Line #73 Music/Space


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/space1996.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Space's 1996 incarnation (l-r: Tommy, Jamie, Franny, Andy)]]
3
4	[floatboxright:Influences: Music/FrankSinatra, Music/EnnioMorricone, Music/JohnBarry, Music/ElvisPresley, Music/RoyOrbison, Music/TheKinks, Music/TheWho, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/TheSpecials, Music/DavidBowie, Creator/QuentinTarantino, Music/CypressHill, Music/TheB52s, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/HappyMondays, Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Music/TheCramps, Music/{{Crass}} amongst many other things...]
5
6	->''"Oh they want to knock us down, cuz they think we're scum''
7	->''But we will all be waiting when the bulldozers come.''
8	->''In a neighbourhood like this, you know it's hard to survive,''
9	->''So you'd better come prepared cuz they won't take us alive!"''
10	--> '''Space,''' "Neighbourhood"
11
12	Space are a [[GenreMashup psychedelic-indie-punk-hip hop-techno-easy listening]] group from UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}} who had some success in [[TheNineties the mid-to-late nineties]]. Their most famous singles include 'Female Of The Species' - featured on several film soundtracks, an Impulse advert and as the theme to ''Cold Feet'' - 'Neighbourhood', 'Avenging Angels', and 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones', a duet with Catatonia frontwoman Cerys Matthews.
13
14	The band started off as a trio consisting of Tommy Scott, Jamie Murphy and Andy Parle in 1993, with Franny Griffiths, who had previously played in bands with Tommy back in the mid-1980s, joining a year later; his keyboards and samplers were what gave the band their distinct sound. The band became a quintet when David 'Yorkie' Palmer, a long-time friend of the band who produced some of their earlier material, joined as bassist, allowing Tommy to concentrate more on vocals. Andy left the band at the end of 1997, and was swiftly replaced by Leon Caffrey.
15
16	The band reached their peak of success with their second album, ''Tin Planet'', in 1998, but began to falter afterwards due to various problems with their record company at the time, not least involving the band's third album, titled ''Love You More Than Football''. The provisional tracklisting was published on the band's website, and song titles were leaked to magazines. However, the album was never actually released and is now [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes only available on bootleg]]. Around this time, Space were dropped and spent a few years hunting around for labels.
17
18	Jamie Murphy left in 2001, and the band called it a day four years later, after releasing one final album ''Music/SuburbanRockNRoll''. Afterwards, Jamie and Franny formed a band called Dust with three others; Leon has moved to Australia; Tommy fronted the Drellas and Tommy Scott & The Red Scare; Franny and Yorkie worked with other bands, and on solo material; and Andy Parle died in 2009. It was meeting up at his funeral that inspired the three original members to reunite the band.
19
20	In 2011, the band announced they would be BackFromTheDead to record a brand new album ''Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab'', albeit without Yorkie and Leon, and with a new drummer, bassist and additional keyboardist, and they haven't stopped since. In 2019, ''Love You More than Football'' [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell was finally released]] as part of a career-spanning ''Anthology'' set, almost two decades since the project was abandoned.
21
22	----
23	!!The band members are:
24	* Tommy Scott - vocals, bass guitar (1992-1997), guitar (1997-)
25	* Jamie Murphy - vocals, guitar (1992-2001, [[TheBusCameBack 2011-2012, 2023-present]])
26	* Jamie Island - drums (1992-93)
27	* Andy Parle - drums (1993-1997)
28	* Franny Griffiths - keyboards (1994-)
29	* Yorkie - bass guitar (1997-2005)
30	* Leon Caffrey - drums (1997-2005)
31	* Phil Hartley - bass (2011-)
32	* Ryan Clarke - vintage keys (2011-2014)
33	* Allan Jones - drums (2011-)
34
35	----
36	!!Discography:
37
38	'''Studio albums'''
39	* ''Music/{{Spiders\|Album}}'' (1996)
40	* ''Tin Planet'' (1998)
41	* ''Love You More than Football'' (originally set for 2000 before being abandoned; officially released in 2019)
42	* ''Music/SuburbanRockNRoll'' (2004)
43	* ''Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab'' (2014)
44	* ''Give Me Your Future'' (2017)
45	* ''Music for Pleasure Music for Pain'' (2021)
46	* ''Blood and Bubblegum'' (TBA)
47
48	'''Compilations'''
49	* ''Invasion Of The Spiders'' (B-side and remix album) (1997)
50	* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hits]]'' (five of them!)
