Robyn Hitchcock

The Soft Boys, like the Velvet Underground, are one of those bands that weren’t hugely popular but ignited the spark in many a burgeoning rock musician. Yo La Tengo used the Soft Boys in the first ad they placed looking for musicians. The Minus 5, Sonic Youth, the Posies, Luna and Matthew Sweet have all cited the band as an influence. Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices said he always wanted to sing more like Robyn Hitchcock than Michael Stipe. Steve Wynn explained that in the early period of the Dream Syndicate it was Kimberly Rew’s guitar playing he was copying- not Lou Reed’s.
The Soft Boys- Hitchcock, Rew, drummer Morris Windsor and bassist Matthew Seligman- gurgled up from the academic haven of Cambridge- dressed like it was the 60s- and unleashed a crashing jangle, a pointed pop bang, harmonies and a clanking, driving version of psychedelia. And though Underwater Moonlight sounds relentlessly contemporary now, it was totally unfashionable at the time.