads, one of the tightest backing bands of the time, he was a prominent performer in the PunkRock and early [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] eras of popular music.
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10	An unlikely star, Dury contracted polio at the age of seven, which left him with a crippled arm and leg. He studied art and subsequently became an occasional painter and art teacher. The death of the rockabilly star Gene Vincent, of whom Dury was a big fan, prompted him to start his own band in 1971 called Kilburn and the High Roads. The group became a popular act on the pub circuit and released a critically acclaimed album but never rose above cult status and soon broke up. His second group, Ian Dury and the Kilburns, was short lived but introduced him to a young {{Funk}}-influenced guitarist and pianist named [[TheManBehindTheMan Chaz Jankel]], who subsequently became his main songwriting partner.
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12	In 1977, Dury released his first solo album with Stiff Records consisting of songs written with Jankel, ''New Boots and Panties!!'', which featured the single (and future TropeNamer) "SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll". However, the album was a success and Dury was invited to perform on the Live Stiffs Live tour alongside Music/NickLowe and Music/ElvisCostello. A backing band was quickly formed consisting of guitarist Johnny Turnbull, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, drummer Charlie Charles, keyboard player Mick Gallagher and Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. The Blockheads were born, taking their name from one of the songs on the album.
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14	In 1978, the band reached its peak with the top ten singles "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" and "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" as well as the hit album ''Do It Yourself''. However, Dury's [[SmallNameBigEgo increasingly difficult]] behaviour during the recording sessions, fueled by alcohol and drugs, prompted Chaz Jankel to leave the Blockheads for a solo career in America. Teaming up with ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, the Blockheads couldn't match their earlier success with their next album, ''Laughter'', and officially disbanded.
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16	Having performed together sporadically in the eighties, the band reformed to play a series of benefit concerts in support of Charlie Charles after his diagnosis with cancer. In the mid-nineties, Dury himself was diagnosed with the same illness, galvanising him to release one last album; the critically acclaimed ''Mr. Love Pants'' in 1998, now joined by drummer Dylan Howe (son of Steve Howe of Music/{{Yes}}) and the controversial Israeli saxophonist Gilad Atzmon. Unfortunately, Ian Dury died in 2000 before his next half-finished record was released.
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18	The Blockheads still perform and record, now fronted by Dury's former minder and driver Derek 'the Draw' Hussey. A Biopic based on Dury's life entitled ''Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'' was released in 2010, featuring Creator/AndySerkis as the singer.
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20
21	!!Sex and Drugs and Rock and Tropes:
22	* ButLiquorIsQuicker: The titular character of "Billerickay Dickie" at one points gloats that he was able to bed a woman named Sandy by giving her eight glasses of brandy.
23	* CanonDiscontinuity: Dury himself discounted most of the albums he recorded between ''Do It Yourself'' and ''Mr. Love Pants''.
24	* CarefulWithThatAxe: "Dance of the Screamers" features some pretty horrifying screams.
25	* ADickInName: The titular "Billerickay Dickie" essentially brags about sexual exploits he's had, many of which qualify as rape, so he's clearly not a good person in the slightest.
26	* DontExplainTheJoke: Ian Dury's contribution to 1981's International Year Of Disabled Persons, "Spasticus Autisticus"', was banned from BBC airplay for being [[OffendingTheCreatorsOwn offensive]] - they weren't aware of Dury's [[NWordPrivileges polio-afflicted disabilities]].
27	* DualWielding: "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" famously features Davey Payne playing two saxophones simultaneously.
28	* {{Funk}}: Chaz Jankel, who wrote most of the music, was a big fan of funk music. About half the songs on ''New Boots And Panties!!'' had significant funk influences.
29	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" contains lines in German and (maybe) French.
30	* HandicappedBadass: A real life example.
31	* IntercourseWithYou: ''Wake Up and Make Love With Me" though the act itself isn't described as "what happens next is private, it's also very rude".
32	* JukeboxMusical. ''Apples'', to its misfortune. The songs are really good. The play was really poor.
33	* ListSong: "Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt. 3", which Dury later claimed was the first proper rap song.
34	* MetalScream: "Dance Of The Screamers" features some pretty aggressive screaming for its day (and genre).
35	* MisogynySong: Courtesy of the {{Jerkass}} narrator of "If I Was With a Woman".
36	* NWordPrivileges: "Spasticus Autisticus" prominently features ableist language in its title (which includes the ableist slur "spastic" and the similarly derogatory use of "autistic" as a generic insult) and lyrics; Dury himself was paralyzed on his left side from a childhood polio infection and included the language as a satire of abled society's patronizing treatment of disability.
37	* ProtestSong:
38	** "Jack Shit George", which protested against "whiners".
39	** "Spasticus Autisticus" rails against the International Year of Disability, a disability awareness campaign by the United Nations that Dury (who was paralyzed on his left side) saw as patronizing.
40	* PunkRock: The Blockheads' popularity peaked during punk and New Wave eras. Songs like "Plaistow Patricia" and "Blockheads" reflect the punk influence. After the original group broke up, Mick Gallagher and Norman Watt-Roy played with Music/TheClash on the ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!'' album (apparently, they were promised co-writing credit on "The Magnificent Seven" but never actually got it).
41	* [[RebusBubble Rebus To Be Cheerful]]: An [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/05c805a6744dd03b2a718c58b1b64884.JPG advert for the single]] featured the lyrics with pictures over key mentions.
42	* RepurposedPopSong: The 2012 UsefulNotes/ParalympicGames opening ceremony used "Spasticus Autisticus" and "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards".
43	* RockStarSong: "What a Waste" and "Sex & Drugs and & Rock & Roll".
44	* SelfDeprecation: In his own opinion, Dury couldn't sing to save his life.
45	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Possibly the TropeNamer, or at least the song writer. However, Dury later explained in interviews that he didn't write it to glorify the lifestyle, but to ask if this was all there is to it. He himself had problems with drugs and alcohol during the middle point of his career.
46	* ShoutOut:
47	** From "Spasticus Autisticus", [[Film/{{Spartacus}} "I'M]] [[IAmSpartacus SPASTICUS!"]]
48	** "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" has a bunch of them including Music/BuddyHolly, Creator/WoodyAllen, Music/JohnColtrane, and Creator/TheMarxBrothers, among others.
49	** The narrator of "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" compares himself to [[Literature/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty Walter Mitty]].
50	* SpokenWordInMusic: Dury's usual style, for the reason given under SelfDeprecation above.

Context Music / IanDuryAndTheBlockheads