Lightning Seeds

The Lightning Seeds Biography by Jason Ankeny Jollification With their sunny hooks and loosely psychedelic take on melodic indie pop, the Lightning Seeds emerged at the tail end of the 1980s as the solo venture of Liverpool producer and musician Ian Broudie. The former Big in Japan member and producer of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Fall landed a hit right out of the gate with 1989's "Pure" and spent much of the following decade building on his band's success with memorable cuts like 1992's "The Life of Riley" and 1994's "Change" from their platinum-certified third album, Jollification. During the height of the Britpop era, Broudie penned the Lightning Seeds' most enduring hit, the 1996's smash "Three Lions," which served as an English football anthem for that year's UEFA European Championship. The song has made several revivals on the U.K. charts, most recently hitting number one in 2018. Following the band's '90s heyday, their output slowed significantly, though they have continued to mount occasional tours. In 2022, the Lightning Seeds offered up their hopeful seventh LP, See You In the Stars. Crocodiles Born August 4, 1958 in Liverpool, England, Broudie first emerged as a member of Big in Japan, a product of the same Liverpudlian post-punk scene that gave rise to Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, and Icicle Works. After Big in Japan split in 1979, Broudie followed a brief tenure in the Original Mirrors by producing the first two Bunnymen LPs, Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here, as well as work by the Fall, Wah!, and Frazier Chorus. Cloudcuckooland Seeking to return to performing, in 1982 Broudie teamed with Wild Swans vocalist Paul Simpson under the name Care; the duo released a series of shimmering singles that pointed in the direction Broudie followed in the Lightning Seeds, a one-man band backed by pop luminaries and session players. After landing an international hit with the lush single "Pure," the Lightning Seeds issued their debut LP, 1989's Cloudcuckooland, which yielded another minor hit in "All I Want." Despite the record's success, Broudie again returned to production, helming albums for groups like the Primitives, Sleeper, Alison Moyet, and the Frank & Walters. Sense In 1992, Broudie revived the Lightning Seeds guise for Sense, on which he made synth programmer Simon Rogers (formerly of the Fall) a full musical partner. Like their debut, Sense made charts on both sides of the Atlantic and is best known for its impossibly catchy single "The Life of Riley," a song Broudie wrote for his son. Although the Lightning Seeds' sound leaned more toward pure indie pop, they were able to ride the crest of Britpop's commercial wave on their thid album, 1994's platinum-selling Jollification. The album boasted an impressive five charting singles including one of the band's most enduring songs, "Change," and Broudie formed a touring band (comprised of keyboardist Ali Kane, former Rain bassist Martyn Campbell, and ex-Icicle Works drummer Chris Sharrock) to play his first live shows since serving in the Original Mirrors over a decade previously. The British chart hits "Three Lions" (a number one U.K. single commissioned as theme music for the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship) and "Ready or Not" (a Top 20 U.K. single) followed in 1996, the latter included on that year's Dizzy Heights full-length. A 1997 greatest hits set, Like You Do... The Best of the Lightning Seeds, hit number five on the U.K. charts on its way to double platinum status, after which Broudie made an attempt to modernize the Lightning Seeds’ sound on 1999’s Tilt. The album's lukewarm commercial reception was less than overwhelming and he decided to put the group on hiatus. Tales Told Following the turn of the millennium Broudie produced a number of bands on the Liverpool "cosmic scouse" scene, including Coral and the Zutons, and 2004 saw the arrival of Tales Told, Broudie's first solo album under his own name. Two years later Broudie re-formed the Lightning Seeds with a new lineup for live appearances to help support another greatest hits album, 2006's The Very Best of the Lightning Seeds. A re-released "Three Lions" made it to number nine on the U.K. singles chart, reviving interest in the band ahead of their sixth studio album, 2009's Four Winds, though they didn't play any shows to support it. A retrospective concert celebrating Broudie's entire career was held at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall in 2014 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic accompanying an all-star lineup that featured Broudie, Ian McCulloch, Bill Ryder-Jones, Terry Hall, and many others. The Lightning Seeds reprised the show later that year at Liverpool's Sefton Park, minus the special guests, but with the full orchestera in tow. The band was occasionally active over the next few years, touring alongside Madness in 2016 and once again sending a retooled version of their perennial hit "Three Lions" to the top of the U.K. charts in 2018, coinciding with England's run at that year's FIFA World Cup. In 2022, Broudie again revived the Lightning Seeds who returned to form with their optimistic seventh album See You In the Stars.