Two sub heads struck me in the press this weekend. Both were in the Observers Music Monthly which I look forward to eagerly. The Sport and Food monthlies do little or me. The Women’s Monthly is better; good for over the top fashion and the article on the couples who have split up and why. Any way back to the sub-heads. The first was in a Spandau Ballet feature. SB were the first stand out cool band I remember. Although they were for one wet Sunday afternoon watching the Janet Street-Porter youff show which exposed me to the new romantics for the first time. Thrilling. At least until Tony Hadley revealed himself as a fat, Tory crooner. The quote from the Spands was “kids have always spent what they have in haircuts, not on books by Karl Marx”. Too right. And what a soppy haircut Karl had anyway. Consumer Capitalism 1, Communism 0.
The second quote was from a review of the Flaming Lips new album Embryonic which read “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to choose”. Blimey I wish I’d thought of that rather than just read it. Post materialism 2, turbo-consumerism 1.
I like the Music Monthly because at the back is a digest, with star ratings, of the best albums of the month. It helps me feel I’m not missing out and still getting the best sounds. But the problem is there is just too much to keep up with. At the moment I’m really enjoying a ‘best of’ CD by the Jayhawks. I mean listening to it like I used to listen to Joy Division when I was 17. Playing it again and again. Well sort of. But I’ve got the Arctic Monkeys too and there isn’t the time. And the reviews say I should get Monsters of Folk – but if I buy it I wont really get round to listening to that either. Then there are the books and DVDs. There is just too much stuff. Charlie Brooker writes about it here. I read the first para but there isn’t time to read the rest.
PS; I’ve not been blogging much. Was at the Labour conference getting ‘disappointed’ according to the New Statesman. I promise to do better as I enjoy this. Tomorrow I’m gonna write about X factor. Promise.
Re your PS, the article mentions “the government is no longer burdened by the need to please a media tycoon whose values are diametrically opposed to the Labour movement.”
Is that “the Labout movement” as in some way being a completely different thing from the Labour Gov’t? After all, a government that drives exactly the same consumerist agenda as the Tories is not representative of any movement of any description, unless perhaps the Conservative movement. There just is no difference between Labour and Tories now and the electorate knows it. I don’t understand what you are doing with them. Why aren’t you a Green activist? – it would be a lot more logical.