BANDS OF FUTURES PAST

Manicured Noise, Blurt, Delta Five, Section 25, Quando Quango,Spizz, Monochrome Set, 23 Skidoo, Rema Rema, Rubella Ballet, Television Personalities, Lydia Lunch, Snatch, Marine Girls, Josef K, Dolly Mixture, Mod-ettes, Mass, The Soft Boys, Richard Strange, Fad Gadget, LiLiPUT, Au Pairs, In Camera, Young Marble Giants, Clock DVA, DAF, Modern English, The Raincoats, Kleenex these are just some of the support bands that flourished in that glorious era at the start of the 80's when concert going was almost a nightly event. The venues were large. small, obscure, well known and downright bizarre. The main acts were very much a part of what people called Post-Punk and there was a general feeling of experimentation and possibilities.A visit to see Joy Division, Gang Of Four, Magazine, The Fall, Killing Joke, Wire, The Pop Group and the like inevitably meant there was an opportunity to see different support acts all over London and beyond.

The music created sounded like the sound of the future, it had complexity, light and shade and a Funk influence soon wound its way in. 

Looking back on those glory days, it's remarkable how affordable it all was. Getting there was cheap as chips, ticket prices were very very reasonable and refreshments at the venues took into account that none of us had a lot of money.

What it felt like was not so much as a movement but a load of bands emerging with a bit of musical aspiration, a load of bands that had their own little niche. And on top of that we also had the wonderful Two Tone bands who gave us something extraordinary and unifying.

Many, viewed that era as a bit po-faced but anyone who saw the likes of Spizz Oil/Energi/etc,  Blurt or Television Personalities will tell you that there was a lot of good old fashioned fun at these gigs.

The recorded evidence of this period has given us some amazing albums and singles but they don't capture the vibrancy of that era, the buzz of seeing so many new bands and of course the performances. These bands could play, and those that were still learning their craft would give the audience something to think about. That, for want of a better word, Post-Punk period was fantastic. It felt like the future, now!

THE NEXT CHAPTER

You can't write about popular culture without being effected by what is going on in the world, popular culture does not exist in a vacuum therefore the ongoing pandemic looms large in any thoughts and ideas based on experience of popular culture.

The year just gone; Covid II, was as unrelentingly challenging as it's predecessor, Covid: The Awakening, albeit in slightly differing ways.

How can I write about the movies I saw, exhibitions I went to, TV I watched, Music I heard, things that I read and other "stuff" without that writing being through the Covid prism? That's the challenge I suppose. Despite my best efforts; travelling outside of rush hour, masking up, getting vaccinated etc, I tested positive on Christmas morning, with full symptoms for good luck. Ho Ho Oh No! Therefore I saw out the last of 2021 and the start of 2022 in bed.

I believe that everyone is entitled to an opinion, even the hard of thinking, but to those who say that Covid is not real, let me tell you, it is and it's bloody awful having it! feeling unwell at any time of the year is not good but having worked extremely hard, keeping my business afloat, all year, I was looking forward to this period. Time to take it easy, a trip to the coast booked and the opportunity to relax, see friends and generally enjoy some down time then Whack! Covid intervened like the unwelcome gatecrasher it is.

One thing being isolated and confined to bed does for you is give you time to reflect, time to take stock, time to remember.

Amidst life during war time we all need to be entertained, pleased, thrilled, made happy, made sad and generally experience the light and shade of popular culture and 2021 gave us these variances.

Being at home meant opportunities to experience some great TV; The Serpent, True Story, Help, I Am Victoria, Squid Game, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Vigil, Behind Her Eyes, Marcella, Clickbait, Brand New Cherry Flavour, Black Summer, American Horror Stories, American Horror Story, What If..., Ted Lasso, Wandavision, Love, Death & Robots are all examples of the diversity on offer.

Trips to the cinema, for me, where great experiences. Just to be able to visit a half empty cinema and immerse myself in another world felt like a luxury. My movie going highlights would have to be In The Earth, Dune, Lamb, Another Round, Surge, The Little Things, Old, Censor, No Time To Die, Invincible, The Lost Daughter. I also saw Blade Runner in 70mm with my nephew (His first time seeing it) which was a great experience. 

Streaming services gave me the opportunity to see a variety of films.  Black Bear (My film of he year) Promising Young Woman, The Green Knight, The Last Duel, Army Of The Dead, Coda, Spiral and many more too numerous to mention.  I think it's fair to say that there were gems if you dug deep enough.

An exhibition here, a gig there and the odd trip to the football was a reminder of what London has to offer, and it is with this spirit I plan to face up to 2022. I can't have another year waiting for the bombs to fall. I can't have another year listening to Lord Haw Haw and his ilk. What I can have, is the belief that when you're going through hell its imperative to keep going and you know what? Popular culture helps. 

