Sunday, February 05, 2006

Musical thoughts...

I've finally got round to doing some of the mix CDs I've been threatening to do, which has given me some thinking time whilst my feeble computer wheezes away at the concept of encoding the odd MP3. I have come to the following conclusions:

Arctic Monkeys: Poor sods. Their singles are brilliant, and their album's a quality peice of work - any band would be rightly proud of capturing a generation so well. Is it the dawning of a new era of rock music? I hope not, because the peurile, ficticious 'scenes' that sprout up around any decent success story are all precisely 95.3% shite and are a pox on all that is good about music (except britpop, which was 99.7% shite). It'll mean that their next album is a load of bumwater and 400 utterly useless identikit troupes of automatons will pile through the CD:UK doors and into our eyes and ears like Sarin nerve gas. To be honest, the monkeys aren't even that great either. Just very, very good. Still it does mean that Domino Records will have another million-selling artist on their roster and be able to afford to bankroll more spectacular music from more challenging artists.

"Cheese" Music: When someone says "I just like listening to cheese" it makes me want to sellotape them to the floor and inject them with insulin until they pass out. Have I got a problem with "cheese" music per se? No. The average pop music club will play approximately 60% music that I like, actually. but to describe something as cheesy is basically saying it's predictable, soulless guff with no merit. Like Bon Jovi for example. But any good pop music that makes it into such nightclubs gets dubbed as cheese too, which is criminal. A good pop record (say, S Club's 'Don't Stop Moving' for example) is a thing of unrivalled beauty and should not be tarred in the same pap way as Chesney Hawkes. Maybe I just lack the requisite self-conscious irony to appreciate shite music.


Why Hip-Hop Sucks in '06: It's the money.

Goodnight fair folk.

2 comments:

Del said...

Those who like only cheese don't really like music. And they must be pitied, not mocked. Imagine all the wondrous things you've poured into your ears, whilst they have been watching Pop Idol and Stars In Their Eyes. It makes me wince just thinking about it.

Anonymous said...

Some people have no interest or specific tastes in music so buy the "cheese" as it is what is most commonly around on the radio. They are to be pitied. They do not know any better. They are no better than Daily Mail readers.

And whilst your general mocking of Bon Jovi is correct, I challenge anyone to hear "Living on a Prayer" in a club and resist the urge to punch their fists in the air and sing along. I have seen this demonstrated at WendyHouse (www.thewendyhouse.com), where the DJ's like to mess with the mostly goth crowd.