The Soft Boys: Underwater Moonlight [Classic Album Revisit]

The Soft Boys
Underwater Moonlight
Armageddon Records [1980]

Released: June 1980
Producer: Pat Collier
Length: 36 Minutes

“One of those records that quietly rewired alternative rock.”

Formed in Cambridge in the late ’70s, The Soft Boys were led by Robyn Hitchcock, a songwriter with a poet’s brain and a prankster’s heart. They fused punk urgency with ’60s psychedelia, knotty guitar interplay, and surreal wordplay. They never quite fit the era’s boxes, which is exactly why their influence outgrew their chart presence.

Underwater Moonlight is the moment where everything locks into place. The guitars sparkle and scrape like Television filtered through the Byrds, while Hitchcock’s lyrics bounce between romance, paranoia, and sharp social commentary. It’s clever without being smug, melodic without going soft, and weird without trying too hard. This is one of those records that quietly rewired alternative rock—R.E.M., Paisley Underground bands, and countless college-radio lifers all took notes.

The album just celebrated its 45th anniversary with a reissue that featured a 20-page booklet including rare photographs, liner notes by David Fricke and Robyn Hitchcock and it includes the original version of “Old Pervert”, not the “Disco” version that has appeared on every release since the UK original.

SINGLES: “I Wanna Destroy You” (still a rush of nervous energy and righteous snark) and “Kingdom of Love,” which wraps pop hooks around emotional unease like it’s no big deal.

DEEP CUTS: “Insanely Jealous” burns with coiled tension, “Tonight” drifts in on chiming guitars and late-night longing, and “Old Pervert” proves the band could flirt with chaos and still land the punchline.

ARTISTS WITH SIMILAR FIRE: XTC, Television, early R.E.M., The Feelies, Echo & the Bunnymen—bands that valued sharp guitars, sharper writing, and a little left-of-center nerve.

INTERESTING FACT: Despite its cult status now, Underwater Moonlight barely made a commercial ripple at release. Its real life began later, as musicians passed it around like a secret map to an alternate version of rock history.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: The Soft Boys split not long after the album, but their story didn’t end there. Robyn Hitchcock has went on to a wildly prolific solo career, becoming an underground icon in his own right. The band has reunited sporadically over the years for tours and reissues, finally getting their flowers from audiences who realized—sometimes decades late—just how ahead of the curve this record really was.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK REVIEW HISTORY
Shufflemania! (2022) / Love From London (2013)