A SANDAL STAMPING ON A HUMAN FACE-FOREVER

 

Terrorism and politics are a bit like two tribute Elvis acts, one covers his Rock n Roll Black Leather look and one does the Vegas years, both badly. once the costume and the makeup is taken off the real person stands alone.

They both seem to be about imposing an ideology, religious or political that not everyone will agree with but once in power you're stuck with it and if you raise a voice in protest you face the consequences.

Of course I'm not equating a democratically elected party with a philosophy that involves blowing people up, but there are other more subtle means with which to impose group will. and when power is taken by force dissent is not an option

Which brings me to events in Afghanistan, which, while complex and undoubtably very serious, have bought out some of the very best humorous responses I have seen in a long while.

As Mel Brooks famously said: ""Rhetoric does not get you anywhere, because Hitler and Mussolini are just as good at rhetoric. But if you can bring these people down with comedy, they stand no chance."

The Alan Partridge and The Office Quote sites have made entertaining reading as the bubble of Taliban pomposity has been pricked to hilarious effect. This may mean threats of fatwas but if freedom of speech is something that any group are against, ripping the piss out of them is a valid, nay compulsory response.

I am not making light of events that have a real detrimental effect on a population but rather drawing breath as the issues are complex and far reaching in terms of global responsibilities.

Chris Morris' 2010 film Four Lions managed the balancing act of satire, laughs and a view of Islamic fundamentalism that entertained and provoked though and some of the pictures of the victorious Taliban enjoying their victory could be out takes from that film 

Thank God, Allah or whoever, for humour

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHELSEA

For reasons I wont go into, I had cause to visit a bar/restaurant in Chelsea on Sunday. Iv'e never been much of a fan of this area, even back in the seventies and eighties it had lost much of its swinging sixties sheen and had started to become a tourist trap. The influx of new money and cliche had further eroded the area. 

What I saw on Sunday pretty much cemented the reasons I have not been down that way for a very long time. It felt like another planet; a planet of the preening narcissist.

They were all there, the tight trousered sock-less loafers brigade, resplendent in snug t-shirts emblazoned with huge Dolce & Gabbana logos, their bodies doused to the point of consumption in Eau Sauvage by Dior (a fragrance that when applied subtly is rather nice).

The ripped (tight of course) jeans and baseball caps on backwards entourage were there too, faces moisturised to infant like smoothness. Silver foxes? yes they were strutting their stuff; shirts open to the naval, deck shoes and linen shorts draped over tanned skin.

As for the women, fake nails, fake eye lashes, fake breasts, precision eyebrows, pouts, designer clutches, and tantastic tannage; yes the stereotype was in full effect.

Naturally one shouldn't judge on appearance only but its very easy to judge when you add the content of conversation, being as how they were all talking so loudly.

Clearly, being seen in what are considered to be the right places is nothing new but this felt like a competitive arena, a gladiatorial setting where money talks and conspicuous consumption walks. "I've got loads of money" that's the mantra.

Chelsea was once known as a place of young rebellion, a place where the individual would strut their stuff, it's now a platform for conformity, a conformity of very thin cultural merit,  

What I gleaned from my Sunday excursion is that Chelsea feels a bit like a time warp, a vortex that takes you back to the era of Spend, Spend , Spend but with different clobber.

NO IDEA

They can dry up can't they? Ideas and that. Probably why I'm not a full time, slash, professional writer. 

I was going to write something about Santander bikes as they seem to have been appropriated by Ne'er Do Wells and other assorted undesirables. I wanted to articulate how the mode of transport for Boris' masses is now the go to vehicle for the criminal minded; they are obviously now easy to steal and what's a bit of theft in the pursuit of money for drugs?

I was thinking of writing about the reawakening of Pubs. Now that (almost) normal service has been resumed Pubs seem to be pretty busy, however Pub staff are struggling to get their groove back, which makes the quenching of thirsts somewhat tricky. I'm sure that customer service will adapt to this return to full pubs; after all our culture is a Pub culture.

I might have written about the good stuff that is available on our small and not so small screens. Circumstances have led me to having acquired Disney + and AppleTV+ for a substantial trial period, which, added to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky, iPlayer and terrestrial output provides an overkill of content. Within this mass choice scenario I am really enjoying Trying on AppleTV+, which is a charming tale of a youngish couple in Camden looking to adopt; its got a lot of heart. I would also recommend Easy on Netflix which is a set of self contained stories about relationships; interesting and varied content. Its also great to see Inside No. 9 back and back to its best, it really is a superb series. Amazon has The Boys if you didn't see it on it's initial release. its a great reinvention of superheroes that is loyally adapted from original source material and, in response, Netflix has Jupiter's Legacy which also reinterprets the superhero genre.

