Let's get Lyrical (part 9 billion and 2 minus 9 billion)

Okay, I'll just go ahead and say it. It might make it a bit easier. I have never seen Terminator 2: Judgement Day. No, I'm not kidding. I'm absolutely serious. I may as well keep confessing - when I started this blog I'd never actually tried calamari (I was a little hesitant to try it, har har). For the record, I tried it a couple of weeks ago and I loved it (wouldn't it be a little perverse if I despised it?), and right now I'm saving myself from a few extra embarrassing moments in my life by finally watching what is considered one of James Cameron's best moments as a film-maker. There always seems to be stuff that you are regarded as a lesser human for not experiencing, isn't there? The original Star Wars trilogy, seeing a band live, 'making love'. Sometimes very fulfilling, sometimes overrated experiences. If you happen to succumb to your peers/curiosity then I'm not going to stop you. Just don't do them all at once.

There is no witty caption this week because
every possible joke about this man has been
made. I'LL BE BACK with a clever caption next
week, don't you worry.

So yeah, like it or not I'm continuing my thoughts on lyrics in songs, just in case you happen to be a plonker that doesn't pay much attention to the actual blog title. And I suppose I'll discuss something a bit more hard-hitting than the surrealism I was talking about last week. How about political lyrics? Now although I'm not as well versed in politics as I should be, I get extremely excited when it comes to political debates in voting, and it irritates the shit out of me when people claim politics isn't important. If you have any brains then you'll know that the decisions made by politicians affect our life on just about every level possible. Those dull, late night debates made many miles away may limit or increase our freedom as human beings. And musicians love to be outspoken. Those two things combined together can sometimes produce interesting results. Bands in the original wave of punk in 1976 thought it would be a great idea to discuss political issues in their lyrics -
"Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock" 
moaned the Clash, as they grew frustrated about the lack of interesting employment that was in the UK. And of course, commentary on politics wasn't exactly a new thing, as Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On questioned the need for the war
"Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate"

And I could go on. Outside of their lyrics musicians such as Kanye West and Bono continue their verbal assault on the folk in power. In interviews, however, the illusion is quite often shattered for me. When it comes to talking about specific subjects they tend to make vague, mumbling statements, about how Margaret Thatcher was evil, how 'the men in the suits are earning all the money', or that whatever war is going on was started purely to put money in the pockets of politicians. Now I'm not saying I agree or disagree with these things. I'm saying form your own opinion based on facts. Musicians can be good for provoking thought, but don't expect them to make the world a better place based on some words they probably wrote when they were stoned.

Terminator 2 was alright. I suppose that's what hype and a distracting blog does to you. May do another part if I'm feeling lazy  as though I need to discuss the subject of the importance or non importance of lyrics in music more. This was a tired blog so I'm not sure if it's decent. I'll soon find out. Thanks for reading!

Vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie

I suppose some of you may groan when reading this post. Or you may agree with me. Or you may just have heard 'London Calling' and 'Should I Stay or Should I Go', and feel indifferent. But today I feel the urge to discuss a group once billed as 'The only band that really matters', The Clash. It isn't anything like the 30th anniversary of London Calling, none of the members have died recently (until you count 2002 as recent), and there hasn't been a statue of Joe Strummer erected or anything like that. But I was just listening to their first album today, and it brought me back to when I first heard the album. Flashback time!

Bye bye!

It was one of the very few times where no idiot had influenced me in listening to the album. I hadn't looked at some stupid list on some website, telling me what the greatest punk/debut/rock/ albums of all time were. And no-one had told me to LISTEN TO THE ALBUM QUICKLY  BECAUSE IT'S SO GOOD. I'd heard the U.S version of White Riot, which I'd obtained from Limewire (this was about 5 years ago, okay). And so I visited a proper record shop and bought The Clash's debut album. As soon as I listened to it at home, I realised I hadn't heard anything quite like it before. I'd heard some pop-punk stuff before, sum41 and Blink 182. But nothing like those military drums in Janie Jones. It's an exciting album, musically and lyrically. The Pistols may have talked like they were trying to shock your granny and that there was some sort of upcoming anarchist revolution. But when Joe Strummer snarled like a rabid dog, he didn't want to kill the Queen, he wanted to 'join the ping pong club'. On the album The Clash also sung songs about how they were sick of the USA's culture becoming so popular in the UK, London's abysmal traffic system, and the race riots that were going on at the time. They weren't making up some shocking fantasy situation, they were talking about what was going on.

My love for the band isn't really for their punk stage (although good god I love it), it's for the fact that played just about every bloody genre there was. They had many reggae covers and reggae style songs, they did punk, they did rockabilly, they dabbled in dub, they did ska, they did folky stuff. Joe and Mick were early followers of rap when it was emerging at the tail end of the seventies, which is very apparent in the very cool bass driven opener of Sandinista!, The Magnificent Seven.

But even now I'm struck by how feeble and inadequate words like 'electric' are to describe their live performances which I can only see on youtube and listen to on 'From Here to Eternity'. I've never seen them live, and of course I never will. But as stupid and clichéd as this sounds, their energy and music will always motivate me. Joe Strummer's words in an interview ("we're not particularly talented, we try hard") are words I can live by and can very much appreciate. Thanks for reading!