Happy World

This is a Record Store Day 2018 item. It will be available to purchase from our stores from 8am 21st April. Remaining stock will be available to purchase from this page at 00.01 28th April.

Limited to 500 Copies. One of the UK's most dearly cherished indie bands The Hit Parade releases its thirteenth single on 7" vinyl on JSH Records to mark Record Store Day 2018. Happy World is a new song, a defiant battle cry from this idealistic pop group, to tell the tale of an aging but increasingly belligerent indie band that exists now only as a dream in its songwriter's imagination, recorded in lo-fi mono and produced by R G Watts. It will be available in all good record stores. The B-Side Otaku Boy is another new song, a vignette about obsessive relationships and the writing of Banana Yoshimoto.

The Hit Parade was formed by three school friends in 1984. They have released six albums and 12 singles since that date and have built a small but determined following amongst record fans in London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York, Barcelona, Stockholm and Penzance. After touring Japan in the 1990s (first with Thee Milkshakes then with Edwyn Collins), the Hit Parade became less active, though their 2013 single I Like Bubblegum was heralded one of the best singles of the year by the clever people at Drowned In Sound. Like other Hit Parade 7" vinyl singles, Happy World has been cut by hand, written and recorded at home, is sold in a limited edition, won't be streamed or available as download, and won't be promoted by concerts or TV appearances.