I've been meaning to write for a while about some of the various media I have been consuming of late... books, films, games, etc... I shall start today with
music.
First and foremost, the title of this post is a line from Get Over It, the new single by The Guillemots. It is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece. You can watch the video at Youtube if the fancy so takes you. I have purchased the single via Itunes this very afternoon... I like being able to buy a single for less than a pound, and actually be involved in the charts again. I know the charts are horribly corporate and whatnot, but I think lowering the barrier to entry in terms of price (both for a band distributing singles and for the listener purchasing them) can only be a good thing. I'm hoping the charts will broaden out a bit more to include music that would otherwise not get in there, were it only being purchased by 14 year olds in Woolworths.
Talking of singles, I picked up The Mystery by Doug Walker as well. Chris Moyles had been banging on about it and how good it was, but also how no other DJ or station would touch it. The song was good, so I downloaded it, and after a few listens figured out why no one was interested in playing it... It's a Christian record. Sure, it doesn't mention God or Jesus, but it's pretty clear when you know what you're listening for. Shame that popular radio is so biased against anything remotely "edgy" in that sense.
Talking of things that are remotely edgy, I watched the Brit Awards last month. Dear goodness, what an embarrassment. It doesn't take too much cynicism to imagine that it was pre-arranged that all of a sudden once the 9pm watershed hit everyone would get drunk and start swearing. Sharon Osborne, Vic Reeves, The Arctic Monkeys... It's all just a bit cringeworthy. Very pretend rock 'n' roll. The awards themselves were predictably bland... Yes, I was pleased to see Mika, Mark Ronson and Kanye West pick up an award and yes - it's arguably fair that the Foo Fighters won a couple, though I think Dave Grohl's sarcastic acceptance speeches pretty much covered off the fact that they were pretty much token wins; the rest of the awards all seemed either ill deserving (Adele - more on that story later) or tediously predictable (Take That, Kylie). The performances were also pretty forgettable, with the exception of Amy Winehouse' hideous singing for Mark Ronson's version of Valerie that was memorable for all the wrong reason. All in all it was a bit of a waste of time.
Adele... How can she win a "critic's choice" award? In what world of paint-drying-and-peelingly boring music can she be seen to be even remotely interesting? Why the dragging vocals? Why the uninspired music? Why the obsession with pavements? Why the enormous record sales, for goodness' sake? I'll tell you why... It's the fault of middle aged, middle class folk buying any old CD for £7.97 in Asda to sit on their coffee table next to their copy of the Daily Mail. It is music for people who do not like music. It is the Ready Brek of the music world.
In other news, I've been buying second hand Placebo albums lately. Placebo are one of those bands that I've always known I should be listening to, but somehow never quite got into, with the exception of putting Without You I'm Nothing on a compilation tape about 10 years ago. The albums are all pretty much brilliant. The music is confident and capable - precise without sounding fake. The lyrics are poetic, in a way that surprisingly few songwriters achieve considering that songs are arguably just poetry with a backing track. I think the thing that surprises and impresses me most is that the music is almost effortless to listen to and appreciate - it's not like listening to a Radiohead or White Stripes record and having to give it time to be sure that it actually is good music and not just arty wank. The content is somewhat unsettling - spanning misery, modern life, drugs of every kind, bisexual sex - but strangely I find it less offensive than, say, the majority of R&B in the charts at any given time. Consider, for example, the lines:
Got a headrush, in her pocket
Two rubbers, two lubes and a silver rocket
from I Know by Placebo. Yes, it's very rude. However, let's compare that to the marvellous writing by Taio Cruz in his top 10 single Come on Girl, the bridge of which is worth writing out in full:
You wanna take a bite?
Come whet my appetite,
Put it in, do your thang, make my head spin,
So c'mon take me away,
You better take me away,
You better hit the spot,
If you want I can make you pop,
So let go, electro, take it nice and slow,
C'mon boy, c'mon boy, c'mon boy!
Maybe I'm using double standards here, or maybe I've got some idea that one of these artists is making grown up music for grown up listeners, while the other is making songs for immature sex crazed teenagers. Hmm. Either way, I'd much rather listen to Brian Molko's musings on his rather torrid lifestyle than yet another blinged up rapper banging on about all his bitches or whatever. Ugh.
Right. That's about all I've got to say about music for the time being... Films or games next, I think. See you then.
