Industrial action and pop stardom: How a BBC strike lead to the creation of Frank Sidebottom
Protest and industrial action have brought the world a range of wonderful things, from women’s suffrage to the five-day week. Perhaps the most unexpected result of industrial action came in 1980, when a short-lived BBC strike paved the way for the weird and wonderful world of Frank Sidebottom, the papier-mâché creation of Chris Sievey, who transformed comedy in the 1980s. So, the next time some arrogant Tory MP remarks on Question Time, “What have protests ever given the world?” you can confidently reply, “Frank Sidebottom”.
Timperley’s favourite son, Chris Sievey, was a self-confessed Beatles junkie with dreams of pop stardom at a time of punk rebellion. Forming The Freshies in 1978, Sievey set about creating his own rebellion, going against the grain of the moody post-punk that was filling the airwaves of Manchester. The Freshies are a criminally overlooked outfit in the history of Mancunian music, with a line-up boasting the likes of Billy Duffy, Rick Sarko and Mike Doherty, among many others – it was even rumoured Johnny Marr had tried to join the ranks at one point.
The undisputed highlight of The Freshies career came in 1980, with the release of the snappily titled, ‘I’m In Love With the Girl on the Manchester Virgin Megastore Check-out Desk’. This endearingly comedic yet poppy track gave Sievey and The Freshies their best opportunity to reach the musical stardom they so greatly desired. The single, released by Sievey’s own label, Razz, reached a modest 54 in the UK singles charts, earning them a spot on the flagship BBC music programme Top of the Pops.
The importance of Top of the Pops on the musical landscape of 1970s Britain cannot be overstated; it had the power to make or break pop stars. So, when The Freshies secured a place on the show, they were set – except for one small snag. The week that the band were booked onto the programme, a strike at the BBC meant that that week’s programme was cancelled. By the time the strike was resolved and TOTP returned, the single had gone down in the charts and was deemed unworthy of being on the show.
This missed opportunity marked the beginning of the end for The Freshies, who disbanded in 1982. Sievey would continue on as a solo artist for a few years, making very little impact on the musical mainstream of the UK, before that fateful day when he constructed his first papier-mâché head, and changed his life forever. Originally, Sievey would don a giant head and perform as his own support act, Frank Sidebottom, who was a superfan of Sievey and The Freshies. Gradually, though, the bizarre personality of Frank Sidebottom took over entirely, becoming a national phenomenon infiltrating the world of television, music, comic books and even animation.
Characterised by his high-pitched voice, pink tie, and utter adoration for the small village of Timperley, Frank Sidebottom is simultaneously the strangest and most endearing comedy characters of the 20th century. Throughout his varied career, he would release outlandish covers of pop songs by the likes of Queen, The Smiths and David Bowie, in addition to appearing on popular television programmes on Granada and Yorkshire Television.
A mainstay of television screens and the stages of Northern pubs, Sidebottom soon amassed a cult following that allowed Sievey to live out the life of pop stardom that he had dreamed of since childhood. Beloved by everybody from Anne Nightingale to Tony Wilson, a world without Frank Sidebottom would have been considerably duller, so we owe a great deal to the industrial action of the BBC during the 1980s – you know we do, we really do.