51
52	----
53	!!The band provide examples of:
54	* AchillesInHisTent: Jamie, as a result of a drug-induced nervous breakdown. He dropped out of their American tour in 1997 and was replaced at the last minute by a saxophone player called Joel from Jub Jub, another Liverpool band who later supported Space at their Sefton Park gig that year.
55	* AscendedExtra: Both Yorkie and Phil were involved in the production/technicial side of the band before they become full-time members.
56	* BigBrotherInstinct: Franny, towards Jamie. According to one interview, Franny saw his main role as 'stopping Jamie's head being kicked in'.
57	* CloudCuckooLander: Tommy comes across as one in interviews.
58	* DemBones: Skulls and skeletons have become a prominent feature in Space sleeves since their reunion, especially if it's done by Tommy.
59	* FieryRedhead: Jamie - and ''how''. See RedOniBlueOni below. Funnily enough, at one point, he had a side project going called Firehead.
60	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The original line-up: Tommy (sanguine), Jamie (choleric), Andy (melancholic), Franny (phlegmatic).
61	** The current line-up also applies, except with Phil and Allan playing the roles of choleric and melancholic respectively.
62	* UsefulNotes/FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps / OopNorth: they're from Liverpool. As you can tell if you've ever heard Jamie or Ryan sing, not to mention Franny's vocals on 'I Am Unlike A Lifeform You've Ever Met' and 'Cameraman'. Due to his habit of singing in different voices, Tommy's Scouse accent generally doesn't come through as much in his vocals, although it's more noticeable on a good part of ''Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab''.
63	* GentleGiant: Franny is the biggest band member and was once described as 'an [[FaceOfAThug Easter Island statue-faced bouncer]] on the door of the hardest nightclub in Hell'. Quite fitting, as he did used to be a bouncer, but he's actually very nice, friendly and approachable in real life, and is always happy to talk to fans.
64	* HeadbuttingHeroes: Tommy and Jamie, and to a lesser extent, Tommy and Franny. While they don't ''hate'' each other per se, Tommy and Jamie clashed while they were in the band together, often having to record seperately from each other. Franny and Yorkie also fell out as a result of Yorkie recording over Franny's keyboards during the making of ''Suburban Rock 'n' Roll''.
65	* HesBack: Jamie rejoined the band for their 2011 reunion gig in Liverpool, though he left again the following year.
66	* LeadBassist: Tommy started out as a Type A, playing bass as well as doing lead vocals, before Yorkie joined as bassist in 1997 and Tommy switched to guitar. This explains the difference between the basslines on ''Spiders'' and the ones on ''Tin Planet'' and later albums, as Tommy was heavily influenced by Cypress Hill when working on ''Spiders'', and his basslines are more groove-oriented. In the new line-up, Phil's style of playing is more in line with Tommy's.
67	* NobodyLovesTheBassist: averted with both Yorkie and Phil, who have sizeable followings of their own outside Space: Yorkie for his solo music and work with Moongoose, and Phil for his and Allan's other band, Super Fast Girlie Show. Not to mention that Yorkie did a fair bit of press with Tommy while he was in the band, and Phil is Tommy's [[TheLancer Lancer]] in the current line-up.
68	* OlderThanTheyLook: Tommy was born in [[spoiler:1964]] and was [[spoiler:32]] when 'Female Of The Species' came out, but you wouldn't think so to look at him. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Jamie in various interviews, particularly back in 1996 when Tommy used to lie about his age, knocking at least 6 years off.
