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Skunk Anansie frontwoman Skin has said she thinks the band’s story was overlooked because people were constantly talking about Britpop.
- Read more: Skunk Anansie: “All anybody wanted to talk about back then was Britpop, Britpop, Britpop”
Speaking in a new interview, Skin, who recently released her memoir It Takes Blood And Guts, discussed her band’s legacy and what it was that influenced her to publish her first book.
“It sort of came out of LIVE@25 – celebrating 25 years of Skunk Anansie – and I guess that was the first time in our career we collectively looked backwards because we’re quite a forward thinking band,” Skin told Radio X.
“My co-writer Lucy O’Brien said: ‘Why don’t you write a book?'” she continued. “My first reaction was: ‘About what? I haven’t done anything. I’ve just been in a band for years.’ And then the more I thought about it the more I put it in the context of, you know there seem to be a lot of bands coming out about Britpop in the 90s. And in some ways I thought our story and the stories of people like us was kinda getting whitewashed and trampled over with people talking about Britpop on and on and on.
“So after a few months I thought: ‘Yeah, there is an alternative story to tell.’ There was a massive rock scene, there was a massive drum and base scene. You can draw a line from Goldie to Stormzy I think personally and I just thought it was good to have an alternative story from someone who was very different… but also my band was very successful at the same time as Britpop.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Skin talked about what she thinks makes the British music scene special, highlighting in particular The Prodigy‘s contributions.
“Britain is really good at smashing lots of things together to produce something absolutely brand new and that’s why I think we’re the leaders when it comes to new music,” she said. “We have a lot of diversity and I think that diversity goes right into our musical styles.”
“You’ve got to think about The Prodigy. That was when The Prodigy were at their biggest. They played Glastonbury two years before did and that band influenced all of us. Skunk Anansie were influenced by a lot of American bands like Rage Against The Machine and Nirvana and a lot stuff like that but there was a massive massive rock scene as well.”
“I find it really difficult to listen to Michael Jackson. I keep trying but I can’t,” she said. “When I was little, I had a picture of him with his big afro on my wall. It was the only poster I’ve had in my whole life of anyone on the wall.
“I think he made incredible music, but I went off him in the ’90s. I saw the Netflix thing about him, and when I met him I thought he was creepy. But obviously the music will be there until the end of time. I just can’t shake all the stories about him.”
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