History Music / Microdisney

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The original five piece group was called Micro-Disney. When everyone but Cathal and Sean left, they changed the group name to Microdisney.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* StylisticParody: The song "Little Town In Ireland" is a dig at Irish folk music, and the various versions of "I Can't Say No" are parodies of CountryMusic ("I Can't Say No"), pub rock ("Can't I Say No"), eastern european folk music ("No I Can't Say") and {{Jazz}} ("Say No I Can't").

%%* LineOfSightName: Microdisney's name was a tabloid nickname (A play on Eurodisney) for a Butlins holiday camp that was in a particularly religious part of Ireland. The aforementioned camp closed down due to the religious complaints that it was bringing America debauchery into the area, then was turned into an insane asylum, followed by a refugee camp (both of which were far worse for the crime rate.). The group found the contast amusing, and Cathal took the name of a rough Dublin housing estate, "The Fatima Mansions" for his next group.

* MoneyDearBoy: This was the main reason the band signed to Virgin, as Rough Trade did not pay them enough to cover the numerous bills they had to pay. Whilst the band did get better distribution on Virgin, their later material suffered from ExecutiveMeddling, largely with lyrics.

* OutOfOrder: Whilst it mostly collects their music in chronological order, Daunt Square To Elsewhere places the tracks that first appeared on "We Hate You South African Bastards" after those that appeared on "Everybody Is Fantastic". All the tracks on "Bastards" were recorded before "Everybody Is Fantastic", but only four of them were released at the time. As a result, the remaining tracks have a later copyright date, thus explaining why they are OutOfOrder.

** "Send Herman Home" has "Good old Ch-Ches-ter Clark" with the first part pronounced exactly like the first two thirds of Ceaucescu, a Romanian dictator who Cathal would reference in his Fatima Mansion single "blues for Ceaucescu".

%%* LineOfSightName: Microdisney's name was a tabloid nickname (A play on Eurodisney) for a Butlins holiday camp that was in a particularly religious part of Ireland. The aforementioned camp closed down due to the religious complaints that it was bringing America debauchery into the area, then was turned into an insane asylum, followed by a refugee camp (both of which were far worse for the crime rate.). The group found the contast amusing, and Cathal took the name of a rough housing estate, "The Fatima Mansions" for his next group.

* UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra: See "Completely Missing The Point", below.

*** And the Beirut train on "High And Dry".
*** Money For The Trams has the line "Take your clothes off...". The later song "Give Me All Of Your Clothes" shares a similar sentiment. It may imply that the person intends to steal the clothes so he can sell them.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: The title of the album ''We Hate You South African Bastards'' was titled in reference to [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]]. The label tried to get them to change it to ''We Hate You White South African Bastards'' but the band felt that the smart people would understand it. It still caused a lot of controversy, leading to the album to be renamed ''Love Your Enemies'' 12 years later, when it was rereleased.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Numerous occasions, especially on their last two albums.
** In High And Dry, Cathal managed to fit the line 'See you all in hell' into the backing vocals, something which is hard to notice.

* LineOfSightName: Microdisney's name was a tabloid nickname (A play on Eurodisney) for a Butlins holiday camp that was in a particularly religious part of Ireland. The aforementioned camp closed down due to the religious complaints that it was bringing America debauchery into the area, then was turned into an insane asylum, followed by a refugee camp (both of which were far worse for the crime rate.). The group found the contast amusing, and Cathal took the name of a rough housing estate, "The Fatima Mansions" for his next group.

* {{Oirish}}: Humane has the line "die with a smile", pronounced like "doi with a smoile".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/microdisney_8416.jpg]]

* HarshVocals: Cathal screams in "National Anthem", "Everybody Is Dead (Peel Session)", "464" (especially live), "Money For The Trams" and live versions of "Back To The Old Town". This side of him became much more pronounced in FatimaMansions.

* UsefulNotes/IrishAccents: Cathal has a thick Irish accent which is apparent in his singing.

** Also, the album title "Everybody Is Fantastic", which is almost the same as the title of the last song "Everybody Is Dead". Of course, the title of the album is sarcastic.

* AllThereInTheManual: In a rare musical example, Cathal's handwritten lyric sheets for their albums "The Clock Comes Down The Stairs" and "Crooked Mile" also contain extra text that sheds light on the meanings of the songs. He also wrote self-deprecating liner notes for "Everybody Is Fantastic" (under the guise of a journalist) and "We Hate You South African Bastards" (under his real name). Furthermore, all their releases with the exception of 39 Minutes have phrases etched into their runout grooves. None of these things were replicated for their CD releases.

