Annotations - The Girl On The Factory Wall

Finally, after almost 20 years, Marg Cornell lives and breathes the rarified air of Doubtless Wonder. Marg was the original star of the show, created by Phil in a late 80s/early 90s maths lesson, in between discussions about the meaning of Twin Peaks, arguments about the relative merits of A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 and 3 and attempts to sing the songs of JRR Tolkien without being beaten up every single day of our school lives.
Lots of references, both real world and DW. Obviously, music plays a huge part in Marg's life, so plenty of bands named here, with the chemical plant referred to as a Factory right at the head of the page to start things off.
"Cool As" ...Fuck - The slogan of Clint Boon's stoner cartoon cow (I always wanted an Inspiral Carpets tee shirt but didn't think I'd get away with it. Marg clearly has a rather more relaxed mother than I do...)
Lovecraft - The original incarnation who wrote the songs Bow Down and Lady Fliss.
Floyd, Morrison, Marley and the Sex Pistols, through to "the current crop of Madchester bands." So we're in mid 1990, when baggy ruled the world, George Dubbya's daddy had his finger on the button and the poll tax rioters decimated Trafalgar Square and huge chunks of Brixton.
Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Northside. Good God, Northside! Shall we take a trip?
Hawkwind, Doctor and The Medics, Velvet Underground and Primal Scream; All have their places on the DW soundtrack, and I'm pleased with their inclusion here. The connections? Besides covering Spirit In The Sky, D&TMs also covered Hawkwind's Silver Machine (while Hawkwind themselves frequently collaborated with SF's beardiest wierdy, Michael Moorcock, on tracks inspired by his Eternal Champion stories). Meanwhile, the Velvet Underground (the original Factory band) had an album called Loaded, which was the title of Primal Scream's biggest single from 1991's Screamadelica (but released over 18 months ahead of the album, in March 1990).
A worn out husk full of brittle glass and rusty nails that squealed and scraped as it fought to stay alive - Somehow, Sarah goes from the bright young thing of Another Girl to this broken down robot. The description echoes PKDs ersatz human psychotic and the animatronic creatures which appear in Little Boy Blue.
With her weekend job in Woollies, Marg earned enough to bring home two or three new albums every week - If we ever decide on a fixed running order then this will be the opening story, meaning that this would prefigure the similar description of a young Sarah in Another Girl, rushing home with her LPs stuffed under her coat so old man Schnitzler won't find them. Again, music is massive in the lives of these women.
And a big shout out for Simms Cross Curios where, in 1990/91, I bought my first ever Neil Young LPs.
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
And here's the Inspiral Carpets tee shirt.
And then there are a couple of boy geniuses, wandering aimlessly round the post industrial wasteland, discussing the possible meaning of Gandalf's horse appearing in Laura Palmer's bedroom and sniffing solvents from a shirtcuff. Well, if Hitchcock can have a walk-on role in his movies then why can't we?