69	* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: after Andy Parle's death and funeral. Tommy, Franny and Jamie explained what happened in [[http://rocksucker.co.uk/2011/11/interview-space-part-1.html this interview from 2011]].
70	* RedOniBlueOni: Jamie and Tommy respectively. Jamie was a FieryRedhead whose constant partying caused him to have a nervous breakdown, while Tommy was the more sensitive and introverted one of the two. The trope also applies in the musical sense as Tommy's songs were more melodious and romantic - albeit in a rather twisted way - while Jamie's were darker in tone, particularly on ''Spiders'', and more indie rock-oriented.
71	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: there was a rumour going around in 2009 that Tommy had died. Tommy found out and unsurprisingly, was not happy.
72	* RevolvingDoorBand: Tommy is the only member of Space who has remained in the band since their formation in 1992 as well as their 2011 reunion, with Franny who, despite not being a founding member, being second-longest serving member (even if you count the pre-Space bands Hello Sunset and The Australians, which both Tommy and Franny played in). Every album the band has recorded so far has been with a slightly altered line-up.
73	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: no, there was nothing going on with Tommy and Cerys in 1998, even if they did have a lot of chemistry whenever they were performing 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones' on TV or elsewhere (since Space and Catatonia played a lot of the same festivals around the time the song came out).
74	* SirSwearsALot: try finding an uncensored interview with Space where Jamie does not use the word 'fuck' and variants thereof at least five times. Franny can give him a run for his money.
75	* SoloSideProject: In 2020, Tommy released his first solo album ''Marionette'' under the Thomas Scott Quintet moniker. Yorkie had also released a solo album during his tenure with the group.
76	* TeamPet: Tommy's dog Judy, who briefly appears in the video for "Me and You Vs the World".
77	* VitriolicBestBuds: Tommy and Jamie, with an emphasis on the vitriolic part.
78	** In the current line-up, Tommy and Franny, if their onstage banter is anything to go by.
79	!!The band's music provides examples of:
80	* AntiLoveSong: Yorkie summed up Space's approach to songwriting as 'boy kills girl, falls in love'. It's easier to name songs by the band that ''don't'' fall into this category somehow.
81	* ArcWords: Whether it's intention or not, The word 'hell' seems to be brought up a lot in their songs.
82	* AudienceParticipationSong: "Female of the Species'', where Tommy will wander into the crowd and hand the mic to random audience members to sing the final chorus. To a lesser extent, '"The Ballad of Tom Jones", as Tommy has on occasions called a female fan onstage to sing with him.
83	* AxCrazy: 'Mr Psycho', 'Rejects' and 'Piggies' both play this for laughs.
84	* BasedOnATrueStory: 'Burn Down The School' is about a guy Tommy knew at school called Jimmy Roddaway, who set the school on fire after one of the teachers had an affair with a pupil. "The Dysfunctional Brother of Action Man" was inspired by Tommy's older brother, who was very into working out and was [[SiblingYinYang the physical opposite]] of Tommy, who was (and still is) tiny and thin.
85	* BlackComedy: Their bread and butter. 'Neighbourhood' could be a TropeCodifier, and ''Music for Pleasure, Music for Pain'' is ''made'' of this trope.
86	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: "Benefits of Hypnotism". The narrator brainwashes a woman into becoming his personal assassin...[[spoiler:only for the last verse to reveal that ''she'' brainwashed ''him''.]]
87	* BreakUpSong: 'Begin Again', 'There's No You', 'Now She's Gone', 'Influenza', 'Disco Dolly', 'One O'Clock', 'Love You More Than Football'. And a whole lot of others, probably.
88	** Subverted with "Falling in Love", which is a Getting Back Together Song.
89	* BulletDancing: "Charlie M" has the narrator being made to do this by the titular criminal.
90	* ButICantBePregnant: 'Fortune Teller'.
91	* CallAndResponseSong: 'Cameraman'.
92	---> '''Franny''': Why do you do it?
93	---> '''Tommy''': I do it 'cos I can!
94	** Also occurs in 'Hitch-Hiking' and 'She's In Love With A Boy in a Body Bag'.
