How Could This Be?

I missed this when it was new.

The Cocteau Twins won the award for "The Most Inspirational Band Ever" at the Q Awards!

Liz says this is the only award the band has ever won.

My mind boggles.

In any case, I'm happy to see the recognition thing starting while they're all still alive.

I notice their fan base is thoroughly international and not just centered in the anglophone world.

They seem to have a large following in China thanks to Faye Wong's covers and they've always seemed to be huge in most of Eastern Europe when it comes to respecting alternative music history.

Of course, they get a range of fans because many favor the grottier, somewhat Goth early work. I fall in with the fans that think they got better as they went forward and found their own way(s), but like some of the really discordant early stuff.

To me, regardless of style, their music is always about that ability it has to alter brainwaves. I really think it connects to chant and hypnosis and a lot of that probably derives from the things Liz does with glossalalia. She's every bit as convincing and as durable as Gertrude Stein when it comes to manipulating language to her own ends.

I often wonder if her two daughters (Lucy and Lily) were named after that passage in Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts.

Anyway, I'm very happy to see them get this award!

I think they're the greatest band ever, and Liz is my favorite living singer, but if you've read my blog before that's no news to you lol.