We love Wales, from the mountains of Snowdonia to the Valleys down South. We also love the music that rings out of Cymru - and getting all of the good ones into just 500 words is impossible, but with the very real risk of offending over three million people front of mind, here are some of our favourites…
Let’s start in the North, Bangor to be precise, with neo-soul chanteuse Duffy, whose 2008 debut album Rockferry, with its killer lead single Mercy, has now shifted over 10 million copies worldwide. Speaking of Divas, Bonnie Tyler was born plain old Gaynor Hopkins in Neath, before Jim “Meatloaf” Steinman penned the definitive power ballad Total Eclipse of The Heart for her in 1983 - and there are plenty of Bonnie bargains to be had in the Daddy Pop store as well.
Wales has always had a fine tradition of rebellious rock n’ roll bands as well, amongst them Badfinger, who produced 1970’s No Dice for the Beatles Apple label. In a different era, indie poppers Catatonia – led by the ebullient Cerys Matthews - were bona fide huge by the time International Velvet was released, whilst Cwmaman outfit The Stereophonics gave us a series of high energy guitar blasts including Word Gets Around and Performance and Cocktails. Also flying the flag proudly in this category are Newport’s Feeder, whose anthem Seven Days In The Sun graced the platinum status Echo Park.
It’s also a country with a vibrant electronic music scene and is home to the ever popular DJ Sasha, along with Mike and Charlotte Taylor – AKA Hybrid - whose 1999 album Wide Angle is widely regarded as a trance classic, whilst true to form the hip-hop parody collective Goldie Lookin’ Chain boldly titled their breakout album Greatest Hits.
One of the undisputed big guns of the last twenty five years though has been the tank driving, costume wearing Super Furry Animals, who since their 1996 debut Fuzzy Logic have gradually become an institution, spawning side projects and solo careers, most notably for lead singer Gruff Rhys. For beginners, either 2004’s Songbook: The Singles or 2016’s Zoom! The Best of…are good places to start.
Whilst we’re on the topic of essential bands we couldn’t fail to mention Blackwood’s finest, The Manic Street Preachers, renowned across the globe for their own constantly evolving brand of punk rock. It’s hard to pick favourites from a back catalogue of such distinction, but you really can’t go wrong with 1996’s Everything Must Go, or the wonderfully poignant Send Away the Tigers.
And finally, it would be a crime for us not to talk about the country’s most famous sons, Tom Jones and Shakin’ Stevens. Both are still performing, but Tom’s finest hour was undoubtedly It’s Not Unusual, the kitsch classic that originally featured on his album Along Came Tom Jones and has been included on numerous greatest hits compilations since. As for Shaky – well he got his big break doing a cover of Stuart Hamblen’s 1954 classic This Ole’ House and as well as somewhere in our warehouse, you can definitely still find him behind the Green Door.