…the Real People?

They emerged in 1991, in that unfortunate time frame where anyone who wasn’t Nirvana was shit out of luck…but it was even worse if you were a Britpop band. This was post-Stone Roses and Happy Mondays but pre-Oasis and pre-Blur, and, buddy, if you can name more than a handful of British bands to emerge during that window, you either wrote for the NME or worked for a record store. But the Real People were the brainchild of Tony and Chris Griffiths, who knew how to write a great hook. Their first, self-titled disc was solid - the song “The Truth” remains one of the best pop songs of the early ’90s - but the second disc, “What’s On The Inside,” took five years to hit stores…and, although it was a strong, more Beatlesque effort, it came out on an indie label (Granite Records?) and never made it beyond UK release. (I stumbled upon my copy in NYC…and, for Shep Medskerbone’s amusement, I should note that I bought it the same day I picked up the Lightning Seeds’ “Dizzy Heights.”) After that, the band vanished into thin air. They don’t even have a website anymore, and searches for the individual band members doesn’t turn up much. The most recent information I can find comes from this interview, but it’s from 2001, suggests that the band were working on a new disc, but…it never emerged, apparently. There’s also a site that has photos from 2004, but the band’s own website seems nonexistent; it’s a message board that requires approval to access…but I requested approval 2 weeks ago and haven’t heard a word.

Come on, guys, wherefore art thou…?