On this day, 27 August 1998, singer, songwriter and musician Lloyd Cole played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on his UK acoustic tour. He was lead vocalist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989.
The Commotions' debut studio album, Rattlesnakes (1984), contained literary and pop culture references to such figures as Arthur Lee, Norman Mailer, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Simone de Beauvoir, Truman Capote and Joan Didion. The band produced two more studio albums, Easy Pieces (1985) and Mainstream (1987), before disbanding in 1989.
Songs by the band include "Perfect Skin", "Rattlesnakes", "Forest Fire", "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?", "Lost Weekend" and "Jennifer She Said". Cole subsequently relocated to New York City and recorded with various musicians, including Fred Maher, Robert Quine and Matthew Sweet.
Some of Cole's songs have been covered by other artists. "Rattlesnakes" has been covered by Tori Amos on her concept album Strange Little Girls (2001), while Sandie Shaw released a version of "(Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken?" in 1986.
In 2006, Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura released the song "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" as an answer song to Cole's 1984 hit "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?".
