1977 (1996)

1977 is the debut studio album by Northern Irish rock band Ash. It was released on 6 May 1996 by Home Grown and Infectious Records, with whom the band had signed following the release of several demo tapes. Ash released the mini-album Trailer in 1994, and followed it with three singles "Kung Fu", "Girl from Mars", and "Angel Interceptor", all of which would reappear on 1977. Ash recorded their debut album with producer Owen Morris at Rockfield Studios in Wales in early 1996. Described as a Britpop, power pop and garage rock album, 1977 drew comparisons to the Buzzcocks, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth.

Preceded by the album's fourth single "Goldfinger" in April 1996, the band embarked on tours of the United Kingdom and Europe. "Oh Yeah" was released as the fifth single in June 1996, followed by tours of the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Ash ended the year with another US tour, as well as a US support slot for Weezer. They toured Europe and the UK, before their appearance at Glastonbury Festival.

1977 received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the album's "catchy" nature. The album peaked at number one in the UK, as well as reaching the top 40 in Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland. "Kung Fu", "Girl from Mars", "Angel Interceptor", "Goldfinger", and "Oh Yeah" all charted on the UK Singles Chart, with "Goldfinger" reaching the highest position at number five. 1977 appeared on several UK publications' best-of-the-year album lists, by the likes of Kerrang!, NME, and Melody Maker, among others. The album would later be certified platinum in the UK.

Background

In December 1989, schoolfriends Tim Wheeler and Mark Hamilton received instruments for Christmas, and decided to form a metal act they called Vietnam. The rest of the line-up consisted of vocalist Gareth Hutchinson, guitarist Malcolm King, and drummer Andy McLean, who would all leave by early 1992 citing a lack of interest in the band. After seeing a show by a local act, Lazer Gun Nun, Wheeler and Hamilton decided to move their sound away from metal and into Nirvana-leaning territory. Around this time, Wheeler was discovering the likes of ABBA and Paul McCartney and Wings. Vietnam ultimately disbanded, and Wheeler and Hamilton decided to form a punk band. Wheeler handled vocals and guitar, Hamilton the bass. They spent two weeks amassing original material in Wheeler's bedroom. Drummer Rick McMurray joined the pair in June 1992; Wheeler had approached him during a school play, and invited him to his house for a jam session.

With the line-up finalised, they christened themselves Ash after spotting the word in a dictionary. Over the course of a year, the band recorded four demos tapes: Solar Happy in June 1992, Shed in September, Home Demo in November, and Garage Girl in February 1993. A friend of the band had sent one of the demos to Paddy Davis of the public relations company, Bad Moon. He played it for four months, before passing it to Steve Tavener, who had plans to start a record label. Tavener and Davis subsequently went to Belfast to watch the band perform. Ash released their debut single, "Jack Names the Planets", through Tavener's La La Land Records in February 1994, by which point he had become their manager.

In April 1994, the band travelled to London to promote it. Several major labels approached them, before they signed with Infectious Records with an advance of £12,000 and a 50–50 share of the profits with the label. Ash set up the imprint Home Grown as part of Infectious with which they would put out their future releases. As Hamilton and Wheeler were 17 years old, their parents had to sign the contract on their behalf, as well as permission from their school headmaster Jack Ferris. Two more singles, "Petrol" and "Uncle Pat", preceded the release of the band's mini-album Trailer in October 1994. During this period, two-thirds of the band were focusing on their A-Levels, touring with Babes in Toyland and Elastica during their half-term holidays. In February 1995, Wheeler and McMurray flew to the United States to meet with potential labels, including Reprise and Interscope Records. They signed to the former, who was experiencing success with the stylistically similar Green Day.