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The Housemartins

City of Origin: Hull, England, UK

Period of Activity: Mid-1980s

Members: Norman Cook, Stan Cullimore, Paul Heaton, David Hemingway, Ted Key, Hugh Whitaker

Related Artists: The Beautiful South

Discography:

• London 0 Hull 4 (1986)
• The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death (1987)
• Now That's What I Call Quite Good (1988, compilation)

Social Media: None

As a popular British jangle pop band in the 1980s, the Housemartins obviously get a lot of comparisons to the Smiths. But to me, the Housemartins have a much brighter sound to them: less post-punk and more acoustic, plus some soul influences too. Though the thing I like best about them is that the bassist has a bigger role here, which makes the Housemartins sound much brighter than their better-known contemporaries.