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''Ice Hockey Hair'' is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's ''Radiator'', or its follow-up ''Guerrilla''. The title track refers to an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle. The EP's opening song, "Smokin'", was commissioned by British television station Channel 4 for a programme about sloth presented by Howard Marks. "Ice Hockey Hair" was later included on 'greatest hits' compilation ''Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1'', issued in 2004, while "Smokin'" appeared on 1998's B-side and rarities compilation ''Out Spaced''. The EP received mostly positive reviews, being awarded 'single of the week' by the ''NME'', and appearing at number two in the magazine's single of the year list for 1998. The record also appeared in the 1998 single of the year lists issued by both the ''Melody Maker'' and ''Select''. Promotional music videos were issued for both "Ice Hockey Hair" and "Smokin'" and are included on the DVD version of ''Songbook...''. The former was directed by Daf Palfrey while the latter was directed by Peter Gray. ==Recording and themes== The first track on the EP, "Smokin'", was commissioned by British television station Channel 4 for a programme about sloth presented by Howard Marks as part of a series on the seven deadly sins. The band went into Grassroots, a community recording studio in Cardiff, in June 1997 and looped a sample of the Black Uhuru track "I Love King Selassie", playing along and writing "Smokin'" "completely spontaneously". According to singer Gruff Rhys the song is "really light and up" as a result of being recorded in the summer. The track's lyrics refer to smoking cannabis, with Rhys stating that it "seems ridiculous that you can't do what you want with a plant that grows naturally" in reference to the drug's illegal status in many countries. Rhys has claimed that he does not consider the track to be subversive however—it is about the band's own drug use and he doesn't "expect everyone who buys the record to do the same. They'd be quite sad if they did".〔 Chief lyric writer Rhys has stated that, whereas he might "empty parts of () emotional state" into some songs, ''Ice Hockey Hair's'' title track was written in the "instant pop music" tradition.〔 The track was originally called "The Naff Song" as the band felt it "had so many naff, cheesy things about it" before being renamed "Ice Hockey Hair" following a conversation with a Swedish football player who said that having 'ice hockey hair', an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle, was a really naff thing to do in his home country.〔 Rhys has described the song as a "Badfinger-style power ballad" and claimed that it is about "someone who's sunk so low they're asking advice off a women with ice hockey hair".〔 The track was recorded at Orinonco Studios, London. The band felt that "Ice Hockey Hair" and "Smokin'" were "light relief" and needed to be released so that they could concentrate on their next album, ''Guerrilla'', with Rhys stating that the "EP was a good chance to do something in isolation, because the tracks on it won't fit in with the new album, and they didn't fit in with the old one".〔〔 The EP is completed by "Let's Quit Smoking", a remix of "Smokin'", and "Mu-Tron", a largely instrumental track named after the Mutron guitar effects pedal and written by keyboardist Cian Ciaran.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ice Hockey Hair」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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