Billy Mackenzie
It’s ten years since Billy’s death. I met him a few times and liked him a bit but I don’t think I came close to knowing him. Nobody did.
In the following film he’s something of a sacred cow, no-one wants to say it like it was. Read between the lines.
He was a spoiled brat, really. He never knew what it was he wanted but was always confident that he could get it. And when he couldn’t he’d convince himself and everybody else that he didn’t want it in the first place.
He had a head full of music, a lot of charm and an ear for a lyric but he never mastered an instrument. His voice was interesting and had a good range but he faked the high register and socially he was a bit of a prat.
And the film doesn’t mention the musicians he ate up and spat out: guys like Steven Reid, for example, the guitar player who co-wrote a lot of his stuff but never received any credit.
But hey, this is Galloway the iconoclast talking (if I can dis God I can dis Billy), so, if you worshiped him or if his memory is sacred to you, if you want to think of him as a lost, tortured soul, a tragic genius, you go ahead, my friend…
I won’t disillusion you.
Sing it to the angels Billy and rest in peace.
Died 22 Jan 1997.
Tags: Billy Mackenzie, In memorium, The associates
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 12:42 am
Hello, I wanted to tell you that I enjoy your blog and I reciprocated your blogroll link. I’ll be checking back.
Thanks, Natasha, me too.
Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Yeah, great stuff Gall, didn’t know the guy personally so couldn’t comment on the brat stuff,
The thing i dont get is why the music buisness is littered with people with an abundance of talent but ultimatly arn’t happy ? could it be that people still arn’t capable of mixing a pop career without the need for overindulging in narcotics. Honestly , what a waste.
Thanks for the comment, Mick. I think Billy’s biggest problem was that he had talent and didn’t really want it. It all came too easy for him and maybe he got bored.
Sunday, June 3, 2007 at 12:26 am
Do you feel better for that? Had you really waited all these years to say that?
To paraphrase:
“Billy MacKenzie died ten years ago. I didn’t like him. So yah boo sucks.”
Thanks for that insightful introspection. It’s much appreciated.
And who wants to know, when bridges are burning
When biting winds blow, and you’re slowly turning
Into that wind
That bully of nature
We’re all in this swim for lesser or greater…
Reply from web master: Do you have a problem with comprehension? Nowhere in the above do I say I didn’t like him. Nor did I wait ten years. I actually knew the guy, socially. Did you?
W
Sunday, August 26, 2007 at 1:46 am
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Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Hi
I also didn’t know him but a lot of what you say sounds ok or in keeping with what I know or have heard about him.
I definitely don’t believe there was anything faked about his high regsiter, having seen him live three times. Just watch him sing Wild is the Wind on that You Tube tribute thingy. For all his faults he could sing.
Alex
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 9:37 am
It doesn’t really have to be one or the other – a spoiled brat OR a troubled genius. It can be both – no one is just ‘one’ thing. He was clearly troubled (you wouldn’t commit suicide otherwise, frankly) and from his interviews he seems playful but I can understand if you find that to be prattish as some people don’t like that kind of character. I really enjoy his smiles and silliness. For someone who ‘faked’ his high register, it sounds pretty amazing. In any case you don’t need to master any instrument to be a musician. Maybe he didn’t give credit to people and that’s not on but Lennon, McCartney…anyone and everyone has major flaws too.
Friday, March 14, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I’d be really interested if you could tell us HOW he faked his high register?
I saw him perform live countless times and he never seemed to have any difficulty hitting the high notes.
He had incredible an vocal range.
Monday, April 14, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Billy was a positive guy surrounded by negativity,lost the fight in the end. The question is which one of you other assholes started it first, Billy remains a Scottish treasure anyway….. Dream Angus………………..RIP
Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I’m the web master of this site and I’m the ‘asshole’ that started this.
Haven’t any of you heard of irony?
Billy has. It’s in everything he ever wrote.
He and I were soul mates, I knew it, and so did he, the first time we ever spoke, although we didn’t speak long.
I wrote a few things about him when he was alive, including the thing about ‘faking the high notes’.
As it happens, we spoke about it once in the studio together, after I demonstrated how it could be done in full voice.
Look, that wasn’t derogatory: ‘faking’, in the context of singing means cutting from full voice to falsetto in the high register.
It’s not an insult: not a lot of people can do it and make it seamless. Billy could.
The first rule of journalism: cause trouble. That’s how you get a response.
I loved Billy, still do, but he was flawed and because of that he never realised his full potential.
In a sense we were rivals: I was doing what he did a good 5 years before him…
The story of his success in the music biz is the same as that of my failure in the same field.
I, however, am still alive, and if you think that I’m in any way bitter for that fact then forget it: I was ‘faking it’.
So don’t call me an asshole for playing the game…
Billy wouldn’t like you for it.
R.I.P. Billy.
Friday, April 25, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I understand what you meant and I thank you for sharing your experience and opinion on Billy MacKenzie. I still think he’s one of the greatest male vocals in pop business (just somewhere a bit above Donnie Munro
. I always thought he was somewhat strange as a person and maybe even annoying in the long run. Now I’m starting to understand where this impression came from. But despite his flaws, he was bound to become a legend – even without dying so young…
Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 8:12 am
Who was the female organ player in the party fears 2 video and does she still play in a group ?
Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hi, Mark, she’s Martha Ladly of Martha and the Muffins.
Don’t know what she’s doing now.
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 5:20 am
Hi Galloway, gud 2 see u keep this sitie goin unlike many others who 4get bout the memory of thos they set up site 4, nice 2 see an up 2 date site of Billy and his life 4 people who didnt know him but wanted 2 find out more about that amazinin soul. Good on u 4 keeping it goin and responding.
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 5:50 am
Ps that voice of billys is haunting, the guy made an amazing song & seemed 2 be highly talanted, sum people just dont know how lucky they are but prob realise it after their death, wot an amazing and haunting song he sang, a song that will stay with me 4ever. Do u think party fears 2 was with him when he died Galloway ?
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 6:46 am
Ps go and inbox my mate loretta at hotnwet.co.uk, she is a big fan of the Associates and she told me about Billys music, im frm Belfast and am a big fan of scottish pop groups like the Associates, Alterd Images, Texas and so many more, pls go and mention me, id llike 2 correspond more with u on the scottish beat as so many good bands came and still do come from Scotland.
Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Billy’s product came out of a very complex consciousness.
‘Complex’ is the active word in that sentence.
He had a good ear for a phrase and worked very much on the literary side of the biz (or art, depending on how you see it) but Billy never really did anything on his own; he was a reactor and an inter-actor.
He wrote words and created melodies to other people’s chord sequences, drew figures on other artists’ landscapes, and did that with such style.
What makes his ‘product’ worthy of being refered to as ‘art’ is the very fact of its complexity, in the literal sense: it was Billy, but it was always with ‘associates’, and the band members and writing partners always changed.
Why?
As someone close to him I guess it was because deep down Billy saw musicians as a kind of collective muse; he didn’t create music, he was inspired by it, to add to it and expand it …
Objectively speaking, he was a bit of a parasite.
I don’t care.
Art will always eat itself, ultimately.
I wish for another chance to have a beer with him.
Oh, and by the way, Mark, seems to me you might be commenting to spam a porn site. Whilst I have no problem with porn, if that’s what rocks you, I really do have an issue with spam, so…
Well, enough said.
Friday, October 10, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Sorry didnt mean it as a spam, my apolagies to you sir, ure words are very well spoken and thank you for ure insight.
Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Not a problem, Mark, you’re welcome here, any time, or way…
Monday, May 4, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Why did they break up after the Sulk Album, they could have been big, what a shame