SCARED TO GET HAPPY (A Story Of Indie Pop 1980-1989) is the first box set ever to the explosion of Indie Pop in Britain across the 1980s. Compiled in loosely chronological fashion, the five CDs chart Indie Pop’s development from the post punk era and the dominance of Scottish bands through to its genre-defining C86 period and onto the end of the decade, with the arrival of Madchester and the shoegazing sound.
Inspired by the Nuggets compilations, the box set boasts 134 tracks spanning the Eighties, drawn from all the key labels of the period – Creation, Factory, Cherry Red, Rough Trade, Sarah, Subway Organisation, Zoo, Kitchenware, Pink, Chapter 22, In Tape, Medium Cool, Lazy, Dreamworld, 53rd & 3rd, Ron Johnson, el, Vindaloo, Red Rhino, Food, etc.
Many of the bands later tasted mainstream success: Primal Scream, Aztec Camera, Stone Roses, Pulp, the Wonder Stuff, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, the Inspiral Carpets, the Soup Dragons, the Wedding Present, James, the La’s, del Amitri, the Primitives, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Prefab Sprout, the Shamen, Cud, the Bluebells, Black, the House Of Love, Strawberry Switchblade, Pop Will Eat Itself, the Darling Buds, Fuzzbox, That Petrol Emotion, the Railway Children, Jamie Wednesday (as Carter USM), the Milltown Brothers and the Boo Radleys.
The box set boasts a stylish 54-page booklet with a lengthy sleeve-note detailing each track and illustrations of the records and bands involved.
A few tracks (Strawberry Switchblade, Soup Dragons, Bluebells, Close Lobsters, etc.) have never officially been released before. Many others are extremely rare and make their debut on CD.
SCARED TO GET HAPPY will be promoted by a mini-festival at London’s 229 club on June 22nd, with an impressive roster: the Primitives, the BMX Bandits, the Brilliant Corners, the June Brides, Mighty Mighty, the Wolfhounds, the Popguns, 14 Iced Bears, the Blue Orchids and Yeah Yeah Noh.