95	* CantHoldHisLiquor: 'Blow Up Doll'.
96	* CarefulWithThatAxe: 'Armageddon'. There's also a rather muffled one on "Shut Your Mouth", as well as one before the final chorus of "Sharks".
97	* ConceptAlbum: Several songs off ''Suburban Rock 'N' Roll'' deal with feeling trapped and an overall loss of freedom in modern society, thanks to the increasing rise in survelliance and media influence. It's almost a Merseyside take on ''Music/OKComputer''!
98	** ''Give Me Your Future'', kind of - it's heavily inspired by Fritz Lang's ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', and a lot of the songs are centred around technology and the future.
99	* CoverVersion: '[[Music/TheAnimals We Gotta Get Out Of This Place]]', '[[Creator/NoelCoward Mad Dogs & Englishmen]]', '[[Music/TheKinks Sunny Afternoon]]' with Music/TomJones, '[[Music/TheBeeGees Massachusetts]]'. At recent live shows, they've tagged 'Dark Clouds' with '[[Music/RichieValens La Bamba]]' and played '[[Music/RoyOrbison Oh Pretty Woman]]' at their reunion gig. The group also played "[[Music/BingCrosby White Christmas]]" as a encore at their Christmas show in 2016.
100	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: "The Loneliest Robot" is about a character (implied to be a cyborg) lamenting the loss of their humanity.
101	-->''I don't feel human no more''
102	-->''Just a machine at the core''
103	* DarkerAndEdgier: 'Darker Clouds' and 'Storm Clouds', both considerably more downbeat versions of 'Dark Clouds', which the band reportedly prefer to the original. Likewise, the number of tracks premiered at a small exclusive gig in 2002, some of which made it onto ''Suburban Rock 'n' Roll'' or the singles released from it, some of which were released over the website - definitely qualify, having a harder, more experimental sound and darker lyrics than the songs from the ''Tin Planet'' / ''Love You More Than Football'' era, about alienation, paranoia, apocalytic scenarios, mental illness, and suicide.
104	** ''Flies'', from around the same era, definitely would have qualified for this trope, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen had it been released]].
105	** ''Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab'' takes it up a notch, both musically - it's heavy influenced by punk and post-punk - and lyrically. Heroin addiction, miserable teenage girls, suicide, gang violence, unwanted pregnancies, the world being destroyed…it's all there. The title track makes the street in 'Neighbourhood' look like [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Canterlot]] in comparison.
106	** After the relatively LighterAndSofter ''Give Me Your Future'', the darkness came back with ''Music for Pleasure, Music for Pain'', which is very hip-hop influenced and tries to recapture the sound of ''Spiders'', and has songs about dysfunctional families, being brainwashed into committing murder, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking internet trolls.]] There is also much more swearing. The videos used at the gigs also had more of a horror theme; for instance, the video for "The Girl With the Antidote" uses footage from ''Film/{{Audition}}'' and"Face Don't Fit" uses footage from ''Film/EyesWithoutAFace''.
107	* DaysOfTheWeekSong: 'Diary Of A Wimp'.
108	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The video to "Begin Again", which pays homage to the silent film era. "Avenging Angels" and "Female of the Species" also feature black-and-white footage; in fact, when the band performed the former on 'Top of the Pops' in 1998, the screen turned black and white during the middle section.
109	* DistressedDude: Tommy, Jamie, Andy and Franny are tied up with a large amount of blue rope on the cover of 'Female Of The Species'. Tommy plays this role in the video for 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones', with Cerys Matthews cornering him on the bonnet of a car on a cliff and threatening to push him off.
110	* DrivenToSuicide: The characters in 'Quiet Beach', 'She's In Love With A Boy In A Bodybag' and, of course, 'Pretty Suicide'.
111	* DysfunctionalFamily: 'Weird + Wonderful People' is about one,
112	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The band's debut single "If It's Real", recorded when the group were still a trio, is considered an OldShame by the band due to its' 'generic' indie rock sound, with very little indication of the eclectic style they would become reknowned for.
