Mr C and The Shamen havin’ it large at Highbury… [September 1992]
Mr C – DJ, label owner and legendary frontman of The Shamen, is an undisputed old school legend – so we at 909originals felt it was fitting to relive one of his more unexpected performances.
On 28 September 1992, to launch its ‘Monday Night Football’ format for the brand new English Premier League, Sky invited The Shamen to Arsenal’s home ground to provide some half-time entertainment… newly-released chart topper (and controversial double entendre) Ebenezer Goode.
As the Arsenal Nostalgia Twitter page noted, the half-time entertainment concept was dropped by Sky about six months later, but at least we got to enjoy this magical moment in the meantime.
When sky sports introduced the new Monday night football! The Shamen signing Ebeneezer Goode at Highbury in 1992. The memories! Needless to say this half time entertainment was binned after about 6 months 😂#highbury #theshamen #arsenal #sky #MNF pic.twitter.com/hVZ31bRB0d
— Arsenal Nostalgia (@arsenal_vids) February 7, 2018
As this article by David Stubbs from Melody Maker (recorded for posterity in the excellent Rock’s Back Pages) shows, not everybody present on that fateful night knew just what to expect.
“The Shamen! What the f*** are they doing here? Well, they’re going to do a PA at half time, which will involve standing on a raised platform the size of a kitchen table in the middle of the pitch, miming to ‘Ebeneezer Goode’ and ‘Move Any Mountain’, accompanied by a troupe of dancing females known as “The Sky Strikers”, the Pans People de nos jours. It’s part of SkyTV’s efforts to jazz up their football coverage, emphasise the “family entertainment” angle, a razzamatazz alternative to queuing up at the pie stand.
“Laudable, perhaps, to wrench football out of its primitive, all-male enclave but how will the Gooners on the Clock End take to Mr C and the gang? It should be surreal, to say the least.”
Despite the group’s Colin Angus hopeful for a positive reception – “’Goode’ is intended as a terrace chant so this is the right context”, he muses – the reaction from the 21,000-strong crowd is… well, exactly what you would expect from 21,000 pissed up football fans, as described in irresistible detail…
“A massed murmur of bemusement. The Shamen? Then, the jeer goes up from the Clock End. “‘Oo the fackin’ ‘ell are you? ‘Oo the fackin’ ‘ell are you?” The scent of raspberry is in the air. Undeterred, Colin booms “Music, please!” boisterously into the mic. ‘Ebeneezer Goode’ strikes up. Surely that’ll raise a cheer. But no.
“As the wavering 40K sound system does its stuff (a local council official was down there with his geiger counter monitoring the sound level) and The Shamen and Sky Strikers do theirs, the rising crescendo of boos and whistles shudders the stadium girders.
“The Clock End try to drown them out with the “Arsenal!” chant. By ‘Move Any Mountain’ it’s sheer bread and circuses. It’s touch and go as to whether the portcullis is going to be raised and the lions let loose on the pitch. If Arsenal were losing they probably would be. Mr C waggles his fingers to the beat but his heart isn’t really in it.
“As the PA winds down they clamber down dejectedly, without a wave, the bad-tempered jeers of the Gooners pursuing them down the tunnel. Oh, dear.”
Or, as Mr C himself so eloquently put it…
So funny. Gooners shouting at me “You Chelsea cunt” & me giving back the 2 finger salute leaving the pitch. lol & having our dancing girls in Spurs colours worked really really well. Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa
— Richard West / Mr.C (@mrcsuperfreq) February 8, 2018
As for the match itself? Around 21,500 people were in Highbury that evening to watch the Gooners achieve a 1-0 win over Man City, with an up-and-coming striker named Ian Wright scoring the decisive goal after 19 minutes. Wonder what happened to him? 🙂
[Article by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 1992, featured on Rock’s Back Pages.]
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Amazing.