Television Personalities

Television Personalities were not the first DIY post-punk band, but they went further with the concept than any of their late '70s contemporaries, directly influencing UK indie scenes from the C86 brigade and the twee-pop set to the shoegazers and the Britpoppers. Unfortunately, they've done this while remaining largely unknown outside a devoted cult. Early singles (self-released under a variety of band names) like the hilariously savage "Part-Time Punks" were lo-fi and shambolic, but by 1980's debut LP And Don't The Kids Just Love It?, singer, songwriter and sole constant member Dan Treacy had shed any trace of punk in favor of a deliberately naive sound rooted in vintage '60s psychedelia. ("I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" was an early favorite.) Further albums refined and expanded this sound, but after 1992's Closer To God, Treacy's life and music abruptly took a darker turn. Beset by mental illness and drug addiction, Treacy began releasing an increasingly harrowing stream of mostly-solo singles and LPs before quite literally disappearing in 1998. Treacy eventually resurfaced in a Dorset prison six years later. Following his release, Domino Records released 2006's My Dark Places, an album accompanied by a rather silly rumor that Treacy was the songwriting mastermind behind Domino's flagship band Arctic Monkeys.