In summer 2001, Parlophone records put out "Our Label", a sampler for records on their label. Amongst the featured artistes were Radiohead, the Gorillaz, the Pet Shop Boys, and Idlewild. Track 13 is a strange one, though. "Days Go By" is a bass beat with a thumping drum over the top.
The act concerned was Dirty Vegas, and at the time, they were a bit of a loss-leader for the label. The single came out in UK clubs, moved a few thousand copies, scraped into the bottom end of the sales charts during May, then left without making any significant impact. As was the case for any number of other faceless dance acts, that was going to be that.
Except...
Fast forward to spring 2002, and a US car advertisment is looking for an atmospheric groove that hasn't been a hit. Enter the south London trio (Paul Harris, Ben Harris, Steve Smith) and their minor hit from six months earlier. It's signed up for the ad, gets played about 10,000 times in a month, and the song manages to worm its way into the American consciousness, and into that country's top 10. This was the first UK entry to the Hot 100 for three weeks, the first time we've not been making it stateside in since October 63.
In this country, there's some attendant media interest, but not as much as the "national disgrace" of flopping out of the US lists. Then people took another listen to the vaguely hypnotic sound of "Days Go By," and how it's one sustained instrumental with a few vocoder vocals adding to a summery concoction. And they rather liked it second time round.
Therein lies the problem for the UK music industry. It's obsessed with ultra-short-term profits. Witness the eighteen months of Hera;sey - put together for the POPSTARS programme in early 2001, splitting before the second series has run its course. Witness the instant, hook-laden singles that pass for "most popular," and how refreshing it is to have the likes of John Otway and Gordon Haskell in the top ten. Though it's a million stylistic miles from those crooners, the laid back attitude of the single bears comparisons.
Why the group renamed themselves from Hydrogen Rockers is best left to confuse posterity.
The album Dirty Vegas
is out already.