Talulah Gosh

Talulah Gosh
Talulah Gosh (clockwise from top left: Mathew Fletcher, Elizabeth Price, Amelia Fletcher, Chris Scott and Peter Momtchiloff).
Background information
Origin	Oxford, England
Genres	Twee pop
Years active	1986–1988
Labels	Sarah, K
Associated acts	Heavenly, Tender Trap, Marine Research, Scarlet's Well, Would Be Goods, The Carousel, Razorcuts
Past members	Amelia Fletcher Mathew Fletcher Peter Momtchiloff Rob Pursey Elizabeth Price Chris Scott Eithne Farry

Talulah Gosh were a guitar-pop group from Oxford, England and one of the leading bands of the twee pop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in Oxford. Formed in 1986, their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher (vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff (lead guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Pursey left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott.

The group made their live debut on March 7, 1986, and later the same year released a flexidisc on Sha La La flexilabel and two singles simultaneously on the Edinburgh-based label 53rd & 3rd, "Beatnik Boy" and "Steaming Train". These singles, especially the former, were unashamedly cutesy, something also reflected in the names the group had adopted for themselves: leader Amelia was "Marigold", while Elizabeth became "Pebbles". Mathew Fletcher was rather less flatteringly nicknamed "Fat Mat". Their appearance led to them being labelled as an "anorak indie" band.

For their third single, the group returned to a song they had first recorded in session for Janice Long's show on Radio 1 in August 1986, "Talulah Gosh". Elizabeth Price left toward the end of the year to form The Carousel with Razorcuts frontman Gregory Webster, and so the single, released on May 30, 1987, was the first to feature replacement Eithne Farry (vocals, tambourine). The single was less shambolic than their earlier offerings, and a video was made for it which was played on The Chart Show (then shown on Channel 4), giving the band some mainstream exposure. The single was produced (some critics suggested it was over-produced) by John Rivers, as was the follow-up "Bringing Up Baby", a sophisticated pop song that reduced the band's "shambling" element to the point where mainstream success seemed a possibility. Indeed, The Primitives would later take precisely this route to success — but Talulah Gosh never made the national charts. The ironically-titled debut (compilation) album Rock Legends: Volume 69 was released in October 1987, collecting tracks from the earlier singles and radio sessions.