From title on downwards, this comedy sketch (we're using 'comedy' pretty broadly here) B-side to "Keep The Home Fires Burning" makes for painful repeated listening. A couple of jokes about "Slight Return"'s status as their best known song raise a smirk initially, but for the most part it's all horribly sixth form, consisting of jokes about students getting 'totally caned' and talking about Bagpuss. Argh.
I won't inflict the track on you or deal with it much more, but it's a useful jumping off point to note some interesting connections to British comedy at this time. First of all, it's listed as 'Armageddon (Outta Here) featuring Matt Lucas'. He's probably doing all of the 'funny' voices on it I guess, although the uptight visitor is the only one I'm completely sure of. Him and David Walliams also appear in the video to "Mudslide" from later in 2000. This was the time of Rock Profile rather than Little Britain so the two weren't exactly household names yet but since then, of course, they've moved on up to success and doing videos with Pet Shop Boys.
Secondly, the one saving grace of the track was the first appearance of Science & Nature's excellent instrumental "Blood Bubble" in the background. As I've discovered after watching the whole of both series of Spaced in the past week, "Blood Bubble" is also used as the backdrop to the intro and final gunfight scene (go to 03:00) in an episode in which the main characters mistakenly give some teenagers oregano instead of marijuana and everything is much, much funnier than in "Armageddon (Outta Here)". A number of different Bluetones songs are used throughout the second series and the band themselves make an appearance in the crowd for the Robot Wars/Fight Club episode (go to about 00:25)
Since then, of course, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have moved on up to making movies and hanging out with Coldplay. Such is life.
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Hmm... Well it is well produced, in that listening on headphones it really does sound disturbingly like somebody is playing 'Blood Bubble' in the distance. I remember all the hype about this track but I don't even think it's the best B-side on this release, which is probably why I hadn't listened to it for about five years.
BTW, I'm sure it's Matt Lucas doing the voice in the right channel, and I presume he's doing the others as well. Which means it must have been scripted, worryingly.
PS: Note for any Matt Lucas fans who Google this at random - you can get this track on the album A Rough Outline if you must.
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