Tony Gallichan is Mildly Perturbed by... Modern Music!!!
Well, it had to happen. Gallichan admits that he's getting old and starts to rant against modern music. Now, this could be seen as a cliche however, I'm rather serious about this.
Myself and a female friend, let's call her Burt, were watching the Top Of The Pops Awards. I say "we" what I mean is she was watching them, I was at her house.
So, Moby comes on and does the star stuff song live. And rather lovely it was too. Then on come Blue.
Oh dear.
Oh dear, oh dear.
Were they miming or what? And soooooooo badly.
I seem to remember Milli Vannili being accused of miming or some such thing and they were finished.
I started to chuckle and "Burt" started on at me because I was laughing at them.
"Could you do what they do on stage?" she asked.
I replied that not only could I, but that I had. Live. And playing keyboards at the same time. (actually, saying that to her might have been a mistake. She doesn't think that I have any musical talent. She thinks all the music on the site is me just pushing a couple of buttons on the PC keyboard and there it is.)
My problem is this. Why are they allowed to get away with it? Are "the kids of today" intelligent enough to realise that they are being conned and just don't care?
If so, then welcome to the future of the Human race. A race that doesn't care about quality or the origins of it's consumer products - as long as I can buy it, it's goooooood!
Scary, isn't it?
And as for Plastic Pop...
Well, The Buggles had it almost right when they said that we were living in the plastic age. The amount of covers lately is staggering. Now, I'm not against covers as such. I admit, it's taking someone else's moment of perfection and changing it, something that always makes me think twice for a moment. But they have been getting worse.
The first one to give me pause for thought was "I'll Be Watching You", the tribute song. Hmm. Well, they tried but how many kids think that the song was entirely written by them instead of the Police? What about "Seasons In The Sun"? I absolutely adore the Terry Jacks' version. The Westlife cover turns it into a horrible, bland mush. Same with "The Tide Is High" and the latest one I heard, "Billie Jean". No thought, the music track is almost exactly the same, just blanded down - and I mean Bland!. There's no soul to it. Ideal for CD.
Once it was said that pop would eat itself. We're now on the dessert course. Midge Ure once sang about angry shouts and neighbours moaning being the muzack of the wasteland. Sorry Midge. The muzack of the wasteland is now pop music. And the wasteland itself is our children's minds.
Be afraid for the future.
Tony Gallichan likes to think that he has musical taste. He just got stuck in the eighties and hasn't climbed out yet...