Kids today, huh?

[Rich Hero]

I remember long ago hearing John Peel state that he really enjoyed the idea that whatever he's currently into will embarass him in five or ten years time. And then Pete Burns, as a talking head on some list telly programme the other week, said he was profoundly disappointed in the state of pop music today because none of it scared him when it should do, now that he's no spring chicken.

So I guess there's two related points up for discussion here - what embarasses you from your past listening, and what do you reckon of pop today?

For me, I guess the heavy metal phase is the one I'm glad of growing out of although I suppose I wouldn't be who I am now without it, for better or worse (still, I could have done without those Little Angels records ). And I think the charts at the minute are healthier than they've been in a while. But there is nothing really challenging there - I remember my Dad turning TOTP off in disgust when I was a kid 'cos Iggy Pop was wearing an Aliex Sex Fiend t-shirt, and I don't think pop really has the power to shock at the minute. So the scariest thing is finding myself agreeing with Pete Burns...  

Thoughts???

[LDJB]

Some of the more gothy stuff I used to listen to I now realise was utter pish - the Sisters of Mercy ferchristsakes! Conversely in the late 70's / early 80's I was embarrassed to admit to liking soul and funk as all my mates were punks.

As for today's pop - I know nothing about it unless my daughter puts something on repeat play for a couple of weeks (as you do in your early teens) - this is the only reason I have heard the recent Outkast stuff!

I suppose that as 'pop' is now well over 50 years old it difficult for anything to be shocking.

[left hand corner]

Dj H and Stefi, Rj and The Family......yep, during the late 80s I bought a lot of really bad Italian House. I was a sucker for a tune with a piano. I blame the   . Luckily I am now strictly  

[Matt Hero]

If you asked me a few years ago, I could have come up with a whole list of things that I'd have bought that embarrased me. It's almost as if, when you're young, you like to wipe the slate clean each time you discover something different...and deny that you ever liked what you may have been into 6 months previously.

These days I find it far easier to lack any embarassment for what resides in my record & cd collection.

This lack of embarassement also allows me to be express a liking for a good pop record when I hear one. Even if it is by Emma Bunton.

It seems that periodically there is some breast beating about 'the state of the charts', as if our collective memories have been filtered to only recall things currently thought of classics existed in the past, and not for instance, the collective works of Tina Charles.

The same goes for the periodic press 'revealing' that [shudder] pop acts don't write their own songs or [horror] they are often the carefully selected products of record company management.

These are probably the same people who think that front doors used to be made of paper and that all the ills of the world are the work of 'do good-ers' (which is the strangest re-defining of a term I've ever heard... I mean we all hate those who do good don't we, bastards.... but I digress).

They are incapsulated by most of the people who appeared on last weeks edition of 'Bailiffs'. Especially the women who wanted the government strung up because her son hadn't paid his parking ticket.

Anyway, what was the question again ?

[Rich Hero]

Quote[/b] (LDJB @ April 15 2004,15:23)]As for today's pop - I know nothing about it unless my daughter puts something on repeat play for a couple of weeks (as you do in your early teens) - this is the only reason I have heard the recent Outkast stuff!

Well I've started listening to the radio again, in the car. And aside from inane presenters (no change since I was a kid then) I actually enjoy a lot of the music. For instance, I enjoyed Kylie's and Britney's latest offerings without the distractions of the videos (not that they're a bad thing, but musically...).

[Rich Hero]

Quote[/b] (Matt Hero @ April 15 2004,16:15)]Even if it is by Emma Bunton.

Hang on, the question is now "Which Emma Bunton track"?!?

   

[wayne]

Quote[/b] (Matt Hero @ April 14 2004,17:15)]It seems that periodically there is some breast beating about 'the state of the charts', as if our collective memories have been filtered to only recall things currently thought of classics existed in the past, and not for instance, the collective works of Tina Charles.