113	* EpicRocking: 'Fran In Japan' is Space's longest track at 7 minutes and 14 seconds, with 'Theme From ''Baretta Vendetta''' and 'Had Enough' not far behind at over 6 minutes each. It's more like Epic ''Dancing'', since these are all tracks by Franny.
114	* ExorcistHead: Referenced in "Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab":
115	-->''Your head starts spinning like you're Linda Blair''
116	* GenreMashup / NewSoundAlbum: while they're generally classified as indie, they also draw influences from hip-hop (particularly on ''Spiders''), film soundtracks, big band, rock 'n' roll, techno, and electronica, with ''Tin Planet'' being the most noticeable example of this. It's kind of expected, really, since the band had a singer who was more influenced by films than music, a classic rock fan guitarist, one drummer into jazz and another one into hip-hop and loops, a keyboard player who was seriously into dance music, and a bassist who liked literally ''anything''. Jamie's songs were more indie/rock oriented, while Franny's tracks were almost entirely electronic instrumentals.
117	** ''Spiders'' made heavy use of loops and samples, ''Tin Planet'' was noticeably [[LighterAndSofter poppier]], while ''Suburban Rock 'n' Roll'' and the never-released ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen Flies]]'' had a harder edge to them. The lost album ''Love You More Than Football'' was somewhere in between. ''Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab'' is more ska / rockabilly influenced, partly thanks to Phil, Ryan and Allan joining, whilst ''Give Me Your Future'' dabbles in NewWaveMusic and SynthPop, even branching out into UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} territory on tracks like "This Gorgeous Chaos". ''Music for Pleasure Music for Pain'' revisited the hip-hop style of their debut.
118	* GenreRoulette: ''Tin Planet''. Compare 'Disco Dolly' to 'Piggies', 'Unluckiest Man In The World' to 'Avenging Angels', or 'Begin Again' to 'Fran In Japan'. No two songs sound similar.
119	* GoingColdTurkey: "Armageddon" appears to be about getting through a heroin withdrawal.
120	* GratuitousSpanish: Briefly used in "Day of the Dead".
121	* GriefSong: 'Avenging Angels' and 'Bad Days' were both tributes to the band members' lost loved ones. In light of Andy Parle's death, the songs are even more poignant.
122	* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Tommy seems to love doing himself down and/or playing the part of a loser in his lyrics, particularly in 'Begin Again', 'Unluckiest Man In The World', 'Me & You Vs The World' (''"you took a chance on a loser like me"'') or 'Only Half An Angel' (''"you're brilliant, witty, ambitious...all of the things that I could never be"''). It's all over the place on ''Music for Pleasure Music for Pain''.
123	* HiddenTrack: 'Yes You Do' on ''Love You More Than Football''.
124	* {{Instrumentals}}: most of Franny's tracks were instrumentals, normally at the end of each album. ''Spiders'' had 'Growler', ''Tin Planet'' had 'Fran In Japan' (and 'The Man' is semi-instrumental), and ''Love You More Than Football'' had 'Juno'. The trend with bucked with ''Suburban Rock 'N' Roll'' and beyond.
125	** On the B-side front, there's 'Had Enough', 'Stress Transmissions', 'Yeah Right!' and 'Theme From Baretta Vendetta'.
126	* HypocriticalHeartwarming / EnemyMine: The last verse in 'Neighbourhood' (the quote being used at the top of the main page): the singer openly chastises his neighbours for being a bunch of lunatics and criminals, but he'll be ready to stick by and defend them if the place ever gets demolished.
127	* IJustWantToBeLoved / ThePowerOfFriendship: "Be There" initially plays out like another of Tommy's obsessive lunatic fantasies, but it's revealed that the narrator only wants to be there for his object of affection (albeit in his own "crazy, mixed up little way") in case another man lets her down.
128	* ILoveTheDead: Heavily implied in 'She's In Love With A Boy In A Bodybag', coupled with TogetherInDeath when the girl decides she's had enough of living. [[BlackComedy Since this is Space we're talking about]], the narrator is ''jealous'' of the dead man.
