The Charlatans

Some Friendly

The Charlatans formed in the West Midlands in 1988 with Martin Blunt on bass, Rob Collins on keyboards, Jon Brookes on drums, Jon Day (also given as John Baker) on guitar and Baz Ketley singing. Ketley left in 1989 and was replaced by Tim Burgess, previously with the Electric Crayons, who had one single, "Hip Shake Junkie". Rob Collins is said to have persuaded Blunt to draft Burgess, and Wikipedia's song article says the band wrote "Indian Rope", "The Only One I Know" and "Sproston Green" in one weekend. They add UK in the US because another band had the name. Mark Collins, unrelated to Rob, replaced Baker in 1991. Burgess told Songwriting Magazine that early songs were credited to everyone in the band and that a lawyer arrived during Some Friendly to divide credits; after six months with Mark Collins they agreed to split songwriting five ways.

Some Friendly (October 8, 1990, Situation Two) reached number one in the UK. Between 10th and 11th (March 23, 1992, produced by Flood) reached 21, Up to Our Hips (1994) 8, and The Charlatans (1995) number one. Rob Collins died on July 22, 1996 during the recording of Tellin' Stories; they supported Oasis at Knebworth that year, and Tony Rogers joined in 1997. Tellin' Stories reached number one, platinum, and Us and Us Only and Wonderland both 2. Jon Brookes was taken ill on September 15, 2010 and died on August 13, 2013, aged 44; Peter Salisbury has drummed on tour since 2010 and the band became patrons of The Brain Tumour Charity. All their studio albums have reached the UK top 40, three the top spot, with 22 top-40 singles, per Wikipedia and the Official Charts Company.

The 20th anniversary Some Friendly reissue came in May 2010, with shows playing it in full in London, Glasgow, Blackpool and at Primavera Sound; Burgess told Clash that some members weren't keen on doing it at all originally. Burgess published his memoir Telling Stories on April 26, 2012, and began Tim's Twitter Listening Party in March 2020. In 2023 they co-headlined North America with Ride, playing Between 10th and 11th in full, and recorded a KEXP session in Seattle on February 14, 2023. We Are Love came out on October 31, 2025, their 14th album, and a Some Friendly 35th anniversary edition is dated March 27, 2026. You Cross My Path (2008) was the first UK band album released as a free download through a radio station, XFM.