Something strange and unusual happened yesterday: a guitar band's new album went straight in at number one in the UK charts. Not some arena-bothering bunch either – it was Scottish post-rock royalty Mogwai with their 10th studio record, As The Love Continues. Incredible scenes indeed, and coming 24 years after their first single. Now they're trying to help their fellow Brits do the same.
Mogwai themselves were bolstered by the #Mogwai4Number1 campaign that saw artists including Elijah Wood, Tim Burgess and The Cure’s Robert Smith supporting the cause.
“A lot of it [the tweets] was people we know, and bands who’ve toured with us," guitarist Stuart Braithwaite told The Big Issue, "and that’s great because they didn’t have to do that. But a lot of it was people we don’t know. I mean I’ve never met Elijah Wood!"
Braithwaite was as surprised as everyone else when the weekly chart results came in on 27 February; “Bands like us don’t normally ever get to number one,” he marvelled.
25 years to the week that @mogwaiband released their debut single, the band have scored their first UK Number 1 album! https://t.co/xwNrF1AgwvFebruary 27, 2021
“I just want to say a huge thank you [to our fans] for everything they’ve done,” Braithwaite added. “Not just in the last week but the whole time this band has been going. I want to thank them for making the last week absolutely incredible.”
In the spirit of paying it forwards, the musician is now sparking a campaign to get Maximo Park's new album, Nature Always Wins, to number one too with the hashtag #maximopark4number1.
Ok, I’ll start. #maximopark4number1 ✊🏼February 28, 2021
The much-loved Newcastle band and their superb seventh album are more than deserving – and we'll be talking to their guitarist Duncan Lloyd on MusicRadar very soon.
Could this spark a whole wave of campaigns with musicians and fans getting guitar bands back to the top of the charts, we hope so!
More info: Mogwai and Maximo Park
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