Dear God, I had a dream last night. It made me smile. In my dream I witnessed: Serious academics debating the respective merits and legacy of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis Streets erupting with violent clashes between Tonality supporters and militant defenders of Atonality Millions of Twitter users sharing beautiful lyrics, and shredding…
The soul of the party
There is a party. Everyone is there. Country music is filling the room, but the singer sounds young, female, and is singing in French, sigh-singing in the best French pedophile tradition. It must be an intellectual party; artists and their entourage. It must be that kind of place. Who is appropriated in this context: country…
Love me…please!
The audience was gradually getting nervous as Black Midi extended songs beyond recognition, almost stopped playing altogether, engaged in prolonged stop-start patterns with satanic pleasure and then, all of a sudden, started the next song without even waiting for applause. This was exciting, dangerous, finally a band pushing boundaries of technical possibilities, song structure and…
About leather jackets and hotpants
Music and fashion are not strongly linked anymore. As a result, almost all physical manifestations of belonging to a particular group are gone. No occasional sighting of a skater with baggy jeans or a punk in black leather jacket can change that fact. We live in different times. Today it is more important to all…
Why all girls should listen to X-Ray Spex
If I was President of the world I would make sure all girls owned a copy of ‘Oh bondage, up yours!’, X-Ray Spex’s debut single from 1977. “Why?” you might ask. “and why only girls?” The answer is simple, elementary, and reveals itself in the first 30 seconds of this iconic Punk song. First Poly…
Give me convenience
Because I was too young, Because I was too shy and too scared, Because I was too young, (not) much too young, Because fear was not my best friend, Because I was (still not Neil) young and fading away already, Because the spotlight frightened me (and still does decades later), But mainly because I was…
We’re a happy family
Sitting here in Queens Eating refried beans We’re in all the magazines Gulpin’ down thorazines In April 2001 Joey Ramone died from Lymphoma, not even 50 years old. Five years earlier The Ramones had stopped playing together, but even though that formally ended one of the most influential (punk) rock families, Dee Dee Ramone couldn’t…
Punk ended with Spiral Scratch
Punk ended on the 29th of January 1977. On that day Buzzcocks released their Spiral Scratch EP. Singer Howard Devoto left the band more or less at the same time, stating that punk rock had already become restrictive and stereotyped. Why did Punk end with Spiral Scratch? Because it was the first punk record…
Before The Fall
Frankly I was shocked when a friend told me recently I didn’t like Nick Cave’s early work. There are a few certainties in my life, and I thought Nick Cave was one of them. His observation was true though. Reading old notes, and doing some serious soul-searching made me realise I only started liking Nick…
Defining a genre: Wire
Last Summer I was travelling Switzerland by train. All boringly predictable until a young guy stepped in. He couldn’t have been older than 25 and what instantly surprised me was that he was wearing a Wire T-shirt. Not just any Wire T-shirt, but a T-shirt of their iconic debut album ‘Pink Flag’ (1977). I say…
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