Agreed! True, the sheer efficiency of the marketing now is much, much worse than before (like, at least in the past, things were only done to death with product tie-ins and cross-format deals when they were already popular...now, it's all set up before anyone even thinks about putting the band together) but the only actual difference between The Monkees and Busted is that The Monkees had better puppetmasters from the off. When the manufacturing is good, who cares that it's manufactured?

As for the decline of the charts, well, who were the biggest sellers of the heyday of The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Motown etc? Wasn't it the likes of Ken Dodd and Englebert Humperdinck? I do think there's probably more good music around right now than at any time since that '66 - '73 rock/soul period, or the '77 - '82 heyday of disco, punk, DIY, early hip-hop etc, but as then, most of it's not really denting the mainstream. Can't help thinking Mark E Smith had a point when he said once he devised his opinions by looking at what the majority thought then spouting off the exact opposite, figuring you'd be proved right nine times out ten.

As for embarrassment, Lee's right: the stuff I liked in the mid-80s as 'guilty pleasures' (like Mamas & Papas records or Gerry Anderson themes) are now considered hip, and I'd now be less vocal about the stuff that was approved then that I still like, but which is considered unhip, now (eg: 4AD records, the odd C86 band etc). As for the rest, we are discussing this on a board where finding a fresh slice of James Last or Andy Williams is positively encouraged. I don't think anyone saw that one coming...

What's the betting that in another five years hipster sheep will be looking down their noses at your super-hip current gear? But if you're worried about being hip, or 'shocking', you're not really listening to the stuff anyway, are you? As for shock, I'm not so sure it doesn't still happen, as parental reactions to the likes of Eminem, So Solid Crew etc testify. In a way, you could almost credit Jamie Cullum & Co with 'shocking' the old punks running the media these days, and it's a toss-up whether it's the MOR lot or the trad 'rock circus' of The White Stripes that's more conservative.

[bboy parkz]

Quote[/b] (left hand corner @ April 15 2004,15:55)]yep, during the late 80s I bought a lot of really bad Italian House. I was a sucker for a tune with a piano.

I’m guilty of owning a fair few Italo-house 12”s , but they have been in storage for years and I cant wait to get them out. No matter how cheesy and camp they sound I still love them now (apart from the ones that sample the ‘Yeah Woo’ bit from Lyn Collins)
As for things IÂ’m embarrassed about, well IÂ’m not really that embarrassed but I did get quite heavily into Brit-pop around the cool-Britannia time. I think I have the full Menswear back catalogue and I did champion them to be the next big thing. Still get ribbings about that from my mates.

I have a lot of really bad (meaning bad) white label rave stuff (91-92), a lot of it sounds horrible now, and I guess I’m embarrassed that I dropped ££££ on the stuff at the time.

As for todayÂ’s pop music, I donÂ’t hear the radio that much, but occasionally turn on radio 1 at work, and must confess I enjoy a lot of what I hear (mainly the rock/indie stuff as I canÂ’t stand the commercial rap/RnB).

[emperor tomato ketchup]

Quote[/b] (Rich Hero @ April 15 2004,14:56)]I remember long ago hearing John Peel state that he really enjoyed the idea that whatever he's currently into will embarass him in five or ten years time. And then Pete Burns, as a talking head on some list telly programme the other week, said he was profoundly disappointed in the state of pop music today because none of it scared him when it should do, now that he's no spring chicken.

But peelie doesn't seem to have changed much in recent years at all....

I think its a get out clause as he has no chance of playing everything he receives so some stuff he'll play on the radio thats he's barely played once before.

As for me I've long since given up on being embarressed by what I have, especially as most people still think James Last is shit even if I play them Voodoo Party - I think they erase the memory of it straight away so as not to have to reconfigure their brainballs. And metal has been on its way back for a while - Gonga, Lightning Bolt and stuff like that is pretty awesome.

And the pop music mainstream has always been more or less terrible so I've long since stopped paying any attention there too.