i was interested in the brand names MES mentions & whether he had kept up to date in his cultural references..... this is what i found:

355’s (ciggs) - no xmas for john quays
adidas – ketamine sun
alka selzer – fit & working again
A&M (label) - c-n-cs mithering
american express - dr bucks letter
armani – couldn’t get ahead
asda – (birtwistle’s) girl in shop
audi - hilary
austin maxi – winter (hostel maxi)
bacardi - just step sideways
barbican – winter (hostel maxi)
bbc - devolute
brut – slang king
chanel – green eyed loco man
clearasil – glam racket
clonezone – I’m bobby
club 18-30 – british people in hot weather
curly-wurly – slang king
daily mail – how I wrote elastic man
disney – disney’s dream debased
domestos – shake off
e.t. - couldn't get ahead
evening news – hey student
face (mag) – stephen song
ferrari – interlude-chilinism
gameboy – gentlemen’s agreement
gordon’s gin - backdrop
granada(land) – eat y’self fitter
greenpeace - hexen definitive-strife knot
halifax – my new house
head & shoulders – shake off
homestyle - surmount all obstacles
hoover – guest informant
hovis – H.O.W./just step sideways/that man
ibis (hotel) - ibis-afro man
jaguar - enigrammatic dream
kalashnikovs - war
kelloggs – hexen definitive-strife knot
ketamine – ketamine sun
kodak - smile
kwik save – c n c mithering, i'm bobby
ladbrokes - typewriter
lee cooper – Birmingham school of business school/cash n carry/choc stock
levis - eat y'self fitter
martini – I’m into cb
mauser (gun)– pander panda panzer
mcmuffin - northerns in europ
memorex – iceland
mercedes - cheetham hill
mtv – just waiting
next – arms control poseur
nissans – littlest rebel
no 6 (ciggs)– cruiser’s creek/no xmas for john quays
observer – how I wrote elastic man
oxo - mere pseud mag ed
palm - dr buck letter
pearl city (chinese restaurant) - pearl city
piccadilly records - typewriter
polyester – my new house
portaloos – hard life in country
prozac – feeling numb/glam racket-star (on 27 pts)
pru (prudential) - cash & carry
quality street - boxoctosis alarum
radio 1 – diy meat
r.a.c. – bournemouth runner
renoir perfume - (hip priests & kamerads version)
rolling rock (lager) – dissolute singer
rowche (roche) – rowche rumble
safeway – cash n carry
sainsburys - hilary
smash hits – I’m into cb
spangles – it’s a curse/paranoid man in cheap shit room
spin magazine – oswald defence lawyer
steak place - the steak place
stuyvestant - kurious oranj
styrofoam - hexen definitive-strife knot
swintax - my new house
tandy – pander panda panzer
tdk – high tension line
teletubbies - bound
treets - hip priest
valium – c-n-cs mithering/industrial estate/rowche rumble
vauxhall - pearl city
viagra – mod mock goth
vidal sassoon – I’m bobby
vimto – it’s a curse
viz comic – glam racket
volkswagen – athlete cured
volvo – room to live
walkers crisps - the joke
walkman – british people in hot weather/twister
warehouse – you’re not up to much
wasp synthesiser – mere pseud mag ed (hip priests & kamerads version)
weetabix - mere pseud mag ed
western union – disney’s dream debased
wimpy (the house builder not the burger place!) – ladybird (green grass)
winnebago - passable

MES also mentions
u don’t have to be an American brand – totally wired
the generic supermarket – pat trip dispenser ?

yr thoughts & contributions would be welcome.... is MES 'with it' (as my mam might say, or does he carry his past around????

homestyle is a furniture manufacturer.

did you know that factory is short for manufactory?

u learn something here everyday....

i'll add homestyle....

alt + asterisk = •

Will add this page to links list to it can't be mislaid again.

AmEx – Dr. Buck's Letter

thank you :)

3. Palm Pilot - it’s my lifeline. I think it’s my P.A.’s computer, she rules my diary and I download it

There's an eggMcMuffin on something. Is this a brand name?

The Steak Place - I'm pretty convinced that is its actual name

http://www.tuckerhill.com/restaurant.html

There you go..

Northerns in Europ

Though I would argue that McDonald's is the brand, Egg McMuffin is just a product sold under the brand name.

If you want to get technical...

I guess....

SwinTax – My New House

"20 number 6 for a headache" Players No.6 fags...

wossat then? always wondered..........

Note: [1] In Swinton, Manchester, the local mini-cab firm was called Swin-Tax

(from Lyrics Parade)

And Mr Nelson used it a lot?

By the way, in another TBLY there's an article talking about a possible source for this line...don't know which no.

According to your list Hovis is mentioned twice in the oeuvre but why not add 'Who wants to be in a hovis advert anyway!?' (just step sideways) while we're at it?

