Welcome to my new music blog! I’m fairly new to this blog malarkey, but I’m hoping it will improve with age. Like a fine wine. I’ll mostly be focussing on the Liverpool music scene, covering new and local bands but also chatting about music in general. I do reviews for guestlistmusic.com and I have covered bands such as Electric Six, The Magic Numbers and The Cribs, as well as many local bands. Jolly good they were too.
The name comes from a weird and beautiful piece of poetry from David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album. I was looking to reflect my love of music by naming the blog after a song, but I also wanted to chronicle the potential rise of some ‘Future Legends’. There are some very talented peoploids out there in Liverpool, so I don’t think it’s an impossible task.
But first things first. I want to get this out the way because it will bug me forever. I know everyone else has jumped on the Simon Cowell vs. Rage against the Machine bandwagon, but here goes. According to nearly every newspaper report, Simon reckons he has saved the Christmas Number 1 from the likes of Mr Blobby, Bob the Builder, Cliff Richard etc. Has he forgotten about Elvis, The Beatles, Queen, Slade, Pink Floyd? All had Christmas Number 1’s, all are flipping great. And yes granted, the last few years haven’t been too grand, but has this really been improved by Shane Ward’s ‘That’s my Goal’? Or Leona Lewis’ Sandals advert ‘A Moment like This’? Really? And butchering Leonard Cohen last year was just plain unforgivable. I’m prepared to write a very strongly worded letter if THAT ever happens again. At least I don’t give a shit about Miley Cyrus.
Others argue that the whole Rage against the Machine thing is purely academic. No matter who gets to number 1, ole Simon’s going to get his pay day. It doesn’t matter whether he gets his cash bonus from RATM or from Joe Whatsit. The important thing is that music shouldn’t be the predictable slumbering beast it has become. Nobody should be able to guarantee and make assumptions about what people like. That’s dictatorship. What will happen next year, or in 2 years? Joe Whatsit may be the fresh cog in Cowell’s twisted wheel, but how long will it take before he becomes a rusty spare part like Shame Ward. No, the best musicians have been original, unpredictable, wild. This is what has given the likes of Elvis, Queen and The Beatles their legend status.
The Facebook group that started all of this, now has some 800,000 members. Whether all of these people will actually buy ‘Killing in the Name of’ is irrelevant. I’m a member and I won’t buy it, I already have it, but it’s lovely to see Simon’s feathers ruffled. And if it introduces some new fans to RATM then great. What is really wonderful to see is a collective bunch of people band together to defy one man’s arrogance. Now that is democracy. Or as Tom Morello says “A wonderful dose of anarchy.” If you think you have the right to assume a guaranteed victory, then think again. Let it happen Simon, failure is good for the soul. I’m sure you’ll be crying all the way to the bank.
Right, I’m over it. The abuse of Leonard still smarts but I can salve that pain by listening to the real deal. And so onwards… Next week I will be covering the Buffalo Riot and support acts at the Masque, so will keep you posted on how that goes.
Chao for now.