I guess I might have some ideas soon, which will be good, as it will mean I can put together a post that might be of interest. Being back at work and focused on that doesn't leave a lot of head space with which to conjure the next piece of scintilating prose but you never know, I might see something that gives me inspiration. i'm sure you are waiting with bated breath dear reader.

"Discover the best versions of yourself through the power of sweat"

"You Got This!

PELOTON

pel-o-ton |\, pe-le-tan , ‘pe-la-tan\

Definition of peloton

:the main body of riders in a bicycle race

The word 'peloton' has been hijacked. Hijacked by (to quote Alan Partridge) narcissistic sports pimps bellowing motivational sound bites from HD TV screens into the loft apartments and converted basements of overachievers throughout the western world. 

The Peloton experience promises to "empower you to be the best version of yourself" and it will help you to "sweat with the best" or "move to the music". The Peloton family, that's what they call themselves, tell the world that they "Operate with bias for action" and did you know that millions of members use their platform to connect, bond, inspire and grow stronger together? Sounds a bit like a cult if you ask me. 

I can almost see Peloton family members loitering at the online version of train station entrances handing out virtual leaflets and going door to electronic door on a Sunday, with the mantra "have you heard about the Peloton family?"

Don't get me wrong, getting fit and healthy is a good thing (of course it is) but is there really a need to worship at the alter of the Jonestownesque bike/screen cathedral? If you are a member of the Peloton family, fair play to you, but I would be cautious if a Peloton sports drink is developed; think before you drink.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

What exactly is an influencer? is it someone who gets paid for saying that they like stuff, stuff that they wear and stuff that they use? If so, thats sounds like a pretty easy way to make a living.

It would seem to be a requirement of the role to be something of  a vacuous narcissist with an ego that is disproportionate to any level of talent or expertise. Companies have always had movie stars, sportsmen & sportswomen, musicians and other notables endorse their products but there is an underlying theme of those people being what you would call celebrities based on their ability within their chosen fields.

The Influencer is the modern day endorsee and their qualifications for such a role are somewhat vague, to say the least. I guess its the volume of product out there that companies want to promote that has led to the need for finding people to promote it; enter the Influencer.

The Influencer may say that they are the right person in the right place at the right time, and in this age of celebrities from A-Z they have jumped on the wagon.

I think its a case of, not so much, "if they didn't exist they would have to have been invented", but more, "if you build it they will come"

CHEERS

Becks in action. Return of the pint. Pubageddon. Drinkpocalypse. Yes the UK resumed service, outside anyway, in Pubs up and down the country. 

In Hornchurch (probably) a man wearing a fisherman's waistcoat had a pint of John Smith's in a JD Wetherspoons at the crack of dawn. In Shoreditch (possibly) pub 'bants' resumed around tea time outside the Nail Gun Arms. In Huddersfield (presumably) a group of builders wolfed down a full english accompanied by pints of Guinness. In Richmond (allegedly) a table full of upwardly mobile rugby shirt wearing pals quaffed draught Peroni whilst sitting on a pub bench overlooking the passing rowing clubs.

It's funny that us pub goers can so easily pick up where we left off and happily accept paying 400% more for a pint than we have been doing over the last months at home via the off license. We do this because a pint in the pub is about more than a pint in the pub. It's hard to explain but a pub pint just feels different. There's a ritual to it, a familiarity and a custom about the whole process.

The Pub is a particularly British creature; I'm not talking about bars I'm talking Public Houses. I welcome the stage one reopening and look forward to a full reopening in the near future. This should help reduce the number of pubs that have gone to the wall systematically in localities country wide. It's important that our pubs thrive as its a cultural touchstone and one of the last bastions of real community. Cheers.

WHAT A LIBERTY

Let's be clear, its all about opinion but I think that America is becoming the haven for this country's most irritating loud mouths. The wretched James Corden has managed to charm US audiences with his ego driven brand of dubious charm. Gordon Ramsey decided to ditch his credibility and become a reality TV celebrity across the pond; his bullying schtick was deemed acceptable in his heavily staged Kitchen Nightmare series. Now Piers Morgan has taken his bloated persona back  stateside to dig out Meghan Markle to anyone that will listen.

They seem to go to the land of the free to have the freedom to be oafish and arrogant without censure. Perhaps the US gives them the liberty to be liberty takers.

These people are not unfortunate exiles, they are bridge burners who place success above other important considerations of basic human qualities. The least one can say about these transatlantic ambassadors of arrogance is that by taking themselves across the sea their voice and influence is diminished at home.

