The music used during the famous Goal of the Month segment on ‘Match of the Day’ is arguably less important now than it used to be.
Football supporters who grew up in a certain era will undoubtedly have fond memories of hearing ‘The Life of Riley’ by the Lightning Seeds and ‘Sequence Three’ by the Italian composer Gianfranco Reverberi once a month. Some may even suggest that Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Is This Music?’ is the best song to have appeared on the programme.
These pieces of music meant something to football supporters in the past and the producers of the show used to put some thought into the song choices, but now they just use any old indie claptrap like ‘In This City’ by the ridiculously named Iglu and Hartly. Popular nostalgia, however, seems to have forgotten that Salad’s ‘Drink the Elixir’ was used as the segment’s theme music during the mid-1990s.
It is fair to say that prior to the release of ‘Drink the Elixir’ in February 1995, Salad did not have the best of reputations in the music industry.
They were ridiculed for having the MTV presenter and model Marijne van der Vlugt as their lead singer, and their early output was clunky at best.
As the excellent Left and to the Back blog points out, even the band’s press officer admitted that they were “a bit shit”.
And it’s easy to see, as early singles like ‘Diminished Clothes’ also had van der Vlugt as a keyboardist that had pathos in the same vein as Frank Sidebottom. It was a little bit embarrassing, to say the least.
Something changed, though, when ‘Drink the Elixir’ was released.
Instead of going down the usual “lets change our clothes” route, when a band undergoes a revamp, it was the production values that changed.
The messy and clumsy sound of ‘Your Ma’ went out of the window, and in came a slicker and more professional sound.
It did not sound like it had been recorded in someone’s shed any more and they started to sound like a proper band, rather than a vanity project for some deluded satellite television presenter.
The erraticness of van der Vlugt’s keyboard skills and the questionable lyrical content remained, as seen by several confusing lines – “I’ll wrap myself in bandages/’Till it gets ridiculous/And nobody will bother me” – but the attitude changed.
The brazing guitar riffs were more forceful than ever, which helped to create a tighter melody, and the track also saw an improved and more natural vocal performance from van der Vlugt.
‘Drink the Elixir’ also used the approach – as used by The Breeders’ in their classic ‘Cannonball‘ – of having a series of soft but teasing verses, followed by a rapturous chorus that was bursting full of energy.
The two contrasting styles blended together well – particularly during the superb break and subsequent end of the song – that had a strong sense of urgency, tempo and triumphancy.
They suddenly had a purpose and a concept, something that many Britpop bands failed to have.
Salad built upon this momentum after this, during their creative and commercial peak in 1995, with two further singles – ‘Motorbike to Heaven’ and ‘Granite Statue’– which both peaked inside the UK Top 50 Singles Chart.
They also managed to have a Top 20 album in ‘Drink Me’, during this period.
Both of these tracks had exactly the approach as ‘Drink the Elixir’ – having two contrasting sounds in the verses and chorus – so the band could be considered as being a one-trick pony, which possibly explains why their career never stepped up a gear after their appearance on ‘Match of the Day’.
What can be said, though, is that ‘Drink the Elixir’ was one of the most powerful and exciting records from the less than distinctive Britpop era.
They finally released something that most bands would be more than satisfied with. In a nutshell: a belter of song.
Strangely, even though I remember Salad, and I was a MotD viewer, of course, I don’t remember ‘Elixir’ being used on Goal of the Month. Must be getting old. For some reason, I do remember it once being used in some other football show around that time; it may have been Standing Room Only, but don’t quote me on that. But yeah, as you suggest, Salad may have had their limitations, but they had one more good song than most bands manage.
Cheers. I wasn’t certain that ‘Drink the Elixir’ was used on MotD myself (my memory doesn’t stretch that far!), but a fair few comments on forums, blogs and video clips have suggested that it was. It could well be the case that, like you said, it was used on ‘Standing Room Only’ and not on MotD. It does seem to be the case that it was used on a football show, even if it’s not clear which one!
Reminds me of being 19 and watching Ferdinand, Gillespie and Ginola rip defences apart. Fantastic stuff.
Cheers mate – pleased it brought back fond memories!
I must admit to owning Your Ma </i<. It's even on my iPod. It is indeed "a bit shit", but only a bit. Listenable if one is in the mood. This post reminds me of other bands with music industry connections like Regular Fries and the infamous Gay Dad.
I was deeply smitten by Marijne van der Vlugt as a 14-year-old. Always thought that Salad were like a weirder, scrappier Echobelly. I really rather liked “Your Ma”; she was always better when she had a vocal she could get stuck into. I always quite liked a cruddy little b-side they did called “Palm Trees On The Moon” too.
According to Wikipedia, Marijne will be 46 this year. Nothing has ever made me feel older. I bet she’s still lovely though.
Blimey, I had no idea there was much love for ‘Your Ma’! Agreed on Majine’s vocals being better depending on the strength of the song – it certainly helped ‘Drink the Elixir’, ‘Motorbike from Heaven’, ‘Granite Statue’ and the (pretty decent) chorus of ‘Your Ma’.
I’m surprised that Marijne is in her mid-40s, too – thought she was much younger. Judging from the video you linked earlier, though, she’s aged really well.