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On this day, Cardiff-based post-punk band Young Marble Giants played Cardiff’s Grass Roots in Charles Street.
Formed in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time.
Young Marble Giants released just one studio album, Colossal Youth, in 1980. They also released two EPs and recorded a John Peel session.
Their first vinyl release was on the compilation LP Is The War Over? on Cardiff DIY label, Z Block Records, in October 1979.
While signed to UK independent record label, Rough Trade Records the YMGs released two EPs, Final Day and Testcard, and an album, Colossal Youth (a reference to the Early Greek 'Kouroi' marble statues, from which the YMGs took the inspiration for their name.)
The artwork of the album was inspired by the Beatles album, With the Beatles.
According to critic Richie Unterberger, Colossal Youth is "one of the most highly regarded indie cult post-punk recordings, with a unique hushed and minimal atmosphere."
Nirvana singer-songwriter Kurt Cobain said in a 1992 Melody Maker interview that Colossal Youth was one of the ten most influential records he had ever heard, and he also included it in a personal list of his 50 favourite albums. In the aforementioned interview, he spoke of his admiration for the album:
“This music relaxes you, it's total atmospherics. It's just nice, pleasant music. I love it. The drum machine has to have the cheesiest sound ever. We're going to be on a Young Marble Giants compilation, doing "Credit in the Straight World". I had a crush on the singer for a while—didn't everyone?
I didn't know much about them—the Moxham brothers, right? I heard they might be getting back together again recently. Isn't it weird how, when you hear something like that, you still get excited, even though you know you shouldn't?
I first heard Colossal Youth on the radio, after I started getting into K music when I lived in Olympia. It was a year before I put out the Bleach album.”
Cobain's wife Courtney Love would later record "Credit in the Straight World" with her band Hole on their second album Live Through This, released in 1994.