Mercedes (in fact, a "blue Merc) in Cheetham Hill.

One thing it is is a spice and herb company.

should it go in the list tho??? can we ever know if this is the reference???

Well, who knows? But add Mercedes while you're pondering this, go on!

okeydoke.... list updated..... :rolleyes:

Oxo cubes - Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
Treets - Hip Priest

r u just nicking these from yr own food & drink thread!? (i never thought of that till just now - sometimes i am a dumb schmuck) :rolleyes: :ohdear:

Yes, I am indeed stealing from my own list. I am not unguilty of self-plagiarism.

i am tryin to work out if that is a double negative...

but think that as u have now started me off on the food theme i am going to go & cook some tea instead....

Levis Fridays – Eat Y'Self Fitter

will add this - thx
at least levis makes a change from MES apparent fixation on lee coopers.... they seem to have played some key role in his fashion development judging by the several references!

Anyone done a Fall fashion/clothing list? I would, but simply don't have the energy.

just give me time.... B)

If you're going to include the Steak Place then surely you must add the Pearl City Chinese restaurant in Manchester.

A&M - record company as in big A&M Herb was there in CnC/S mithering. Also King Nat Ltd (if it actually exists/existed) and valium in the same song.

Pedantically - Quicksave is spelled Kwik Save.

Strangely, for some reason, I've always thought the "boiled beef and carrots" line in Fortress was some sort of name for the BBC.

Perhaps some lawyer can tell me if, for example, "The Beatles" is technically a trademark?

At least in the US, any band name that has been used in commerce probably has some level of trademark rights. With the Beatles, not only does the name have commonlaw trademark rights, the name is a registered trademark. Here are the relevant 24 (acive and dead) U.S. registrations, from the U.S. trademark office website:

Serial Number Reg. Number Word Mark Check Status Live/Dead
1 78367098 THE BEATLE PILGRIMAGE TOUR TARR LIVE
2 78337001 BEATLEMANIACS! TARR LIVE
3 76259977 BEATLES TARR LIVE
4 76255037 THE BEST OF BEATLEMANIA TARR DEAD
5 76228135 BREAKFAST WITH THE BEATLES TARR DEAD
6 76016819 DOUGIE MILLINGS & SON (ORIGINAL BEATLES TAILOR) LTD TARR DEAD
7 75921156 BEATLES TARR LIVE
8 75820964 DOUGIE MILLINGS & SON (ORIGINAL BEATLESTAILOR) LTD TARR DEAD
9 75798304 BEATLEJAZZ TARR LIVE
10 75596838 IMAGINE THE BEATLES TRIBUTE TARR DEAD
11 75399941 BEATLES TARR LIVE
12 75319884 SUNDAY MORNING WITH THE BEATLES TARR DEAD
13 75089000 1-888-BEATLES TARR DEAD
14 75028865 BEATLE TARR DEAD
15 74693840 2820559 THE BEATLES TARR LIVE
16 74693640 2066226 THE BEATLES TARR LIVE
17 74670582 BEATLE JUICE TARR DEAD
18 74301695 BACK TO THE BEATLES TARR DEAD
19 73262359 TEENI LEONI THE BEATULL GURL TARR DEAD
20 73638094 1752120 THE BEATLES TARR LIVE
21 73568536 1401630 BREAKFAST WITH THE BEATLES TARR DEAD
22 73409287 BEATLE RADIO 63 ALL BEATLES ALL THE TIME TARR DEAD
23 73341716 BEATLE MAGIC TARR DEAD
24 73291391 NOSTALGIA OF THE BEATLE ERA TARR DEAD

Thanks. But who is Dougie Millings and Son?

I'll answer my own question. He designed their collarless suits. If he's still alive, he could do wonders for MES.

People who, at least at one time, were claiming to be the original Beatles tailor. perhaps their trademark was pulled in response to a cease and desist letter from the owner of some of the more fundamental Beatles trademarks?

We posted nearly similtaneously. Who really designed those suits? Someone in Saville Row or some backstreet bloke in Liverpool?

Ibis hotel.


And these lines from Couldn't Get Ahead:

...And act like E.T.
Where I'm at is a cabbage patch,
no longer strewn with weeds...

Cabbage patch ---> "Cabbage Patch Kids", the line of children's dolls that caused Xmas department store riots in the U.S.? Is that the reference? They were popular in the early-mid 80s.


E.T. was heavily marketed as various products, as well. I think there was a breakfast cereal.

There was that crappy Atari game that supposedly was expected to be the best selling Atari title of all time, so much so that they overproduced the cartridges and now apparently have landfills full of them. I realize that this has earned preposterous urban myth territory, but you figure there's some grain of truth to it -- esp. if you ever played the crappy game!

Jaguar - Enigrammatic Dream