Talk:The Mekons

Mekons.de

Will remove the url mekons.de since it contain a exploitive code to iexplorer6/outlook6 and imediately install trojans and hi-jackers.

I know the guy who runs the site and I let him know about the problem and he repared it today. --BarbD 14:23, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Nobby Knape! Acwilson9 (talk) 08:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Band membership

The Tom Greenhalgh page mentions some other band members - Kevin Lycett and Mark White - not mentioned here. Is this the same Mark White who was briefly a member of ABC (band)? --RichardVeryard 12:47, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Don't think so. Guy Hatton 11:24, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Briefly? According to this site he was a member for 12 years. Regardless, AllMusic Guide says it is the same guy. The Secretary of Funk 07:33, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I think AMG is probably (not for the first time) talking out of its arse. According to the ABC article, Mark White was in the band in 1980 and they were at the height of their success around 1982. The Mekons Mark White was in the band from the first single in 1978 to "English Dancing Master" in 1983. I suspect whoever wrote the AMG entry just assumed that there was only one Mark White from northern England in the early eighties. --ajn (talk) 09:37, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Whether he is the same Mark White or not, he still needs to be mentioned on the Mekons page, along with Kevin Lycett.--RichardVeryard 00:15, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

A lot of stuff needs to be added to this page. The Secretary of Funk 08:02, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Anyone want to take on adding one of those band membership and recording timelines? If so, how would Mitch be classified - MC/backing vocals/dancer/denied-US-entry? Would the bifurcation with the revived "Mekons 77" be shown as two separate timelines? (Don't forget Sophie Bourbon - JOKE.) Acwilson9 (talk) 20:04, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Acwilson9, I for one would be delighted if you took this on. Ceoil (talk) 23:06, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Well, Ceoil, what would we do about Mitch? and the bifurcated band? Aside from album liner notes, where are the sources for who was playing what when? (I suppose we could ask Ken, Jon, and Andy, but would we trust their memories?) In any case, I myself am unlikely to get to this any time soon. Acwilson9 (talk) 05:40, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Actually, Nobby Knape and Terry Nelson might be more reliable sources. When I can, I'll ask them. (We'd also need to consider temporary touring substitutes, including, but not limited to, Robbie Fulks and Jean Cook. Acwilson9 (talk) 08:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

The photograph

Can we have a caption for the photograph that actually identifies the five members in the picture? The current caption lists nine people, with no indication of which ones are actually pictured, when the photo was taken, etc. My understanding is that not all nine were in the band at the same time, so some clarification is in order. ---Theoldanarchist_Comhrá 16:15, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Pop culture references

I bring this "Other Bands Referencing The Mekons" section here for discussion:

• The 1990 re-issue of Too Much Joy's album Son Of Sam I Am contains a track entitled "If I Was A Mekon", a tribute to the band.
• On 1993's Hey Drag City, a compilation released by Chicago's Drag City Records, Will Oldham's contribution was a song called "For the Mekons, et al." This track was included on Lost Blues and Other Songs, a rarities compilation he released in 1997.

This section is, for all intents and purposes, a trivia section (and a rather paltry and pathetic one at that), and as such, violates Wikipedia policy. I think nothing is lost if it is deleted altogether. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 21:05, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

(The section was deleted.) Could revive it as a "Mekons' (friends') tribute" section... Notably, in 2016 Oldham released his Mekons-coversFanatic Voyage by his "Chivalrous Amoekons" - see Will Oldham discography. The Sadies have also covered the Mekons. Acwilson9 (talk) 20:17, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

The Trash Can Sinatras apparently covered "Ghost of American Astronauts". "The Great American Cover-Up 2020" does the Mekons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFv8ZxnsrLY . Acwilson9 (talk) 08:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

"Mekons 77", "Mini-Mekons", "Freakons", etc.

Covering these 3 offshoots is getting messy. Suggestions and further edits from the community would be great. I myself have hacked at the "Mekons" article, but further refinements are likely in order, because offshoots are releasing albums:

- "Mekons 77" is a completely authorized reunion of the original line-up, which includes the sole two continuous members.  For "Mekons 77", I added a second infobox, which looks clumsy but gets the job done.  An album was recorded in 2017 and is to be released in March 2018.  In the UK, "Mekons 77" did/will tour in summer 2017 and in April 2018.
- The name "Mini-Mekons" appears to be used for any shows and recordings that include Langford & Timms, but not Greenhaulgh.  The album "Jura" was released several years ago.
- "Freakons" are not yet mentioned at all in either the Mekons or the Freakwater Wikipedia article.  But, "Freakons" are now recording an album.  "Freakons" is a contraction of "FREAKwater" + & "mini-meKONS" - in other words, Langford, Timms, Janet Bean, Catherine Irwin, and whomever else they bring to the gig/studio, mainly in Chicago.  In Sep. 2013 and Sep 2017, "Freakons" performed songs about coal miners a few times in Chicago (at The Hideout Inn) and elsewhere in the Midwest, to support the "Kentuckians For The Commonwealth" org.  (https://www.kftc.org/ ; https://www.hideoutchicago.com/event/362679-freakons-chicago/ ; https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/alt-country-heroes-freakwater-and-postpunk-lifers-the-mekons-come-together-to-get-their-freakons/Content?oid=29814321 )

(FYI: It appears to me that the de facto core of the current Mekons is Langford, Timms, & Greenhaulgh. Although I occasionally speak to Langford & Timms at gigs in Chicago (where all 3 of us live), I have not asked them whether they also see it that way. On the other hand, Langford & Timms HAVE made it clear to media reporters, and to me, that getting the whole band together at one time & place is very difficult, due to individual members' other commitments, the band's severe financial constraints, and the fact that the individual members homes are scattered across the United States, UK, and Ireland (formerly Siberia).) Acwilson9 (talk) 10:01, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Yesterday, I added a new Freakons paragraph (and also added almost exactly the same text to the Freakwater article). Acwilson9 (talk) 21:06, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

"The Mekons" vs mekons

Per this interview with Jon Langford:

TL: So, before we go further, I need to clear something up. Is it mekons or The Mekons? Because I see it both ways, and my OCD is getting the best of me.
JL: Just mekons now. I think we just—people say The Mekons all the time but we’re identified as a band as mekons lower case.

Unmake (talk) 11:18, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

It's not obvious to me that Langford meant this seriously. For example, see how it's typed on his, Timms', and the band's fb pages. Acwilson9 (talk) 08:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Tributes to the Mekons?

Should we add a section on tributes to the Mekons, or is that too trivial? (I don't know what Wikipedia's policy is on band tributes.) Examples might include

• The Sadies, under various pseudonyms (e.g., "Eagletons"), opening for the Mekons as a Mekons tribute band at almost every concert of the Mekons' 25th North American anniversary tour in 1992 (but NOT for the Mekons' Friday afternoon acoustic show at the Chicago Cultural Center);
• 2016 album Fanatic Voyage by the "Chivalrous Amoekons" (Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie "Prince" Billy);
• "The Great Cover-UP 2020": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFv8ZxnsrLY .

Are there any others? Acwilson9 (talk) 03:37, 15 October 2020 (UTC)