Young Musicians Waiting For Life to Perform
On Sunday night, the BBC will broadcast the final of its Young Musician of the Year competition. Contests between the country’s most un/talented people are a near constant source of TV entertainment, so I tuned in to last week’s semi finals to see what makes this show different from all the others. The man we...
The Virtues of Amateurism
“Sometime I’m going to do an essay called ‘The Virtues of Amateurism’ for all of those people who wish they earned their living in the arts.” Robert Kincaid, The Bridges of Madison County. Unfortunately, Robert Waller’s character never did write his essay on the virtues of amateurism. But it’s a good title, even if we...
E.M.I. needn’t spell disaster for England’s Music Industry
If, like I, you have been reading articles under headlines such as ‘Deadline day looms for ailing EMI’ or ‘EMI facing crisis’ you could be forgiven for assuming that EMI was in fact an acronym for England’s Music Industry as a whole, rather than the forlorn single enterprise it is. Consensus amongst analysts of the...
Malcolm McLaren
It is said that people forever retain an element of who they were when first encountered. For me, Malcolm McLaren, who sadly passed away on Thursday, remained throughout his life the ‘orrible oik from ’77, a brazen Londoner loudly proclaiming the virtues of punk and the Pistols. His desire to get under the skin of...
Getting by, with a little help from some friends
Dr Evil: “Gentlemen, it’s come to my attention that a breakaway Russian Republic called Kreplachistan will be transferring a nuclear warhead to the United Nations in a few days. Here’s the plan. We get the warhead, and we hold the world ransom… (dramatic pause)… FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS!” Perhaps it’s the Robbie Williams’ effect, but...
Art for art’s sake
Congratulations then to Joe McElderry, winner of the X Factor 2009. The people’s champion was voted for by over six million viewers and, with the show’s finale timed to allow the victor the spoils of a Christmas number one single, Joe is now the bookies’ favourite to top the festive hit parade as well.
Rapper's delights ensure the beat goes on
It was a phenomenon meant to take over the world, kill the guitar and destroy the English language. Even as an endangered guitar player with zero grasp of street talk, I couldn’t help but think hip-hop was a great thing, a genuine revolution led by, but not limited to, music.
Harder, better, faster, stronger?
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible”. So said Frank Zappa, perhaps one of our most progressive and deviational musicians. On the whole I like Frank’s approach to new things, particularly when it comes to music, yet recently the idea of progress caught me in a less charitable mood, coming as it did...
A groovy kind of love
And still she waits; the perennial bride of our time. With extra buttons loosened and an ever shortening skirt, on show is a sordid foreplay that would normally raise a chorus of "get a room!".
Silence is golden…
It was, for me, becoming one of life’s certainties; music has both the voice and the range to impress upon any moment. Whether it is in celebrating a sporting triumph, thanking your version of our maker or wooing a lover, a sonic backdrop that can raise the emotions is seemingly always available.
Sisters: are you doing it for yourselves?
Music is equally as apt to be a social mirror as sport. We like to think it is one step ahead, a leader of social change rather than a reaction. With music, it has oft been said, you can change the world.
Beatles for sale
I can’t think of any album title that has, up to now at least, seemed so fallible, so unsound, when linked to its creators. If anyone seemed to be beyond such trifles as market forces and consumer trends it was the Beatles - a consistent demand from one generation to the next has ensured that...
