What Exactly is a 'Brimful of Asha' Anyway? Why Cornershop's Classic Hit is Deeper Than You Think

Описание: 00:00 - 01:07 Introduction: What is a Brimful of Asha anyway?
01:08 - 03:58 The 'Shop opens: early influences, and the importance of politics growing up
03:59 - 05:08 The band's mixed cultural influences, and early releases
05:09 - 05:42 Cornershop exist within Britpop, but feel uniquely different
05:43 - 07:25 The British Asian experience goes mainstream
07:26 - 11:23 Breaking down Brimful of Asha lyric by lyric - What is 'Asha', 'the 45', and why don't the 'Shop care about government warnings?
11:24 - 12:43 'Everyone needs a bosom for a pillow'
12:44 - 13:20 The Norman Cook remix
13:21 - 14:51 Brimful of Asha today, its cultural legacy

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In 1997, Cornershop released their song 'Brimful of Asha'. Underpinned by a ceaseless three-chord riff, the song became one of the most well-known earworms of the late 20th century. But what exactly is it about? What the heck is a 'Brimful of Asha', why does everyone need a bosom for a pillow, and what's with the constant reference to a '45'? Let's dig in deep.

Though the song is often passed off as an innocuous one-hit wonder, a closer look reveals it to be a prescient and bold ode to the scratchy sound of the vinyl record, a cushion against life's harder edges like the political environment of 1980s and 1990s Britain.

This documentary explores the meaning of Cornershop's classic hit single, through looking at the origins of the band and the sound they spun that became their own - a curious melange of indie rock and Punjabi folk music. Though the band were often filed under Britpop, and grouped in with bands like Blur, Oasis and Pulp, that label doesn't do justice to the band's early political beginnings and their sonic innovation. From their earliest EP, Cornershop kicked against xenophobia and injustice, and even as British Indian culture started to become more vogue in the mid-Nineties, that political instinct carried on emboldened. Brimful of Asha is merely the most known example of the sound Cornershop were experimenting with from the very start - totally fresh and fun but laced with cryptic lyrics that hinted at an engaged political mind.

Let's dissect Cornershop's timeless single, how lead vocalist Tjinder Singh wrote the lyrics, and why the band's innovative sound is often overlooked today.

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Note: None of the footage in this video is mine, and I do not own the rights, nor to the songs. Any copyright infringement is not intended, and this video should be considered as falling under 'fair use' classification.