Music Lover?

There is an awful lot of snobbery around music and it pisses me off no end.

Tonight saw the final of the ‘X Factor’ and I was sad to see it end. The two finalists, Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson, put on a great show and the boys from ‘Take That’ looked, as they always do when performing, as if they were having the time of their life. They obviously enjoy performing, Robbie is a great showman (if you ignore his growing tendency to gurn) and Gary Barlow writes great pop songs. What struck me when I saw them perform live (as men not boys) was how humble they are. OK- that was obviously without Robbie as he is unlikely to have even heard of the word 'humble' but they are very talented guys.

Yet no doubt tomorrow the tabloids will be full of stories of back stage squabbles, although if the reaction to Matt’s win from his ‘rivals’ in anything to go by, who all seemed very happy for him, the stories will be largely invented, but controversy sells newspapers and keeps the show in the publics mind in the run up to the Christmas No 1. If this phenomenally successful show is mentioned at all in the broadsheets it will be in the form of lamentations about exploitation of plebs and substandard talent and rage against the machine.

My family, and many others, have had several enjoyable Saturday nights where we either got a takeaway or one of us cooked a nice meal and, with some wine and beers, we gathered together to be entertained. Just like the old days when families gathered to watch 'The Generation Game' or 'Morcombe and Wise'. The XF is the entertainment show of the new century and entertained we certainly were. There was lots of laughter, debate and yes, enjoyment of the music. It is this enjoyment of this type of music that puts my family, and all the other millions of families who tune into the XF, at the bottom of the music appreciation league table.

At the very top of this table is, I suppose, Classical Music. Beethoven, Strauss etc, the very names that strike a cord in some peoples hearts (take Stephen Fry as an example, go on please take him) only serve to bore me. Along with opera, with composers such as Wagner, not to be confused with XF’s Wagner Carrilho, who caused much debate in my house, but the Wagner who composed, among other things, ‘Ride of the Valkaries’.

Stephen Fry, a big fan of Wagner, speaks about his feelings of angst surrounding his love of Wagner’s work, not from an angle of wether or not Wagners music was worthy of such admiration but because Wagner was also greatly admired by Hitler, indeed it is said that Wagner’s music inspired Hitler. I can see his point. I loved 'I Love You Love Me Love' by Gary Glitter but in light of his paedophile tendencies I have been reluctant to listen to him even since the court case and subsequent jail sentence. I can feel you all judging me now, but come on - 'I'm The Leader' would still be an anthem if Glitter had been a normal guy like, eh, like Bill Wyman, and actually married his child bride. But hey, The Rolling Stones were higher up the music league table than The Glitter Band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDIaH3RtYHw

Now I want to be careful about making sweeping generalisations but it can't be helped sometimes. The fact is generally the working classes do not frequent the opera. Even if they liked the music seeing it performed live is very expensive. You would also have to live near a big city to access it I imagine, or have the funds to stay overnight in an hotel. If you were coming from say, Cambridge, to visit the Royal Opera House to see a performance of Carmen for instance you would need at least £100 each. Listening to it at home is obviously an option but opera needs to be played LOUD and you can bet that the council do not receive many complaints from neighbours about Marie Callis belting arias out of next doors flat at 3am.

Most of what we non posh people know of opera and classical music has been as a result of a certain compositions being used in a film soundtrack or on an advert. Take Bachs Air on G String- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHR11QqIoI&feature=related

I remember being impressed when I found out the name of my grandparents budgie, Tosca, was from an opera. 'What made you name the budgie after an opera?' I asked my Nan. 'What you on about?' she asked. 'Tosca' I said 'it's the name of an opera'. 'No it ain't' she replied 'your grandad named it after a race horse'.

When exposed to classical music some of us just don’t get it. My school took us all to the opera once, at the Royal Opera House. The building was intimidating and we sat through a performance of an opera that I can’t even remember the name of, or who composed it. It was in Italian which didn’t help. Some pheasants had an altercation with some of the aristocracy and someone got stabbed (on the stage you understand, not among us school kids). I remember there was a lot of sobbing, hand wringing and heartbreak. A bit like ‘Blood Brothers’ without the show stopping tunes. Give me ‘Like Marilyn Monroe’ any day. 

Having said all that I remember many years ago watching 'Philadelphia' starring Tom Hanks and it featured several compositions by Mozart in its soundtrack. In the context of the film these were incredibly moving and I was able to appreciate how people were carried away by certain pieces of classical music but I would never actively seek this music out and listen to it.

