⭐️𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧: 𝐍𝐈𝐊 𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐖⭐️

⭐️Today, an English singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer 𝐍𝐈𝐊 𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐖 celebrates his 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘🎉🎉🎉
Placebo covered his song 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 and released it as B-side on the single For What It’s Worth in 2009.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 (𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨)
➡ https://bit.ly/3oMuHuX

Photo credits unknown, edit by Olga

⭐️𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑲𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒘 was born on 1st March 1958 in Bristol and grew up in Ipswich where he discovered his love for music. His father was an architect and flautist in the town’s orchestra and his mother trained as an opera singer. He describes himself as a late developer, first picking up a guitar when he was 15, as a result of watching a TV documentary on 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆. On the next couple of years Nik played in some local bands which helped him to turn professional.
▪️Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist with his global hit singles 𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝑰𝒕 𝑩𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 and his biggest hit, 𝑰 𝑾𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏 𝑮𝒐 𝑫𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒆.
▪️His 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart through 1984 and 1985 beat all other solo artists. Kershaw appeared at the dual-venue concert Live Aid in 1985 and has also recorded a number of hits for other artists.
▪️After stepping out of the limelight to concentrate on writing and producing, Nik wrote Chesney Hawkes’s 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒏𝒍𝒚 and has collaborated with Elton John, Sia, Gary Barlow and Bonnie Tyler, whilst continuing to release his own well-reviewed studio albums, featuring his distinctive voice and highly personal lyrics.
𝑵𝒊𝒌 𝑲𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒘’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆:
➡ https://www.nikkershaw.net/


🔶𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 was the second single from Kershaw's debut solo album 𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 (1984) and turned out to be among his more popular single releases. It spent three weeks at number four on the UK charts and became a hit throughout Europe, as well as a top 10 hit in Canada and Australia.
According to Kershaw, the song was about "always wanting it better than everyone else", a concept which the director of the video [graphic designer Storm Thorgerson] further developed and integrated into the video plot of Kershaw being the alien who steps into other people's shoes. But in the end the alien realises that it wasn't such a good idea at all, and decides to return to his home planet.


🔶You have to admit that Nik Kershaw uses quite an interesting way of composing.

𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓; 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝑰𝒕 𝑩𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅?
📢𝐍𝐢𝐤 𝐊𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰: I’d been playing in fusion bands before, and guitar was what I learned my trade on. But when it comes to solos and stuff, I’m not the most spontaneous guy on the block. If I just sit down and play over a few chords, it sounds pretty much like everybody else. I’ve got the same licks as everybody else, pretty much, and it doesn’t satisfy me as someone listening to the record. So what I usually end up doing is just looping the track and just singing different bits over it and then sticking it together and then learning how to play them. I still do that. Obviously if I’m singing it, it’s a direct line from my brain to my mouth, and it’s just ‘bang!’ there it is. "
(𝐸𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, 2017)

Photo credit: BnMusic (Kershaw), Screenshots from TV show Taratata, edit by Silke

𝐍𝐢𝐤 𝐊𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰 - 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨)
➡ https://bit.ly/3GKEEyZ

🔶By Placebo, the song was only played live 5 times during April to May 2009 but the only performance recorded seems to be the first one, at the French TV show Taratata on April 6th, 2009. At the other 4 shows, it was played as an encore.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟗
➡ https://bit.ly/34SqBtZ


🔶For both Brian and Stef, it’s a track from their teenage years, the time when their now great music taste started to form.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “Well, this is a song that sits in my brain since I was little. Nik Kershaw had lots of hits at the time I was growing up, but the only song I liked was "Wouldn't it be good". There is such a strange atmosphere of desperation in this song, even though the hook line is very positive.”
(𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 19𝑡ℎ 2009)

📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: “This song is from the 80's, from my childhood. It sounds like a pop song, music is upbringing, but it works on many levels, lyrics are very dark. That's why it was interesting for us to play it.”
(𝐷𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑎.𝑙𝑣, 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2009)


I think, in their cover, Placebo underlined and intensified what they exactly liked about the song. They made the melody even more upbeat for stronger contrast to the desperate lyrics. It’s kind of their emblematic duality, isn’t it?

Post by Olga