The Tights – Howard Hughes

The Tights are a punk rock band from Worcester. The band's only singles were released by Cherry Red Records: "Bad Hearts" / "It" / "Cracked" (1978) and "Howard Hughes" / "China's Eternal" (1978). After John Peel played "Bad Hearts" on BBC Radio 1, this single made it to number six in the UK punk chart. Follow-up "Howard Hughes" reached number four in the same chart. After playing their farewell gig at the Marquee Club, London, The Tights split in 1979. Allegedly the band was named after a Brummie punkette from Barbarellas’ ripped tights. The Tights were active on the local Worcester scene which wasn't a seething bed of punk activity in early 1977. Although they approached major labels, no interest was forthcoming and because the band never toured they had no real contacts in the record industry. Instead they explored the only avenue left to them which was recording. Eventually they made two singles for the Cherry Red label. Pick of the bunch is debut single Bad Hearts. All rhythm tracks were 1st or 2nd takes, with vocals and lead guitar added as the only overdubs. The instruments and amps used were all copies, or home made. However after Peel played 'Bad Hearts' on the radio, and Record Mirror made it 'Record of the Week' the initial 2000 copies sold out fast. I defy you not to be swayed by the catchy chorus and buzzsaw guitar. Their second single, Howard Hughes was recorded with just a £200 publishing advance, so the band updated their gear to something less crap....a new bass guitar and a Marshall stack. The production on the guitar and bass was fantastic…so the boys let rip...The cover picture is of Charlie Watts' limo; the newspapers in the windows were added later. Only 4000 copies of the single were pressed.