'Do you like opera?' the dying Tom Hanks character asks Denzil Washingtons character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0p9mTJOJI&feature=related I know that Maria Callis can sing, I know Mamma Morta is a big number and this scene is beautifully acted by Hanks and Washington (who remains still for the most part, and silent but manages to convey his thoughts) and I appreciate Hanks character's description of what is happening in the music. but I just don't get it. Therefore I am culturally bereft and only fit for 'popular' music. Ahem, the name for this genre is a bit of a give away don't ya think? Popular means people like it, which for some immediately makes it less valuable. And because for me the ‘Blood Brothers’ triumphs over the opera with a forgettable name I am not a proper music lover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EWG1SUd1c0


Not only are we judged on the type of music we listen to but it would seem that the musicians themselves have a very clear idea about who should and shouldn't listen to their music. For instance is seems The Smiths are not best pleased that Cameron claims to be a fan.
ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/11/suzanne-moore-morrissey-david-cameron

Moore says 'Call me superficial, call me a snob, call me a bloke – but music matters, and I don't trust people who don't think it's important.' Nor do I love. It is interesting that she says 'call me a bloke' because I was coming to the conclusion that men are the authors of the music league table. When Moore says 'call me a bloke' she is acknowledging that men are serious music aficionados and she is saying that her appreciation of music is as sophisticated as that of a mans. Woman can embrace publicly all genres of music. We girls can party with pop, cavort with country, revel in reggae and even dance round our hand bags to disco and our men will laugh at our little foibles. If we know our 'Dark Side of the Moon' from our 'White Album', if we can identify a blues cord, if we dress up to the nines and sit breathlessly through 'Madame Butterfly', if we keep our love for Abba a dirty little secret, well then we can officially be called Music Lovers. Poor men don't have that luxury. Admit to liking the Carpenters and you will be ostracised. It is much more socially acceptable to admit that you don't like football much and you have never got the hang of the offside rule. Sing along to a bit of Barry Manilow and you won't see your friends for dust. You will become one of those men 'who keep himself to himself'. No matter that you like a bit of ACDC, no matter that you pen a few protest songs before you fall asleep at night - if you like anything that is middle of the road you street cred is worthless. Unless you are gay. Being gay is for some reason the 'get out of jail free' card when it comes to musical tastes. Gay men can embrace their Kylie's and Garland's freely without being judged at all.

For some reason my son is an exception to this rule. NOT you understand that he listens to the Carpenters, although I think he would agree that 'Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft' is a fine example of great voice, naff lyrics. Karen's not the aliens. Nor is he gay. But he is open about his eclectic taste in music and he still has friends.

With your mind you have ability to form


And transmit thought energy far beyond the norm


You close your eyes, you concentrate


Together that's the way


To send the message


We declare world contact day

My son loves music. All good music. He hears a piece of music and if it hits his 'spot' no matter what type of music it is, Rock, Blues, Soul, Country, Heavy Metal, Jazz, yes even classical, he will try to find out more about it, who wrote it, the history behind it and who else has recorded it. Take the other night when I stumbled on Johnny Cash. The next day I asked him if he has listened to any of his music and was surprised when he said yes, named a few tracks and said what he admired about him. This is a boy who grew up listening to Rap and R&B music, who thinks Eminem is on par with Shakespeare in his dexterity with words and who still spends hours in his bedroom listening to Rap, yet the list of music he enjoys grows day by day. He thinks Take That are great, lists Burt Baccarat as one of his favourite composers and loves Leona Lewis. Yet he also loves Nirvana, Santana, Jay Z, Eminem, The Rolling Stones, The Who, BB King and Led Zeppelin to name just a few. We joke that if they bring back 'Name That Tune' he would be a series champion. So is he a music lover?

My daughter on the other hand worries me with her lack of music appreciation. On the league table she is in special needs. There, even I am judging. I try not to critise anyones taste in music. It is a really individual thing - just what it is about a song or a piece of music that makes you sit up and listen, makes you sway, what penetrates your mind and soul is anyones guess. It matters how old you are, what your friends listen to, where you are when you first heard it. It matters if you can hear the instruments, which instuments strike your personal chord and if the lyrics are your thing, are telling your story. 

I felt all flushed with fever, embarassed by the crowd



I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud


I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on

Strumming my pain with his fingers


Singing my life with his words


Killing me softly with his song


Killing me softly with his song


Telling my whole life with his words


Killing me softly http://www.lyrics007.com/Fugees%20Lyrics/Killing%20Me%20Softly%20With%20His%20Song%20Lyrics.html

What hits the spot in one persons soul might miss the mark completely in someone elses. It's the same with comedy. I once dated a guy who, when I said I liked a certain comedian, snorted and said 'the guys not funny'. I wanted to say 'Well excuse me, thousands disagree with you, nay millions. What you mean is that you don't think he's funny. Which means you are a soulless, humorous prick'. I didn't say any of this of course but it was a nail in the coffin. His taste in music was pretty naff too.