Gossip on soundtracking ‘Skins’: “I lost my shit because ‘skins’ meant skinhead”

Gossip‘s Beth Ditto has reflected on soundtracking the cult UK TV show Skins, revealing that she was reluctant to be involved at first.

• READ MORE: Gossip: “We needed space to deal with our shit”

The Soulwax remix of the US band’s 2005 song ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ featured throughout the advertising campaign for Skins and ended up on the soundtrack album for the show, which aired from 2007-2013.

In a recent In Conversation video interview with NME, Ditto shared that she had still “never seen that TV show”, adding that she was initially hesitant to be affiliated with the series.

“The person who owned the label got it onto the TV show. When I heard what the name of the show was, I lost my shit because ‘skins’ meant skinhead,” she shared. “I was like, What the fuck? What?! But then I learned what it meant here. It got lost in translation.”

The singer-songwriter added that her first reaction was: “Who the fuck thought of this? Like, whose idea is that?”

She continued: “It freaked me out. I was so mad, I was livid. It’s a teenage drama… about what?”

Ditto also reflected on the recent indie sleaze revival, as the popularity of fashion, music and pop culture from 2006 to 2012 has come into focus once again.

“That’s the way things work out,” she said. “Enough time has gone by, it’s nostalgic. It’s a time people weren’t alive for.”

She continued: “It’s really sweet, I think. It’s really, really awesome to be 42 and see kids, the way I was listening [to music] in the ’90s, the way we were listening to punk bands from the ’70s. There was that big resurgence of The Raincoats and The Slits.

“[After] that much time, to see it come full circle is really cool.”

Ahead of Gossip’s forthcoming album ‘Real Power’ (March 22) – their first new record in 11 years – NME also heard more about the reason for Gossip’s breakup, their reunion and recording with Rick Rubin.