And in the beginning there was C86
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel-coined description celebrating the self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as is recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 extended reissue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop.
The C86 name was a play on the labelling and length of blank compact cassettes - commonly C60, C90 and C120 - combined with 1986.
1. Primal Scream – “Velocity Girl”
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops – “Happy Head”
3. The Soup Dragons – “Pleasantly Surprised”
4. The Wolfhounds – “Feeling So Strange Again”
5. The Bodines – “Therese”
6. Mighty Mighty – “Law”
7. Stump – “Buffalo”
8. Bogshed – “Run to the Temple”
9. A Witness – “Sharpened Sticks”
10. The Pastels – “Breaking Lines”
11. Age of Chance – “From Now On, This Will Be Your God”
Side two
1. The Shop Assistants – “It’s Up to You”
2. Close Lobsters – “Firestation Towers”
3. Miaow – “Sport Most Royal”
4. Half Man Half Biscuit – “I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart)”
5. The Servants – “Transparent”
6. The Mackenzies – “Big Jim (There’s no pubs in Heaven)”
7. Big Flame – “New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)”
8. Fuzzbox – “Console Me”
9. McCarthy – “Celestial City”
10. The Shrubs – “Bullfighter’s Bones”
11. The Wedding Present – “This Boy Can Wait”
