A couple of minutes before five o'clock this afternoon, I heard Radio Two play Get Over You, by The
Undertones:
Dressed like Thatcher, you must be livin' in a different
world.
And your mother doesn't know why you can't look like all the
other girls.
I then switched over to the Chart Show for the first time in
nearly 20 years, only to hear someone or other massacring Teenage
Kicks, by The Undertones. That very much set the tone for the subsequent two hours.
I laughed myself silly while listening to Radio
One. They played something by an
apparently super-cool person who is in fact a man called Nelly.
Seriously. His name is Nelly. He is not even joking. Not in the
least.
But more to the point, the featured performers no longer so much as pretended not to be ripping off their elders and betters, some of whom actually appeared on the records like middle-aged relatives at teenagers' birthday parties. Beginning only hours from now, the once-mighty Breakfast Show is to be presented for a week by Scott Mills, who is 40 years old.
But more to the point, the featured performers no longer so much as pretended not to be ripping off their elders and betters, some of whom actually appeared on the records like middle-aged relatives at teenagers' birthday parties. Beginning only hours from now, the once-mighty Breakfast Show is to be presented for a week by Scott Mills, who is 40 years old.
Based on that run-down, a Number Two
record from 1939 seemed perfectly appropriate. The substantive content
of much of the rest was not much newer than that. How about making a different song from The Wizard of Oz Number One next week? But which one, and
why?
I think there is actually a bigger issue ...and almost a serious one. I don't say that it IS serious because I don't want to give social media too much credit. Nor do I think that the current level of political discourse is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteBut consider this...and I have said this before (maybe not here)....there is a very real precedent that the BBC has set.
This song is just about the least offensive song possible. It is banned because of the reason people downloaded it. If anti-Eurpeans arranged a download of 40,000 "White Cliffs of Dover" (blameless song, blameless singer) to make an avowed political point.
Or a blameless song/singer was adopted by SNP before Referendum....or to promote any cause.
Strange...Absurd Times
FJH
It seems worth testing, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely...if the Charts were dominated by songs which were effectively proxies for extreme political thought....the BBC would have to abandon the Charts altogether.
ReplyDeleteWhich would be good news for those of us who think there hasn't been any music since 1968...cept for The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.