129	-->''I'm so jealous that I'm alive''
130	-->''But I'm too scared of suicide''
131	-->''She held him tight in that lonely morgue''
132	-->''She thinks he's poetry, even in death...''
133	* InDaClub: "Disco Dolly", about a man who's a terrible dancer, and whose girlfriend loves clubbing and dance music (he's a rock 'n' roll fan himself). Fittingly, it's a disco / trance-influenced song.
134	* InTheStyleOf: Because of their genre-hopping approach, several Space songs tend to emulate the styles of other musicians. For example, the middle eight in "Avenging Angels" is a homage to Creator/MarleneDietrich, "Straight Line" from ''Music for Aliens'' was inspired by German experimental rock group Music/{{Can}}, whilst "Pretty Suicide" is a tribute to, well, Music/{{Suicide\|Band}}.
135	* IntercourseWithYou: "Spooky Bitch", "Blow Your Cover", "Falling In Love", "Give Me Your Future", "This Gorgeous Chaos", "I Am the Insect", and the unreleased songs "Radio Hell" and "Sexual Stereo".
136	* LazyBum: "Hell No" is about a guy who's unable to find a job due to lack of motivation and low self-esteem.
137	* LongestSongGoesLast: "Fran in Japan", which closes ''Tin Planet'', clocks in at just over 7 minutes, and is the longest track in the group's catalog.
138	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: "Be There", "Drop Dead" (some interpretations).
139	* LighterAndSofter: ''Tin Planet'' and ''Love You More than Football'', despite consisting mostly of AntiLoveSongs, are much poppier in sound compared to the rest of their output. ''Give Me Your Future'' seems to be heading in this direction too after the darkness of ''Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab''.
140	* LiveAlbum: More like Live Video: ''Tin Planet Live'', filmed in Wolverhampton during the ''Tin Planet'' tour, which was released on VHS in 1998.
141	** Also, their performance at the Reading Festival in 1997 is now available to stream.
142	* LyricalColdOpen: "Punk Rock Funeral".
143	* LyricalDissonance: 'Me And You Versus The World' is quite a cheerful-sounding song...about a couple who try to rob a shop and end up being shot dead. Still, at least they die ''happy''. And 'Avenging Angels' takes on a darker tone once you realise it's about your dead loved ones watching over you.
144	** 'Quiet Beach' is a atmospheric, pleasant-sounding ballad about a couple who drown themselves at sea.
145	* TheMasochismTango / SlapSlapKiss: taken up to eleven with 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones', and even more so in the video, where Tommy and Cerys are on a car on top of a cliff, with her forcing him ever close to the edge. The characters in the song are constantly trying to torture and kill each other, and the only thing that prevents either of them from murdering the other is the music of the titular Welsh crooner.
146	* MinisculeRocking: 'Hell Of A Girl', 'Yes You Do', 'Falling In Love' and 'Hold No Fear' are all under 2 minutes.
147	* NightmareFetishist: if his lyrics are anything to go by, Tommy is one. To a lesser extent, so is Jamie.
148	* ObsessionSong: Space seem to like this trope. '[[StalkerWithACrush Drop Dead]]', Turn Me On To Spiders', 'Bastard Me Bastard You', 'Be There', 'Diary Of A Wimp', 'If I Ever', 'There's No You' and 'I Am the Insect' are all examples.
149	* PapaWolf: "Suburban Rock 'n' Roll" (albeit one suffering with self-doubt).
150	* PepTalkSong: "Paranoid 6teen".
151	* PerformanceVideo: most of their videos fall under this category, particularly 'Female Of The Species' and 'Dark Clouds'.
152	* PrecisionFStrike: 'Turn Me On To Spiders':
153	---> "But if anybody comes near me / she'll ''cut their fucking balls off''."
154	** The live version of "Influenza" has this beauty: '''"You think I'm a FUCKIN' IDIOT!"'''
