ip the shit out of some published think-piece music journalism part 957

The solution to prepackaged perfection is not to make prepackaged "idols" in the model of Lydon or Gallagher (vomit) but to let some of the prefab ones off the leash.

Well yes. But Lammers does concede that point himself with the whole "no teenage kid wants art-school rock" schtick.

I'm kinda hoping that teenage kids want Dizzee Rascal and McLusky...but they're probably actually down with Clodplay for all I know.

I've never understood this obsession with finding "the new" Lydon, Gallagher, whatever - it's like when Oasis came out and idiots all over the UK were saying "they're the new Beatles" when probably that monicker would've been better suited to, say, The Prodigy or something.

By definition, "the new" *ANYONE* won't be new at all. Fuck it, Richard James is the most punk rock thing we're gonna see anytime soon.

It makes little sense as a leap of logic, sure. It almost sounds like he's just throwing his hands up in despair and saying, "oh fuck it then, you kids listen to whatever you like, and you labels create whatever you want, I'm quite happy here with my old Carter USM 7"s, thanks". Which is a shame.

Only fucking just.

i think it was 'daughter'.

It would seem that actual experience of teens and pre-teens would suggest that the latter strategy is far more effective (vis a vis Eminem, Marilyn Manson, etc.)

Though it seems that the current strategy is all "Sex! Look, sex! Your parents don't want you getting into this!" (quite right, too, at the age of 10) which causes parental outrage alright... but does it really appeal to kids?

I'm ready for another Lydon or Gallagher.

to sum up, YAWN YAWN FUCKING YAWN. didn't Parsons and Burchill make this very same dated rant a year ago?

Would Eminem be able to maintain his bad boy enigma pose if he lived in the hothouse climate of London, with tabloid journalists going through his trash every night?

England has this build them up, knock them down thing going on - because it is so small that first, one or two small organs *can* control press for the entire country, and second, because of the aforementioned proximity. It's one thing to be able to go down to Notting Hill to snap a celeb misbehaving, but trawling across the country to Detroit to do so kinda takes the immediacy out of it.

Hence bad boys maintain their mystery and their allure.

which makes me wonder why aren't the British rock hacks hankering for or at least suggesting a new BOWIE (i.e. something we really are good at) rather than a new Lydom/Gallagher type?

Oh yeah, and Tin Machine. That's why.

and me = neither kate...

This says more about cultural gender stereotypes and "Queer"-ness than it does actual homosexuality. But really, I find it slightly endearing.

this = the polar opposite of me on every count!

England roXors! U R all Gay!

Kate Le Wrath: music journalists like Gallagher is because they're nothing like Gallagher.

I'm not sure I agree with either of these misquotations but I liked the thought of them next to each other. Fetishism / self obsession / comfort / edginess fite?

(Oh yeah, DLR >> EC any day, of course)

Put it this way: no middle class student has ever worked in a warehouse to fund their degree.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

I know (fiercely defensive of their class status) "working class" kids who had their entire college experience - rent on their accomodations, food, everything - paid for by their parents. I am "Posh" by most background definitions, and I had scholarships and a part-time job.

But this is where I get off the thread, because this is getting nowhere and class conflict derails any thread, and besides, it's cross-culturally rendered nonsense.

i did exactly this! ok technically it was to pay off debts incurred whilst at college rather than just 'to fund it' but anyway.

I mean, the only possible exception is people in working class middle class jobs (trade union official, factory foreman). Class needs to be discussed "better" on ILX, seriously.

My original joking about Class and Brett Anderson was joking. But the rest of this isn't. Yes, I have issues. And I have Class Rage. But this is all personal and nothing to do with Steve Lamaq.

Because class in the UK is not purely financial, and no Outsider (read: American) will ever get their head around that.

I'm afraid this is also bullshit not true - I know plenty of Americans (self included) who have pretty good knowledge of class rules here, and even how they vary across regions. Class in America isn't always about money either. And *many* of America's race issues are really class issues in disguise.

My college experience: a full scholarship because my divorced mom was on disability benefits and my dad basically did a runner to avoid paying his fair share. His background was incredibly privileged, but he pissed away every single opportunity ever presented to him. My mum had the kind of upbringing where she was cooking for six people by the age of 10 and has earned every penny that's crossed her palm. I feel more affinity with people who have to work for a living than those who have 'assistance' but if someone's a good person - regardless of privileges - that's what matters most.

Okay so what Lamacq *didn't* mention is that the kind of people who are worth wallpapering your room in their pictures have values/stances/styles that you aspire to. His complaint seems to be that the current crop of corporate shills and lite entertainers clogging up the charts really don't aspire to anything apart from being rich and famous enough to get invited to launches, and who'd put up a poster in tribute to that? I do see his point, although I feel his music writing was never all that skillful to begin with as was news desk bod. Another possible hypothesis about the marketplace's catering to tweens is that they're too young to go on the interweb and burn stuff to their tastes, so Jesuit rules apply (I think Morrissey quite perceptively pointed this out in a recent interview).

Duran Duran to thread? (Great post, BTW)

Grrrrrr, this is the thread where we Class RAAAAAAGE!!!

his tastes have always been very extremely variable as regards worth (actually he is like peel w/o either the foreground wiggle of avant-weirdness or the vast hinterland of affable domestic conservatism)