Emma Lazarus'  sonnet The New Colossus needs a rewrite to reflect this trend;

"Give me your trite, your bores,

Your  massive egos yearning to bleat free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the hopeless, bad tempered to me,

I lift my lamp for these media whores"

The UK the public may not be the brightest but some things wear a bit thin. Clarkson, Keys and Grey, that bloke from the SAS, all wrote their tickets to ignominy as we don't have unlimited tolerance and we see through self inflation eventually. Maybe they will turn up in the United States at some point as part of a perverse ex-pat community of charmless charlatans. Birds of a feather and all that.

THE CELLULOID STREETS OF LONDON

As its Good Friday, it got me thinking about The Long Good Friday, the 1980 London gangster film directed by John Mackenzie who went on to direct A Sense Of Freedom the brutal Glasgow set biography of gangster Jimmy Boyle. Barry Hines who penned naturalistic pieces with political leanings wrote ii and the stars Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren would become mainstays of British cinema.

The day from hell for mob boss Harold Shand is depicted with grit, realism and a bruised glamour. We see Shand, unable to face progress on anything other than his own terms, gradually lose control and his hubris leads inevitably to his down fall brilliantly crystallised in the wordless ending scene; one of the greatest final scenes in cinematic history.

London is an underused backdrop in movies and with this in mind I’ve had a look at films set in London that manage to capture the flavour of the city in some way. Many of the blokesploitation films that were launched off the back of Guy Richie’s fanciful idea of London’s underbelly have not aged well or are caricatures of London life therefore no place for them in my list of 10 favourite London films. Nor is there room for the Ian Curtis middle class rom-com and its numerous copies as it, again, paints a very niche idea of what upwardly mobile Londoners get up to.

1. Performance (1970)
2. An American Werewolf In London (1981)
3. The Long Good Friday (1980)
4. Nil By Mouth (1997)
5. Oliver Twist (1948)
6. Night And The City (1950)
7. Blow Up (1966)
8. Naked (1993)
9. Repulsion (1969)
10. Bronco Bullfrog (1969)

Honourable mention to Pressure (1976) & Babylon (1980) two early examples of films charting the Black British experience in London. Hard hitting, unflinching while retaining a real humanity.

PARK LIFE

Now that the dust of outrage and misinformation has settled here's the real story from someone who was there. Yes I'm talking about  Covidgedon, Tuesday 30th March, Primrose Hill; The Gathering Of The Clans, Apocalypse Now, Primrosestock etc

The sun came out on Tuesday and the rules changed the day before. The cocoon burst open and the butterfly of optimism flew out and headed to Primrose Hill. Groups of six lay down on their collective blankets, popped the corks and broke out the Canapés to bask in the unprecedented view of London town. Well, I say groups of six, but there were also Magnificent Sevens, Dirty Dozens and what seemed like the 300.

The youth of London and beyond were out and about on the hill, a couple of girls had driven from Slough to enjoy the "beef' free environment of this picturesque corner of London and the atmosphere was one of a festival rather than an angsty jamboree.

The old bill showed up and made their presence felt but any feeling of aggression or threat from those gathered was absent, rather the ambience was one of cocksure youth stretching out and promenading.

Reports of a stabbing were misguided. Yes a fracas took place at the top of the hill and some idiot stabbed someone on Gray's Inn Road Islington but it was disingenuous how the two incidents were glued together to provide an 'I told you so' story on feral youth.

The crowds were diverse, the humour good and by and large the biggest negative in terms of the social contract was the disregard for keeping Britain tidy.

In terms of Covid, we all know that one of the by products of being young is the misguided theory of invincibility which meant that social distancing was disregarded by a good many.

People have been adhering to Lockdown for what seems a lifetime and within this period there have been stories of  illegal gatherings at christenings, protests, weddings, birthday parties, football league title celebrations and members of the good and the great bending the rules for their own private and exclusive events, we also have a number of cases of our elected officials taking liberties with impunity, so we need to look a bit deeper when we see a crowd of predominantly young people doing the same; having double standards is an easy trap to fall into.

I thought there were too many people getting a bit carried away with group numbers but I also saw many many people happily adhering to the rules. 

Was Primrose Hillgate a concern or was it just an understandable collective sigh of relief? not sure, but what I do know is that when I was young I didn't have to live under lockdown, I was free to go wherever I wanted to without worrying about undesirables attacking me as I simply avoided certain areas, and as  for pandemics, we had the Aids crisis but precautions could be taken to manage its spectre.

The days and weeks ahead will be interesting as parks and open spaces greet groups of sun lovers. Let's hope that a sense of group  responsibility filters in and that a collective approach to managing one's debris becomes a habit.

The summer of 2021 will be an interesting one, not least for this current generation of young people who have and are living in unprecedented times..