155	* RearrangeTheSong: 'Dark Clouds', 'Influenza' and 'Charlie M' have all had this treatment. The version of 'Charlie M' that Space play live is the demo version, which is much faster than the album version and starts with an 'ooga chaka' chant (see below). 'Influenza' is sometimes played at half the speed live, and 'Dark Clouds' has rarely been played as it is on the album. In 2004, the band played a garage rock version; in 2012 and 2013, they tagged on 'La Bamba' at the end; and Tommy transposes the song down a minor third for his solo sets (the band also played this version at their 2016 Christmas gig).
156	** ''Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab'' is comprised of songs that originated during Tommy's time with The Drellas, performed in a rockabilly/ska punk style.
157	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Influenza".
158	---> ''You treat me like an influenza''
159	---> ''You think I'm an idiot cuz I'm not in Mensa''
160	---> ''You treat me like tonsilitis''
161	---> ''I'm a pain in the neck and I'm not quite right but''
162	---> ''I know and you know that''
163	---> ''I'm your bellyache yeah and there's no cure''
164	* {{Retraux}}: Much of ''Give Me Your Future'' was recorded using vintage analogue synthesizers and electronic drums for an authentically 80s' minimal synth/new wave sound.
165	* RevisitingTheRoots: After dabbling with a lighter, more commercial sound on ''Tin Planet'' and the aborted ''Love You More than Football'', ''Suburban Rock 'N' Roll'' and ''Music for Aliens'' saw the group return to the experimentation of the ''Spiders'' era. Likewise, ''Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab'' was a throwback to Tommy's earliest musical influences, such as punk, ska and rockabilly.
166	* {{Sampling}}: Space absolutely loved doing this, particularly in the early days. ''Spiders'' is very heavy on samples - the one that stands out the most being the ''[[Film/TheElephantMan Elephant Man]]'' sample on 'No One Understands' - as are several B-sides. See SpokenWordInMusic below.
167	** The live version of 'Charlie M' starts with a sample of the 'ooga chaka' chant from Blue Swede's 'Hooked On A Feeling', which ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' fans might recognise. A slower, slightly distorted version of the chant appears in the album version.
168	* SanitySlippageSong: 'Mr. Psycho' and 'Drop Dead'. 'Armageddon' and 'Frightened Horses' probably qualify as well.
169	* ShrinkingViolet: "She's the Girl the Summer Misses the Most" takes this up to eleven: the lead character is so shy that she's literally vanishing from her own photos.
170	* ShoutOut: so many examples to mention that it now has its own [[ShoutOut/{{Space}} page]].
171	* SillyLoveSongs: while most of Space's songs are BlackComedy, 'Only Half An Angel', 'Give Me Your Future' and 'Falling In Love Again' all play it straight.
172	* SpecialGuest: Cerys Matthews (formerly of Catatonia) memorably duets with Tommy on 'The Ballad of Tom Jones'. At festivals when both bands were playing, Cerys would join Space to sing her part; in recent years, Jennifer John and Nancy Doll, the lead singer of the Sex Pissed Dolls, have also joined Space onstage for the song.
173	** On ''Love You More than Football'', Liverpool-based soul vocalist Jennifer John sings on "Good Times", whilst [[Music/TakeThatBand Mark Owen]] provides backing vocals for "Gravity". Also, Edwyn Collins pops up to make a brief cameo on "Thank You".
174	** More recently, Paul Hemmings - formerly of the La's and the Lightning Seeds - has played live with Space as a second guitarist.
175	* SpokenWordInMusic: loads of examples. 'No One Understands' has a sample from ''Film/TheElephantMan'' as its middle eight; 'Bastard Me Bastard You' has an Creator/AlfredHitchcock sample; 'I Am Unlike A Lifeform You've Ever Met' is entirely spoken word and ends with an American radio announcer talking about a zombie attack; 'Disco Dolly' starts with a car horn and a group of Scousers talking outside a club; 'The Man' and 'Juno' are instrumental tracks with sampled speech scattered throughout; and other songs have fragments of unintelligible speech, some apparently from the band themselves.
