LIFE SOUNDTRACK: Sneaker Pimps – Bloodsport
2002 was a tough year for us: New York City was still reeling from 9/11, the economy was depressed and we had difficulties to find jobs. And, to make this all very visible, an official drought caused all fountains of the city to be shut down.
My soundtrack for in these times was the third album Bloodsport by UK band Sneaker Pimps. Elke’s sister gave the CD to me for birthday and it quickly became my favorite album of the year (I used to played it on a clunky Archos music player). Turns out, the melancholic undertone of Bloodsport and lyrics like “If you have a headache, use a gun / If you think you’re doing something special, it’s been done” resonated perfectly in a situation when we were stumbling from day to day, waiting that something happens that would turn our lives around.
I have already love Sneaker Pimp’s previous two records: Becoming X was a important trip hop album in 1996 and featured female vocals by Kelli Ali, who was later kicked out of the band. 1999’s Splinter, with Chris Corner singing, ran on my MiniDisc player on repeat: the opener Half Life is still one of my all time favorite songs.
But I felt Bloodsport was their best work so far: it has plenty of hooks and chrouses that can stick in your mind for days. Like, “Smalltown witch come to mess me up”, “You’re so loretta young silks, swapping your love for hate” and of course “My mother, my mother, my mother never told me / Love is just a bloodsport”.
Eventually times were looking better for us and we saw Sneaker Pimps as our first show in 2002 in the now closed Brooklyn music venue South Paw. Chris Corner was the only founding member left then and he put Sneaker Pimps to rest later to continue under the new name IAMX, which is reportedly derived from the first album’s title Becoming X.
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