You Keep Me Hanging On: 1974 Revisited - The new bands

1974. While the UK was thrashing about trying to decide who was in charge - last time round - these bands were coming together:



The Nits - Dutch Beatle-influenced pop briefly intersecting with Golden Earring. Actually, given The Beatles had recently been having a go at everything they could think of, it must have been hard for anyone to launch a record without someone spotting some Beatles influence.

[Buy: In The Dutch Mountain]



Poised to somehow pass off pub-rock and strippers as being punk, The Stranglers had their first rehearsal while Wilson chewed his nails.

[Buy: Decades Apart]



Hey, ho, let's go... The Ramones came together at a school in Forest Hill. Which is odd, considering they're all related, right?

[Buy Anthology]

Across New York...



Working for the time being under the name Angel And The Snake, the band who would become Blondie were wrestling themselves out of The Stilettos.


[Buy: Parallel Lines]

But while punk was coalescing, something else was stirring - a band who wouldn't release a record for four years, but would be a leap forward:



Japan. They'd be along to save us during the early Thatcher years.

[Buy: The Collection]

Part of You Keep Me Hanging On: 1974 revisited]