176	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: all band members except Phil and the drummers have done lead vocals at some point.
177	** Jamie: 'Voodoo Roller', 'No-One Understands', 'Kill Me', 'Gravity', 'One O'Clock', 'Evil Things', 'Despise', 'Major Pager', 'Piggies', 'Lovechild Of The Queen', 'Voices', and various B-sides.
178	** Yorkie: 'The Man', 'Why Can't We Turn On The Lights?', 'Supersonic Jetplane'. He also shares lead vocals with Tommy on 'Only Half an Angel' and 'Lost In Space'.
179	** Franny: 'I Am Unlike A Lifeform You've Ever Met', 'The Man'.
180	** Ryan: 'Happy Clowns'.
181	** Jordan Owoo, one of the band's road crew and a musician in his own right, on "Bad Ass Hungry Pterodactyl".
182	* SuicideBySea: "Quiet Beach".
183	* SurrealMusicVideo: '20 Million Miles From Earth'. 'Dangerous Day' combines this with SurrealHorror!
184	* TheSomethingSong: 'The Goodbye Song'. Also "The Rat Song" had it ever been released.
185	* TakeThat: 'Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab' is a dig at corporate chains causing local businesses to lose out. No, really.
186	** The band (especially Franny - see BerserkButton above - and Allan, the son of a Labour councillor) are notoriously anti-Conservative, which is why 'No One Understands' and 'Major Pager' each contain not-so-subtle jabs at Tory prime ministers UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher and UsefulNotes/JohnMajor respectively. In the live version of 'No One Understands', Jamie would sometimes sing 'Margaret Thatcher, she's a twat / slag' instead of 'Margaret Thatcher, she's so cool'.
187	** 'Be There' was written as a dig towards critics who thought their songs were too wacky.
188	* ThrillSeeker: "A Faster Way to Travel".
189	-->''Can't you see I need a rocket up my arse?!?''
190	* TitleTrack: Every album from ''Love You More Than Football'' onwards.
191	** Averted by 'Spiders', which is a B-side on 'Me & You Vs The World' (and appears on the original 'Neighbourhood' and ''Invasion Of The Spiders'' as 'Turn Me On To Spiders').
192	* TogetherInDeath: The last verse of 'Me & You Vs the World' - see YouAreWorthHell below. Also 'Quiet Beach', 'Pretty Suicide', and 'She's In Love With A Boy In A Bodybag' (as mentioned above). Tommy Scott seems to like this trope.
193	* TomatoInTheMirror: The video to "Suburban Rock 'N' Roll" features Tommy being pursued by someone in a lion costume, who at the end is revealed to be... [[spoiler:another Tommy!]]
194	* {{Troll}}: "Murderer" is from the perspective of an online troll, who is proud of the fact his insensitive remarks can't get him into serious trouble.
195	---> ''Why should I beat myself up?''
196	---> ''There's no one under the patio''
197	---> ''Oh, it's not like I am a cold blood murderer''
198	* TruckDriversGearChange: 'Zombies', 'The Devil's at the Party'.
199	** "Bad Days" changes key in the third verse but reverts back to its original pitch by the end.
200	* VillainSong: "Evil Things", sung by the Devil himself.
201	* VillainousGentrification: Resisting gentrification, and being willing to fight for their diverse working class neighbourhood is the theme running through the song "Neighbourhood".
202	* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Water?]] Discussed in the song "Sharks", which is about Tommy's fear of the sea.
203	* AWildRapperAppears: Jordan Owoo, the lead vocalist on "Bad Ass Hungry Pterodactyl".
204	* WretchedHive:
205	** 'Neighbourhood' is a song about one. Apparently it's [[BasedOnATrueStory based on where the band members grew up]].
206	** "Hell's Barbecue" is a post-apocalyptic spin on the subject.
207	* YouAreWorthHell: 'Me & You Vs The World'.
208	---> You took a chance on a loser like me, but you never let me down
209	---> And whether we're in Heaven or Hell

Context Music / Space