The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Moral panic is nothing new

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Every generation thinks it invented sex, drugs and moral outrage but it’s all pure poppycock.

Mr Noel Coward bemoans the slacker generation in one of his witty ditties

What’s going to happen to the children When there aren’t any more grown-ups? It’s bizarre when grandmamma, without getting out of breath Starts to jive at eighty-five and frightens the little ones to death. The police had to send a squad car When daddy got fried on vodka And tied a tweed coat round mummy’s throat In several sailor’s knots. Hushabye, hushabye, hushabye my darlings, Try not to fret and wet your cots. One day you’ll clench your tiny fists And murder your psychiatrists. What’s, what’s, what’s going to happen to the tots?

Music: Women v Men

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@RigidDigit ‘s struggle to come to terms with not liking something that he is told he must like made me think of Pete Doggett’s theory voiced at this week’s Word In Your Ear night that there is a clear difference to how women and men approach music.

Women like what they want Men like what they think they should like or are told to like

Discuss.

The Afterword does Room Lovely

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When the lovely Stephen Fry was on Room 101 he attempted to put the concept of Room 101 into itself. Among the things he chose for ‘Room Lovely’ were libraries, the Apple Mac and Kathy Burke

So let’s see if we can be as creative about things we like as those we hate.

People: as Bo Diddley once asked ‘Who Do You Love?’ LIfe (modern or not) – what things make you smile and glad to be alive Wild Card: anything that fills you with joy

Yeah grab your sick buckets and try and keep it above the waist, gents. It’s enough of a boy’s club as it is.

Bob Mortimer – Bob comes across as one of the most naturally funny men ever invented. A supremely rich surreal sense of humour, able to thro out phrases that amuse and baffle, many have tried but few can match the worlds that he and Vic create. His appearances on ‘Would I Lie To You’ always have me howling with laffs. When I finally get to see them on a stage next year it will be a life ambition fulfilled. I once saw him at a Neil Young concert.

The City LP finally gets reissued on that vinyl stuff and those new fangled CD things

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The marvellous Light In The Attic record label have taken it upon themselves to reissue an album that I rhapsodised about with @ganglesprocket and my good friend, Spencer on the not at all missed 33 & A Nerd podcast.

Carole King’s “band” The City released their one and only LP in 1968 and its no one hit blunder, packed full of tunes, Goffin and King gems and ideas that would sell by the shitload on ‘Tapestry’. Incomprehensibly unavailable for many a year but soon to be discovered all over again – I recommend this upcoming release to the Massive.

http://blog.lightintheattic.net/new-lita-release-the-city-now-that-everythings-been-said/

Electro Smog is Massive

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Noel “Tidybeard” Edmonds says that we need not fear death, AIDS or Ebola but Electro Smog. The former vocalist with JWBAWH Brown Sauce echoes the XTC line that we are all light and who can forget his heartfelt message to Andy Partridge after the abandoned European tour in 82 on Multicoloured Swap Shop.

But still the electro smog DJs are dropping dope phat beats that are sending the yoof crazy.

He’ll be warning us about damaging our shatner’s bassoon next

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/noel-edmonds-says-death-doesnt-exist-and-electrosmog-is-more-deadly-than-ebola-or-aids-10439536.html

Jeb Bush?

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I know nothing about him apart from his gangster-lizard-overlord family. A few desultory searches haven’t revealed much, other than he might, just possibly, perhaps, not be the Cthulhu-alike I was expecting from the name.

Given that Hills is unlikely to win, regardless of her capabilities (because woman, because another Dem), and that Trump is a freaking horrorshow we can rely on to crash and burn in a bonfire of his own vanities, is Jeb the best of a bad bunch? Is he “his own man” or just another chip off the old blockhead?

Any links to sane, balanced overviews of the man and his policies (if he has any) much appreciated. Or post your own wild opinions here in order that I may formulate my own thereof.

(My search for a picture of him that wasn’t boring also drew a blank.)

Fab songs from artists that went to sh*t in the 80s.

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Bamber’s thread on artists losing it made me think of all the greats of the 1960s and 70s who turned to shit in the 80s, mainly due to running out of songs and/or try and failing to adapt to new technologies and fashions. From Elton to Clapton, Rodders to poor old Bob, the list is huge, but there must be a few gems in their output from this decade. But what are they?

My pick is from Diana Ross’ patchy 1985 album Eaten Alive, wot I got at a car boot yesterday. It’s actually not that bad thanks to Bee Gees Inc., but far and away the best is the UK chart-topping Chain Reaction, which surprisingly tanked in the US, and unsurprisingly went to no. 1 in the Gibb brothers’ homeland.

What’s yours?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaYHRx9-v2M

HP Saucecraft’s “I Love Pussy – Songs About Cats” Thread

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In a private email, HP Saucy confessed to me that although he has a great fondness for dogs (particularly as an accompaniment to noodles), what he’d really like to see is a thread of songs with a tenuous connection to felines. Bless. He’s a bit shy about expressing his deep love of pussy (and indeed his love of deep…sniiiip….(that’s enough! Ed.), and asked me to kick things off instead. Please do join in, everyone, and make the old boy happy.

Here’s David.

FREE NME

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Ver kids don’t need no paper no more. The New Musical Express will become a free 300,000 copies a week publication that currently sells less than 15,000. So Londoners expect to see copies of this strewn across yer tube stations from September next to the Metro etc

Bet the site gets a paywall

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/06/nme-to-go-free-with-larger-circulation?CMP=share_btn_tw

Modern Magic Beans

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I have been having a bit of a Bob Electric Trinity binge -trying to decide top dog and have come to the slightly controversial decision that it is Highway 61 Revisited rather than the traditional Blonde On Blonde.

However I fear that my not fully peer reviewed double blind experiment (hello @DisappointmentBob ) may be fatally flawed. For you see the version of H61 that I own is made of the purest 24k GOLD. It says on the CD’s case

“Our 24k gold CDs reproduce the ultimate sound of a classic recorded performance without the digital harshness and irregular plated surface of standard aluminium discs.”

Now is this pure Barnum bunkham ? I’m sure we’ve all been in the electrical shop while some spotty high voiced teen tries to convince us that the gold plated SCART, audio connectors and the like will make the brand new kit we have just bought sound or look FABULOUS.

Just FYI my copy of Blonde On Blonde is also GOLD but BIABH is plain old aluminium.