* Determinator: At a 1984 gig, the power went out, and Cathal sang a few acapella songs and cracked a few jokes, to entertain the crowd whilst the problem was sorted out. This despite the crowd constantly heckling him.

* Ireland
* IrishAccents: Cathal has a thick Irish accent which is apparent in his singing.
* JohnPeel: Peel was a big fan of the band and they performed six sessions for him. It began with Peel's championing of early single tracks "Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost" and "Pink Skinned Man". When he heard Cathal and Sean had relocated to London in 1983, still unsigned, he invited them over for a session. The resultant exposure led them to get signed to Rough Trade, and it sparked a long friendship and six radio sessions (four tracks each). The Peel Sessions are beloved by fans as many of the tracks are in earlier or more abrasive arrangements to their released versions. The song "Half A Day" was only ever recorded for its Peel Session.

* IrishNames: Cathal and Sean.

* ArcSymbol: There is a recurring theme of rail based transport. Train tracks appear on both "The Clock Comes Down The Stairs" and "39 Minutes", and a tram appears on the cover of the single "Birthday Girl".

*** An early song "Dreaming Drains" features the line "What is the worst thing they can do? Leave me to dream I'm rich in some drain?". Their last single, "Gale Force Wind" features the line "Nights of soaking in the city's drains - he hates the rich but he hates in vain." implying that the narrator of Dreaming Drains has become the homeless person in Gale Force Wind simply because of the CrapsackWorld he inhabits.

** "Genius" is one towards Bono.

* LampshadeHanging: Cathal's line "She's trying to pronounce my name" in Town To Town, echoes one of his problems with journalists outside of Ireland. It's pronounced like Carl Cofflan.

* Synthesizeritis: "High and Dry".

** Cathal did adlib Music/RodStewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" in the throwaway B-Side track "No I Can't Say", although it's only a couple of lines.
* CreatorBacklash: The former members of the band will often say that Microdisney was the past and that they were young and naive then, and that they've gone onto better things. Fans tend to disagree.
** Perhaps due to renewed interest in the band, Cathal and Sean seem to have become warmer about those times in recent years.
* CreatorBreakdown: The album Everybody Is Fantastic for despair, the song 464 for anger. We Hate You South African Bastards for a combination of the two.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The band cite this as a reason for breaking up after their last album, 39 Minutes. The label were after a hit and the album has the hallmarks of 80s production.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The band's discography is out of print on CD with the exception of a couple of Best Of compilations. There are also few B Sides that haven't appeared on CD, such as fan favourites Harmony Time and Money For The Trams. There are also many songs from radio sessions that didn't appear on their Peel Sessions CD and so are circulated by fans who originally taped them.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The band's early work is on drum machines and early 80s synths because they didn't have a full band at the time of recording. The band's last album has later 80s synths and production because the record company insisted.
** Many of the band's lyrics pertaining to [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]], [[Music/CultureClub Boy George]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the IRA]], to name just a few, indicate their 80s origin.

Microdisney were a Music/NewWave band from Cork, UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}. They relocated to UsefulNotes/{{London}}, England early in their career.

* MissingEpisode: Despite releasing several demo tapes in 1980 and 1981, as well as recording a radio session at that time, only three songs from this period have turned up (the session tracks "Mitchelstown", "Leper" and "Cack Hand"), which were recorded by a fan at the the time of their broadcast.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Whilst the band's musical directions were totally at odds when they broke up in the late 80s (Cathal's anger and Sean's melody taken to their logical extreme in their solo work), they have both reached a creative and melodic point where they are on a similar page musically. However it is unlikely they will work together again.
** The band played the original song "King Of Free Speech" on several gigs on their last tour, leading people to believe it would be recorded later on. Ultimately, this never happened.

* StylisticParody: The song "Little Town In Ireland" is a dig at Irish folk music, and the various versions of I Can't Say No are parodies of country music (I Can't Say No), pub rock (Can't I Say No), eastern european folk music (No I Can't Say) and jazz (Say No I Can't).
* StylisticSuck: The various versions of I Can't Say No, as well as Little Town In Ireland.

* Synthesizeritis: High And Dry.
* TakeThat: The doctor in Rack: "He spent fifteen years in a jesuit school, and now he's not fit for any job" Ouch.